I've never really been an Apple fanboy, but incidents like the following could win me over.
I just had to make a support call to Apple. I really tried to avoid it but I simply couldn't so eventually I jumped in, filled with dread and pessimism, expecting to waste half an hour getting nowhere.
But here's how it went down:
- Apple's Irish freephone support number was easy to find
- It was answered immediately... (Hooray!) ... by IVR (Boo!)
- But the IVR was accurate, responsive, and most importantly put me through to a human when I couldn't produce a key bit of data
- The human (Elaine) answered immediately, was courteous, knowledgable and clear.
- I was never put on hold, even when Elaine had to spend several minutes sorting something out. She just told me what she was doing and let me listen to her typing. That's WAY better than hold music!
- As far as we can both tell, she resolved the issue on that call.
- To top it off, Elaine offered to call me tomorrow to confirm it is resolved!
That's amazing: I made a support call to a huge organisation, and came off the phone happy. That's worth a lot.
[Update:] Apple did indeed call today. I spoke to another helpful person. The whole experience was just right.