To Apple: My Airpods Are Broken, And So Is Your Support
I used to have this illusion that Apple’s aftersale service is one of the best there is. Bring it back within 14 days, and we will take care of it, no questions asked. Our “Genius Bar” will fix all your problems. I even read that Apple says it will repair faulty AirPods Pro for two years after you first buy them. Unfortunately, I’m here to tell you that it’s not true. But this is not a venting blog; this is a message I feel we all want Apple to hear. And information for you to decide if this is the right product/service for you. I’ll even include suggestions to Apple on how they can fix their broken support. But first, let me tell you about what happened.
Airpods Pro Broke Down After 2 Months
So first of all, how would you feel if you paid almost 300USD for a headphone and it broke down within two months? I’m guessing “not happy” at the very least. Well, mine did break after two months. I started hearing static sounds like a broken radio in my left ear. My husband heard it as well. So we took it into iCare.
For some reason, iCare decided to change the Airpod case. So after two weeks, I went to pick it up only to find out a few days later that the story wasn’t going to end there.
“Sorry, there’s nothing wrong with your broken Airpod”
— Apple Store
Only a few days after I picked up my Airpod Pro from iCare, the left earbud started to act weird again. I hear the sound, not as loud as before, and not all the time, but it was still there. Now it sounds like you are having a call with someone in a windy area or having a fan blow right in their mic. It’s loud enough and happens often enough that I brought it into the Apple Store.
At the Apple Store, almost half an hour had gone by until someone came to talk to us (despite having an appointment). They took the Airpod away for testing for 10 mins and came back saying that there’s nothing wrong with it. They suggested that I should go back home, send a chat message to their support and see what they might recommend. I was confused, but the store was about to close, and there was nothing else we could do.
From Store to Chat, Chat to Phone, Phone to Store (Again)
So obviously, we came home, the problem still existed, so I sent a chat message to Apple’s support. After explaining everything for almost half an hour, all I got was lots of templated solutions. The support said, “honestly, we normally will send you to the service center” in this case, of course, it’s weird since the service center was the one sending me to support.
The chat support then said he would arrange the call back from Apple support for the next day at 11 am. Ten minutes late, Apple’s automatic system called to ask if I was ready for a call. I said yes, then it redirected me to the waiting line anyway. Finally, I got to talk to someone, explained the whole thing one more time. 30 mins of call, hold and call again, they said I should go back to the store. Their “senior advisor” will talk to the store staff and try to replace it today. So again, I felt hopeful.
Next Day, Same Store, New Solution?
I had an appointment at 2 pm, and the Apple call center said they would call back at 2.15 pm to talk to the staff. So I went, waited 20 minutes to meet the technician at the store, and waited for the call from Apple that never came. So while I was in the store I had to call Apple’s call center and explain the whole thing again. This time I got a transfer to the “senior advisor,” had to explain the entire story just one more time, then he wanted to talk to Apple’s staff. At that point, the tech was gone, so I had to hold the line and stood there waiting for the staff to be back to talk to the call center guy. Finally, after an hour of this whole mess, they said they wanted to send the Airpod Pro in for repair at the same service center I took it to the first time, and it will take another week.
Yes, I did the same thing earlier this month. I waited two weeks just to find out that the problem is still there and had to go through all these steps just to get back to square one. The same issue, same Airpod, will be sent to the same service center.
When I asked if the same thing happened again (aka it’s still broken), what’s the next step. The “senior advisor said,” we do not have the next step. So yeah, you are just kind of stuck with sending it in until it’s fixed, or you give up.
Giving up on Apple and Will Think Again before Getting Any Apple Product
At the time of writing, I have to wait 7–10 days to get the Airpod Pro back and see if it’s still broken. So one out of three months I have had this headphone, I haven’t been able to use it. Lots of talking, but nothing is fixed.
So like I mentioned before, I am writing this blog to let you know the real experiences of Apple’s aftersale. And to let you know how easily this Airpod Pro breaks. It’s a pretty common problem as well. So if I were you, I’d think again before getting your next Airpod Pro. Be prepared to take the risk.
My Suggestion to Apple. Here’s How You Can Do Better.
There are so many ways Apple could have made the experience better.
Assign service agent for the case
I had to explain everything at least six times up until this point. And who knows how many more times? It would be amazing not to explain every detail and repeatedly answer the same questions when talking to Apple. It would also be great if the “call back” means human calling back, not the system that calls to ask if I was ready to wait in the line; I could just set an alarm for that.
Fix the problems sincerely
Throughout this process, every support has been saying “we do understand you”, “it’s a rare case”, “thank you for your patience”, and “we will try to solve this”. But nothing was solved, and they weren’t even listening to me. They kept talking over me on the phone, and all the recommendations I got were templated. What really happened was they kept throwing the case from one channel to another.
After a month of issue, I expected better than just “keep sending it back to the service center until it’s fixed because we have no other plan” — how about a replacement?
Also, maybe stop saying there’s nothing wrong? We have 2 MacBooks, 2 iPhones, 1 Apple Watch, and 2 Airpod Pros. Why would we waste all this time trying to get it fixed if nothing is broken?
Be on time
If you said you would call at a specific time, call. If you make it appointment-only, be there at the appointment time. It should be a simple courtesy, right? Apparently, not for Apple.
Conclusion
The purpose of this blog is to be transparent with Apple’s product and service quality. So you can decide for yourself if this thing is right for you. I also hope that this blog reaches Apple’s customer experience team so they can think about the whole experience and put themselves in the customer’s shoes a little.
I don’t know; maybe when the world is already so broken, I just wish listening to my favorite songs on my headphones wouldn’t be so hard…
