Service Aspects of iPhone 3GS - Essay Example

Apple provides after-purchase services which include a one-year warranty and up to 90 days of complimentary telephonic technical support. Only those people who are experts in the hardware and operating system of Apple products are going to answer your queries (Apple-Support-AppleCare, 2011).

Moreover, if a customer is not happy with the complimentary services provided by Apple, he may get hold of the Apple Protection Plan which is to be purchased. Apple claims that the protection plan gives one-stop service and support from Apple experts. Solutions to your queries are just a call away. The plan gives both hardware and software support (Apple-Support-AppleCare, 2011). Here is what Apple says about its service plan:

Fig.1 (Apple-Support-AppleCare-iPhone, 2011)
Apart from one-stop technical service, hardware, and software support is also included. The hardware support includes coverage of iPhone, battery, earphones, and accessories. Regarding battery coverage, service is available for battery depletion of 50% or more from the original specification (Apple-Support-AppleCare, 2011).
Regarding software coverage, Apple handles troubleshooting issues with your iPhone, its applications, and connectivity issues to wireless networks.

App Store
There is an app store of Apple which has hundreds of thousands of software on its store. It is the world’s largest mobile application store. Some of them are free, and some are to be purchased. There are amazing applications related to games, lifestyle, social networking, and education. You can browse your choice of application and start playing with it right away after downloading it. The app store also lets you update your current applications on your iPhone with just a single tap (Apple-iPhone-Learn about apps available on the App Store, 2011).

Customer Reviews on App Store Service:
Buys (2009) writes in his article about Apple customer satisfaction. As per him, AppleCare provides excellent support service. It repairs phone, answer your queries, and replace damaged parts. If you want to inquire about importing a movie into iMovie, AppleCare will be of great help in this regard. With a single phone and lots of applications in it, you can do simultaneous work at a time; write a book, take photos, and make movies. This is why Apple has been a great success (Buys, 2009).

However, John (2009) comments in the above article that Apple has terrible service. His experience with replacing broken products was bad; he said it took him months to have it replaced. Apple processes the request but keeps the items on hold. John (2009) thinks that he would never want to buy Apple products again just because of its service.
Another comment on the same article by Hazardous Paste says, the genius or the experts who are on App Store, some of those experts are helpful while others are not very polite.
Customer Reviews on Support Service:
Krazit (2008) writes in his article about Apple tech support. He believes that Apple has the best technical support in the PC industry. This has also been mentioned in the recent issue of consumer reports.

Another user on a discussion forum discusses about his bad experiences regarding AppleCare services. His iPhone had a rattling sound coming from it. They were adamant not to replace it with another one. They said it’s a frequent issue. When the user tried getting to talk to an expert through Genius, he was informed that there are no booked appointments (Poor Apple AfterCare Service, 2009).
However, there is another customer who has had a remarkable experience with AppleCare. He has good regard for AppleCare Protection Plan. Due to his immensely amazing experience, he recommends everyone buy the Protection Plan (Santilli, 2005).

Problem Areas
Seeing from the above experiences of customers, it seems that some of them are not satisfied with the aftercare service provided by AppleCare. This is because of:
-Impolite staff at AppleCare.

-Disorganized way of handling issues.
-Typical attitude of giving less importance to customers after they have spent a huge amount of money on Apple products.
-Lack of realization of the fact that if a customer is disappointed with the service, he might not come back ever again.

Recommendations
The genius who solves problems should be more customer-focused and try to resolve customers’ problems quickly.
The appointment system, though, is good, but it can be irritating for customers. There should be some other system for customers who urgently need to see a genius.
If an item is processed for request, it should not be kept on hold for long. Read More