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So I purchased the iPhone X (256GB, Silver). Caved in mainly because of the camera specs, and because my old 6S was slowing to a crawl and running out of space (I was previously on 64GB but I take photos like a maniac).

Excited, I was.

My excitement waned significantly when I was setting up the new iPhone on the 23rd February. I’m the type of user who migrates all my data from phone to phone because I am sentimental like that. (I keep WhatsApp chats from as long as 8 years ago.) The iPhone X was a pain to setup, and I lost some notes and all my WhatsApp chats along the way. As it turned out, iTunes backups for WhatsApp chats have ceased to be effective and I had to move my chat backups to iCloud. Luckily, I got everything restored, although it took 3 hours.

My excitement waned further while getting used to the new gestures for the iPhone X. There was no more home button, so I had to get used to multitasking, killing apps and how to take screenshots. (I actually had to Google to figure out how to use the X.)

The excitement returned when it was time to start using the X for photos. I snapped happily for a couple of days.

Until the dreaded green line appeared on the side of my screen on the 25th February.

Green line, still visible as of today.

#LineGate apparently. A quick Google search showed that other iPhone X users have faced this. It’s a thin vertical green line that extends down the height of the screen. Some on the edges, others in the middle of the screen. Mine was on the right edge which thankfully wasn’t too disruptive, but annoying all the same.

Considering this is a phone with a market worth of close to $2000 (Singapore dollars), this was certainly not acceptable. I’ve been lucky so far with my other phones, and #AntennaGate and #BendGate hadn’t happened to me. But it seems like my luck has finally run out.

And here is where my looooooong battle with Apple begins.

Sit back and grab a coffee. Because this is a ridiculously long post.

Just like how Apple is taking ridiculously long to resolve this issue.

—–

25th February 2018
I contacted Apple’s chat support to report the issue, and was attended to by a very helpful advisor named Jenny. Although the chat session lasted a lot longer than it should have (78 minutes 32 seconds, according to the transcript), she offered all the available options to get the phone replaced, and arranged to have a replacement phone sent directly to my house within 2-3 business days.

All I had to do was to wait for the phone to arrive.

And I did not have to make a special trip to the Apple Store to get this resolved. (Very much appreciated, because walking is painful for me – medical issues.)

The incoming parcel will also have a return packet so I could send my current defective phone back. Again, the steps for this were simple. I just had to call DHL to arrange a pick-up – directly from my home. I had to do so within a week, but this also meant I will have both phones on hand for me to transfer my data, and I didn’t have to make any additional trips to send the phone back.

I was impressed. And also very grateful.

The only downside was there would be a hold of $1.8K on my credit card until they received my original defective phone at their Despatch department. Fair enough. The funds would be released anyway, and I was technically going to be holding on to two iPhone X handsets.

In preparation for sending the return phone back, I was also told to disable ‘Find My iPhone’ on my current phone, which I did so almost immediately.

I thanked Jenny profusely and the chat session ended.

Little did I know then that my nightmare with Apple’s Support was just about to begin.

—–

26th January 2018
I received a notification email that my replacement iPhone X 256GB in Silver has been shipped and that I could expect it within the next 2 business days.

Yay!

—–

27th February 2018
The parcel containing my replacement phone was was waiting for me that evening when I returned home from work. I dove into it excitedly, eager to finally transfer my data over so that this defective phone with #LineGate will be out of my hands. At last!

Inside the packet, there was:
A box containing the replacement phone
An empty return packet (for sending my current defective phone back)
Instructions on how to send the return package and arranging a pickup with DHL

But first things first, the phone. Whee!

I opened the box.

Something didn’t look right.

I flipped the phone over. It was a black phone. (Space Grey rather, but it looked black to me.)

They sent me the wrong color!

I went onto chat support immediately and got through to an advisor, Bob. Bob was originally helpful, apologizing for the mix-up and reassured me that he will help get the correct phone to me. He escalates the issue to senior management and says that he will arrange for phone support to contact me the very next morning. (Yay!)

That was short-lived, though.

He asks me for my current iPhone’s serial number. I gave it to him.

From the Transcript (With names altered)

Bob: Do you have the old iPhone’s serial number?
Brenda: Current (defected) iPhone’s serial number is G6TV********
Bob: The old serial number, o you have it?
Brenda: Old iPhone as in the iPhone X with the green line right?
Bob: Yes please
Brenda: Yes, that’s the one
Brenda: G6TV******** is for that phone
Bob: Ok, that is the correct serial number of the iPhone you have. Do you have the serial number of the damaged iPhone X by any chance?
Brenda: Already gave it to you, it’s the one above?
Bob: It’s showing as inactive though so it means it’s already changed.

He then realized he could not update my case notes because my current phone was showing up as ‘inactive’ in their system. (I was asked to disable ‘Find My iPhone’ for the current phone in preparation for sending it back a couple of days ago. And apparently that got in the way of them updating their case notes. Don’t ask me how – it didn’t make sense to me either.)

So now, the scheduled phone call could not happen. I was starting to get frustrated.

He gives me a number to call the very next day.

I ask whether this is a direct line.

He says yes.

“By direct line, I mean that I’m not going to encounter all that ‘press 1 for this, press 2 for that’ nonsense before I get to speak to an actual human, right?” – I clarify.

He says yes again.

I was just about to ask about the phone support’s operating hours when he suddenly types “Thank you, Brenda” and disconnects the chat. Abruptly.

Oh well, okay.

—–

28th February 2018
I dial their hotline number at 10am, thinking I could get this sorted before I head to the office.

“Thank you for calling Apple.”
“For support in Eng-Ga-Leese (?!?!), please press 1.” (In a heavy Chinese accent.)
“For 中文, please press 2.”

Direct line huh. My ass.

After being on hold for 12 minutes, I decided that enough was enough. I needed to get to work and I was already late. I disconnected the call and headed to the office.

After reaching my desk, I dialed again.

I was on hold for a total of 50 minutes before I got to speak to a human.

Or perhaps not. The advisor on the line was so puzzled what to do that she put me on hold several times. Eventually, she came back on the line with Al, a senior advisor.

I reiterated the entire situation to Al, who after much reassuring and promising to get this resolved for me, proceeded to ask me for the IMEI number of the replacement phone I received.

I did not have the phone with me. It was at home and I was currently still using the defective one. Thankfully, the “Your replacement product has shipped” email notification from Apple contained all these details.

So I read out the number to him.

Al seems genuinely confused.

“Is that for the replacement phone?” He asks.

“Yes.”

“And you received a black phone?” He asks again.

“Yes.”

“But on our records, that IMEI number matches a silver phone!” He says.

“Nope, I received a black phone.” I affirm.

Wow, now we have a mystery.

“Can you send me a photo of the IMEI and serial number sticker on the phone box you received?” Al asks.

“I don’t have the phone with me now. I’m at work. I can ask my parents at home to help though.” – Me.

“Please do! I will send you a link to upload the files!” Al says. We end the call shortly after that.

Conversations with my parents ensue, with my Dad helpfully retrieving the package in my room and sending the requested photo over. Just in case, I also asked Dad to verify the color of the phone in the box (he says it was indeed, black) and to send over photos of the phone from different angles.

I upload all the files to Al.

We have a very interesting situation, it seems. At that point in time, it was looking more and more like an internal logistics screw-up where the wrong metadata was entered for this particular replacement phone.

Al calls again later that afternoon.

“This is indeed very interesting. The phone is definitely black, but yet the IMEI and serial number on the box tallies.” – Al.

No shit, Sherlock.

“Can I ask you to do one last thing for me? Can you switch on the phone and tell me the IMEI and serial number that appears on the screen?” – Al.

“I’ve already mentioned the phone is not with me. I will need to ask my parents for help again and this is probably not something as straightforward.” – I say.

“I understand you are trying to verify whether the phone itself has the correct IMEI number. But it is already clear cut in the photos I sent that the phone I received was a black one, which means you guys sent me the wrong phone. While I get the photos for you tonight, how about you kick start the process of sending me the CORRECT replacement phone in parallel since this is obviously Apple’s mistake?” – I continue.

Al promised he will arrange another replacement phone to be sent, and sends me another link for me to upload my files.

We ended the call on that note.

And that very night, I uploaded his requested photo.

—–

1st March 2018
Al calls me that afternoon and thanks me for the photos. However, their policy for sending another replacement phone was to put another hold of $1.8K on my credit card.

I was incredulous.

“There is already a hold of $1.8K on my credit card for the phone. Why must there be another one?” – I ask.

“Because you are currently already holding on to one replacement phone.” – Al.

“But this is Apple’s mistake! You guys sent the incorrect phone!” – Me.

“I’m really sorry, but this is Apple’s policy.” – Al.

Policy. Policy. Policy.

After much back and forth through a couple of phone calls, Al instructs me to place the incorrect replacement phone into the return packet and arrange a pick-up with DHL. And they will send out a new replacement phone after the existing (incorrect) one has been received.

Meanwhile, the deadline for me to return my current defective phone has been extended to the end of March, while the existing $1.8K hold on my credit card remains.

That night, I arranged a courier pick up with DHL for the very next day.

—–
2nd March 2018
DHL courier arrives that afternoon to collect the return package containing the incorrect replacement phone.

—–
8th March 2018
It’s been almost a week since DHL came to collect the return package, but it’s been nothing but radio silence from Apple on the situation.

That’s strange, I thought. And also very irresponsible.

Then at midday, a warning email from Apple arrived: My current phone was due to be back at Apple within 4 days or the holding charge on my credit card will be deducted.

Infurigated, I contacted chat support, summarized my case and requested for phone support to call me immediately. (My last waiting time on phone support before I got to speak to an actual human was ridiculous and I surely didn’t want to go through that shit all over again.)

A call came in.

I pounced at my phone, thinking yay, a human I can talk to.

“Thank you for contacting Apple.”
“To speak to an advisor, please press 1. (Blah blah blah.)”

Me: -.-

But fair enough, I waited only 10 minutes before I got to speak to an advisor this time. But the lady who got on the line was so clueless about my case, she put me on hold three times while “she checked on things”. After what seemed like eternity, she got back on the line and introduced me to J1, another senior advisor.

J1 gets on the line, acknowledged that my case was indeed an unusual one and reassured me that he will get things fixed for me as soon as possible. I reiterated my summary of the situation, which was “I sent the return package containing the incorrect replacement phone to Apple last Friday, and it’s been nothing but radio silence from you guys on the status on my case. And I also received an email that my return item is due in 4 days.”

J1 was puzzled. “When did you receive that email?”

“Today. Not too long ago, about midday”

“That’s strange. Because here, it states the deadline has been extended to 29th March. Which is plenty of time. I’m not sure why you got that email.” – J1.

“Okay.”

I inquire again. “I just need to know two things. 1. Whether my return package has been received. And 2. When I will receive the replacement phone. Apple screwed up on the replacement phone and this case has dragged on for almost 2 weeks. But all I got radio silence from you guys. This is not acceptable.”

J1 says he will have to check with the Despatch and Customer Relations departments to get more information, and promised to call me between 4-5pm that afternoon. We eventually settled on 5pm.

“I will send you an email with my direct contact so you can reach me…” – J1.

Yay, a direct line! Or so I thought.

“… but I am away from the phone most of the time so you’d probably get my voicemail.” – J1 continues. (I sighed at this point.)

But nevermind, he’ll be calling me back with the details. All’s good for now.

So for the rest of the day, I did whatever work I could do in the office and tried to get this mess out of my mind.

But as the clock approached 5pm, I stayed by my phone, postponing even toilet breaks just in case I missed a call from Apple. (Because re-calling their hotline was just too much of a pain in the ass.) And as developers/programmers are well aware, it is impossible to get into the zone when you are expecting a phone call. And I had plenty of coding to do.

5pm came and went.

5.15pm came and went.

5.30pm came and went.

5.45pm came and went.

…

6.30pm came and went.

Boy, was I fuming.

Since I knew I couldn’t reach J1 easily (he mentioned he was away from the phone most of the time, remember?), I went back to chat support, reiterated my case (again) and demanded another phone call pronto.

From the Transcript (With names altered)

Ed: May I have your phone number, I’ll see if we can get someone to call you.
Brenda: According to the previous senior support advisor (J1), the person in charge of my case (Al) was supposed to call me.
Brenda: At 5pm. Singapore time.
Brenda: I’ve been camping by my phone the past couple of hours.
Ed: Totally understandable. If they are still open, we can try setting up the call.
Ed: What’s your phone number?
Brenda: [Number]
Ed: Thanks, tell me once it rings.
Brenda: No, wait. The call has to be directly from the senior advisor in charge of my case.
Brenda: I arranged a phone call this morning because I have had no response to my case status. And I was taken on by an advisor who had no clue what was going on.
Brenda: And I was passed from person to person and had to explain my case over and over again.
Ed: Yep, I totally understand. Actually, with regards to this, we can’t be sure if we’ll get the same people but at least we can get some one to call you and we’ll request to get you connected to a Senior advisor.
Ed: I’m actually looking at the case but seems they were unable to set up the callback using that case number. So for me to help, I can set up the callback using our case number and link it with the old one.

(They were unable to arrange a callback. And no one even bothered to inform me?!)

So the same process repeated. My phone rang.

“Thank you for contacting Apple.”
“To speak to an advisor, please press 1. (Blah blah blah.)”

This time I was on hold for only a couple of seconds before an advisor came on the line. Yay, a human.

No wait, another clueless one.

I went through the same experience of being put on hold multiple times while this advisor checks on my case. Eventually, the advisor comes back on the line with another senior advisor, J2.

“Great, another senior advisor.” I say. “First, there was Al, then J1, and now you.”

J2 apologizes profusely for J1 not calling me as promised, and assures me that if he was a customer, he surely wouldn’t want to be treated like that. He promises he will take on my case fully and help me resolve this ASAP.

“Well, that was what J1 said earlier too.” – I say.

“Yes, but I’ll make sure I call you back.” – J2.

“Okay.”

“But the thing is, I am currently based in Brisbane Australia and it’s 9pm here. All the relevant departments (Despatch and Customer Relations) have also closed so I can’t get the information I need. So I will call you back tomorrow, is that okay?” – J2.

“…” – Me.

“So, I contacted chat support for 20 minutes this morning, was put on hold on the line for another 10, before I got to an advisor who put me on hold 3 times before I spoke to J2 for another 5-10 minutes, who then promised to call me back at 5pm. I camped by my phone for almost 2 hours only to have no one call me back. I wrestled with chat support for another 10 minutes, was put on hold several times again before I get to speak to you. Only to have you tell me that you’re going to call me back tomorrow?” – Me (Thinking: Did I just waste my entire day?)

“…” – J2.

“Well, I really do apologize.” – J2.

I do understand that J2’s hands were tied at that point though, so we closed the call on that note, and that he would call me back the next day at 11am.

—–

9th March 2018
J2 calls me as promised, and requests for the IMEI number of the phone I currently had with me. Only then did he realize that the phone I presently had with me was the original defective iPhone, and all this while, he thought I was holding on to the incorrect replacement set. (Oh my god. What?!)

I clarified that Al had instructed me to send the incorrect replacement phone back instead of my defective one, which made sense because I am not going to do the re-setup over and over again.

He refers to my case notes again.

Apparently Despatch was not aware of Al’s instructions and were still expecting a parcel with the defective phone.

He puts me on hold and contacts the Despatch Department. Following which, the situation takes on an interesting twist – my return package has not yet been received by Apple. (DHL?! Package still not received even though I’ve sent the parcel out a week ago? Really?! DHL is usually pretty reliable.)

He asks me for the tracking number of my return parcel and I got stumped at this point. I could only recall the stack of instructions that came in the parcel, which I had already thrown out. The only thing I had was the tracking number of the incoming parcel (which was the first replacement phone).

“Ah, then I’ll check with Despatch to see if anything can be done.” – J2 says.

Again, I request for the correct replacement phone to be sent out, only to be told (again) that “another holding charge of $1.8K will be placed on my credit card.” I was pretty forgiving of the first holding charge because it made sense. But after all the screw-ups from Apple the past week, I insist (again) that this should not be the case because it was Apple that messed up and not me.

It really felt as if we were going round and round in circles.

J2 says he will talk to Customer Relations and puts me on hold.

A few minutes later, he returns on the line with M, a customer relations advisor based in Singapore who again, reassured me he’ll do whatever he can. (I was getting pretty tired of this phrase by now, because several people have said that to me and we still haven’t gone anywhere.)

M asks again for the return parcel’s tracking number, which I again clarified I did not have as I’ve thrown out the stack of papers containing the return instructions thinking I wouldn’t need it anymore. (I would have kept it if I had known the situation would turn so messy.)

M repeats what J2 said earlier about contacting Despatch to see how they can track the item down.

I ask again about when the correct replacement phone will be sent out. No prizes for guessing what M said – they can only send another replacement phone if an additional $1.8K hold was placed on my credit card because “it was their policy”.

Policy. Policy. Policy. On repeat.

And the tune of “merry go round and round and round, round and round, round and round.” was playing in my head.

I’ve given up, seriously.

I just agreed to whatever shit they said to me subsequently and hung up.

So now, they haven’t received my return package. Neither of us have the tracking number. There won’t be a second replacement sent to me at this point, and they will only send another when the return package is received. I will just have to wait for an update next week.

I don’t have any issue using a defective phone with the green line issue for a longer period. But I’m holding off crucial set-ups such as Google Authenticator 2FA and other work-related stuff such as SSH which are tedious, and I don’t wish to repeat that on two phones. Additionally, I take issue with the fact that their service recovery is so bad. Multiple screw ups in their internal records, logistics, inter-department communication, non-returning of phone calls, and all they can do is to recite their policy to me like well-trained robots.

I paid a premium price of $1.8K for a defective phone and terrible support.

Meanwhile, it’s 2 weeks into the saga and this customer is still waiting for her correct replacement phone.

—–
Epilogue
Parents and friends alike were telling me I was too lenient on them. “Not fierce enough,” they say. And that others would already be cursing and swearing at this point and demanding to get the replacement phone ASAP. Granted, I could have been more demanding (I re-read the later part of this post and it seemed as if I was getting trampled all over), but they are all so clueless, what good will that do?

I would put this down to improper training of their staff with crisis and service recovery. I think I’ve easily spoken to more than 10 people in the past week alone. Most of them were just as confused as I was and had to refer me to senior staff. Despite all that, we haven’t really gotten anywhere.

Plus, I cannot bring myself to be too nasty to customer service staff because they have one of the worst jobs in the world – dealing with humans can be like herding angry bulls.

Prior to this saga, I had a really good impression of Apple customer service. But now, it just seems like my brain was still stuck in the Steve Job’s era.

Apple, get your shit together.

—–
Oh, and one more thing.
To my friends with medical conditions that require you to wear a face mask most of the time, do not get the iPhone X. You won’t be able to use Face ID most of the time. I’m currently stuck with passcode unlock because I chose the iPhone X too impulsively, and now I actually wish I chose the iPhone 8. (And if I did, perhaps I wouldn’t have had to deal with all this more-trouble-than-it’s-worth bullshit.)