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May 14
0

Do upcoming AppleCare changes mean worse iPhone customer service?

By | Apple, iPhone, IT Blog | No Comments

AppleCare Protection Plan

The rumor mill has been buzzing with regards to significant changes that will be coming to AppleCare, Apple’s popular standard and extended warranty program. Interestingly, it appears that AppleCare support for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad is about to become much more of a pain for customers. This marks a significant change where Apple will seemingly make a decision to make the customer service experience worse rather than better, all in the name of saving a ton of money.

 

The way AppleCare works today, if you buy an iOS device, you get a year of AppleCare. You can optionally purchase AppleCare+, extending the warranty by an additional year, and allowing you to purchase a replacement device in the event of accidental damage for $49, twice over the course of the term. If your device has an issue during the AppleCare or AppleCare+ term, Apple would typically hand you a replacement device, while keeping your old one. This usually resulted in an easy, quick in-and-out for customers with legitimately faulty devices.

The changes we are hearing about imply that Apple will no longer make sure that its customers, many of whom rely on their iPhones for day-to-day business and personal matters, have a phone with them when they leave the Apple Store. Instead, iOS devices will be treated similarly to other Apple products–the Apple Geniuses will repair the iPhones that have problems. In other words, instead of walking in with a faulty iPhone and walking out with one that works, you might now would in with that same faulty device, and walk out empty-handed, having to wait a few days before your device is ready.

Apple is a business, with shareholders–many of whom have been particularly frustrated and unhappy with the way the stock has been falling recently. It is estimated that the company will save a whopping $1 billion annually by changing the way faulty iOS device customer service is handled. That’s not chump change. What it is, though (if accurate,) is a shift where the company unequivocally states that, when it comes to customer service, it is willing to cut corners in order to save money.

None of this has been officially announced, it’s just the word from the grapevine, passed on by people familiar with the matter. One thing that’s unknown is what this means for AppleCare+, the $99 extended iOS device warranty. We’re hoping that these changes, if real, only apply to the free included warranty that comes with these devices, and that customers who’ve paid for AppleCare+ will not see any change in the level of service.

 

Apr 30
0

Twitter warns of additional hacks, threats

By | IT Blog | No Comments
Company says the “attacks will continue,” particularly against high-profile media companies.

Twitter knows that many high-profile accounts have suffered at the hands of hackers in recent days, but is putting much of the onus of responsibility on the account holders themselves.

On Monday, Twitter sent a memo to major media and news outlets about the threat — if they hadn’t known already or at least reported on some of them — and noted that it believed these “attacks will continue.” (Buzzfeed posted the memo in full.)

Twitter acknowledged that the “incidents” appear to be “spear phishing attacks that target your corporate email,” that appear to be legitimate e-mails, and that are often sent directly to the account holder.

The memo also noted: “Don’t use this computer to read email or surf the web, to reduce the chances of malware infection,” and to “minimize the number of people that have access” to accounts to prevent human error.

The microblogging service is also working on two-factor authentication, a system in which users can strengthen their accounts by using a double-step method of logging in. Twitter has thus far remained quiet on the matter, but it’s expected that in light of recent successful hacking missions.

Over the past week, numerous CBS News accounts were hacked into, along with the Associated Press’ accounts. The AP hack resulted in a fake tweet about an apparent explosion at the White House, which led to the Dow Jones Industrial Average into a flash plunge last week, dropping more than 100 points in a matter of seconds.

A group called the Syrian Electronic Army claimed responsibility for a number of the attacks.