[temporary notes]
- bought iPad1 three years ago in USA
- I live in Thailand
- last year, I damaged the screen internally
- took it to Authorized Service Provider to ask to have it repaired out of warranty
- cannot repair devices (no facilities) - cannot ship device to repair center elsewhere in the world (whether Singapore, China or USA), but can buy a refurbished replacement for $500 (comes with 3-month warranty) and must wait 2 weeks for replacement to be shipped from Singapore
- I decided to buy a new iPad3 instead and deal with the problem later
- I contacted Apple on numerous occasions, different story each time:
1. Cannot repair device (which I estimated would only cost $120 to do)
2. A device sold in the USA is considered to be a different part to the same device sold in SE Asia, therefore cannot be replaced outside the USA
3. There is a $250 replacement service if you bring the device to an Apple Store in USA (it cannot be shipped directly to Apple, so find a friend in the USA who will do it)
4. Complaints are not escalated: the support (or customer relations) representative is the most senior person a customer can speak to.
5. Complaints may be submitted to the feedback section of the website, but "no guarantee that anyone will get back to you or that any action will be taken"
6. Contact details of senior members of Apple may not be divulged to customers
- I did eventually get through to a "senior" customer relations rep at Apple Singapore who agreed to accept the device for a replacement and he contacted the ASP in Thailand to authorize it.
- I went back to the same ASP as before and they said: $500 to replace the device for a refurbished one. No, we cannot repair it, and we do not ship it to Apple repair facilities.
- I called the rep who said he had discussed a fee of $330 (the extra $80 to cover the labor that the ASP would incur for processing the replacement)
- I spoke to a few non-authorized repair centers in Singapore, who said they can replace a damaged screen for $120
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