Complaint Review: Apple

On Friday, March 25, 2022, I ordered an iPhone 12 MagSafe case from the apple.com online store. Delivery windows were either “Next Day” or sometime in May. I did not want to wait until May, so I paid extra for next-day shipping. I live in a highrise apartment complex.

I got text-message notifications of the delivery status throughout the day, I didn’t pay close attention. My building has a concierge who can sign for packages; access to the residential floors is limited. I routinely pick up my deliveries from the concierge desk. I’m busy and I have NO reason to plan my day around a delivery to my door.

While I was at the gym on the upper floor of my complex, I got a phone call and then a text message notification from a delivery driver telling me he was at my door and needed someone to sign for the package. I can see why someone would need to sign for a $3,000 computer, which Apple routinely sells … but a $50 iPhone case?

I asked him to bring it to the gym upstairs, or to leave it with the concierge desk. He told me that “the app” doesn’t allow him to do that. Within minutes he informed me that he had marked the package as undeliverable and would be returning it to Apple, who would refund my money.

I became very angry at the inconvenience, demanding that he take reasonable action or get authorization from Apple, since he was at my building and at my door. The concierge could even sign for the package. He then informed me that he was actually an Uber Eats driver, and the app would not allow him to do it. I argued with him by text, but ultimately he left and I did not get my iPhone case. 

I did get my refund, but here are my takeaways … 

1. Apple, a nearly $3 trillion company, failed to deliver an iPhone case to a residential address, something that Amazon and a million other eCommerce companies do routinely every day. This is 2022.

2. Apple subcontracted delivery to Uber Eats, and as a result of a string of empowerment failures the Uber Eats delivery person (i) walked into my building with my phone case, (ii) walked up to my DOOR with my phone case, (iii) walked AWAY from my door with my phone case, (iv) walked OUT of my building with my phone case, and (v) returned my phone case to Apple, all while I was IN THE BUILDING and a concierge was on duty to take deliveries.

3. Already inconvenienced, I spent some time on chat support and phone support to see if Apple would resolve their incompetent handling of the situation. They had to do better than a refund. I was passed around to five people before I told the fifth person, who tried to pass me off again “No, I am not getting passed off again. I have been inconvenienced enough. I have talked to five people, which means your company had five chances to solve the problem, and because no one did, it’s going to be a PR problem for Apple and Uber Eats because I’m going to make as many consumer reports as I can about this.”

I have not reordered my phone case because I am livid at the incompetence. I demand satisfaction in the form of a phone case free-of-charge and an apology. It’s not about the money. It’s about owning the colossal mistake.