customer service

Accusing Apple of a "misleading" and "illegal" AppleCare warranty policies, a Belgian consumer rights group will be taking the tech giant to court.

The Cupertino, Calif., company has come under fire after allegations were made that AppleCare, Apple's warranty system for products including the iPad and iPhone, does not conform to European law. As a result, Belgian consumer watchdog Test-Aankoop/Test-Achats has filed a complaint against the company (Dutch).

European consumer law states that within the European Union, two years' warranty must be provided for products free of charge. However, for customers elsewhere, AppleCare has … Read more

An avid player of Electronic Arts' "The Simpsons: Tapped Out" mobile game, David Lamb was disheartened when he logged into his account in October and found that all of the data from his game was gone.

The iOS game, which is essentially "Farmville" with Springfield buildings and Simpsons characters, rewards players who spend huge amounts of time completing tasks and collecting money in an effort to re-create their favorite animated city. Lamb, a 45-year-old video editor from La Canada, Calif., had accumulated $80,000 in game cash and 70 donuts (the game's premium currency) after … Read more

While Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg wouldn't affirm whether or not Facebook could take on Google in the search arena, it's clear the social-networking giant thinks there's an untapped revenue stream in a social search product.

"I think people are surprised how much search is done on Facebook, you know, every day there's an enormous percentage of search. There's also a promise in the market that search could become more social that we don't think this has been met," she told CNBC this morning. "When you're looking for information, … Read more

If you've ever needed to resolve a simple billing question or handle anything other than signing up for a new service, you know that you need to block out time to navigate the phone trees or other obstacles corporations throw in your way. Customer service costs them money, and the more issues they can resolve without paying a human representative, the better for their bottom line. When we need to reach someone, though, this can mean interminable waiting and frustration. GetHuman is a Web service designed to help you get the assistance you need quickly. Here's how to … Read more

It must have been quite a surreal scene.

A woman in Louisville, Ky., claims that last Saturday she arranged a date with a man, who arrived at her door and pointed a gun at her leg.

He then allegedly forced her to drive around to several stores, in order to buy cell phones in her own name, with her own money.

According to WDRB News, one of those stores was an Apple Store in Oxmoor Mall.

Somehow -- it's unclear how -- her puported kidnapper, named as Victor A. Sarver Jr., 32, was sufficiently negligent to allow the unnamed … Read more

I have just gotten off an American Airlines flight on which, as I approached my window seat, an off-duty airline lady crew member suggested I sit in the aisle seat instead "as that's what men normally want."

This peculiarly sexist foray into the personal psychology of the male I found slightly disturbing.

However, would I find it disturbing if, on checking in with an airline, the member of staff said: "Loved your post yesterday about men who code naked."

I fear I might like it. Which is why I am in three minds (at least) … Read more

Cell phone providers can be annoying. They do all sorts of unspeakable things like charge us for texts that cost them very little to send.

However, one gentleman seems to have enjoyed an extra level of irritation at the services provided by T-Mobile in the U.K.

I am grateful to TechCrunch for directing me to footage posted on YouTube that shows a gentleman in a T-Mobile store in Manchester, England, who expressed his displeasure a little too aggressively. … Read more

Apple could be changing how its brick-and-mortar stores are laid out, according to a new report.

Apple Store tracker ifoAppleStore.com reported yesterday that Apple is currently testing out a new Genius Bar layout in its stores. Rather than have the table run parallel to the wall at the back of the store, the company is considering turning it 90 degrees to make it perpendicular to that wall.

The blog claims to have obtained an image of the new layout, which shows a table stretched from the back wall, and flanked on two sides with stools. That effectively increases the … Read more

If you want a customer service answer on Twitter, you'll have your best luck tweeting Zappos or LLBean. (Assuming that's where you did your shopping.)

Out of the top 25 online retailers, Zappos and LLBean proved the most responsive on Twitter, answering 100 percent of customer tweets within 24 hours, according to STELLAservice, an independent rater of online customer-service performance that posted its findings in a blog entry posted today.

The other top retailers answered an average of 44 percent of customer services questions.

For the study, mystery shoppers tweeted daily customer service questions to the Twitter accounts … Read more