I have a number of iPods acquired over the past few years, one of which was a present from Kathie for my 60th birthday. Naturally this takes pride of place and I look after it even better than I do the others.A couple of months ago the click-wheel stopped working and I could neither turn it off or use the menus. It would still function perfectly on a dock using the remote control so I decided to seek out a repair company and have the iPod mended.
After the usual trawl around the Internet I came upon AppleIpodRepair.co.uk, a division of M Blue Ltd. I called them from Spain and they promised to do the repair for £19.99 but would need to add £15.00 for the return postage. I was a bit miffed at this latter charge as I know that postage to Spain is not very expensive, and this company normally offers inclusive delivery within the UK. They should only have charged the difference, say £5.00. To the left/above is their logo as it appears on their website.
A graphic from the website showing how easy it isHaving no choice I duly shelled out the money from my credit card, packed up the iPod in bubble wrap, put it in a jiffy bag, and sent it using the Royal Mail service from the Costa Blanca. It left Spain on 3 May and was received back on 24 May. It had cost them less than £9.00 to post it. Their website promises a three day turnaround but even allowing for the vagaries of the Spanish postal system this repair took a long time.
When I opened the pack I could immediately see a problem. The top plate was missing. The reason I sent the iPod out for repair was that I did not want to attempt to take it apart even though I could have bought the parts for a fraction of the cost of sending it away. So I was surprised when, following my phone call of complaint, AppleIpodRepair.co.uk told me that the plate was missing upon arrival. I know it was in place when I packed it up because I used the "Hold" switch on the top plate to prevent the device from turning on accidentally once the click wheel ceased to function. I think that most companies would have advised their customer of any noticeable damage before commencing work so as not to be blamed for said damage.
Additionally the iPod was returned in a filthy state with oily finger marks all over the newly installed click wheel, a large piece of masking tape wrapped around the body with the repair details written on it (although no mention of the missing plate), and the bottom plate had been removed and replaced in a damaged fashion.
Five unanswered emails later I had to resort to the threat of bad publicity if they would not send me a replacement plate. They first of all offered to send me one "if a spare happened to come into their hands". Later they said they would send one out to me anyway. This was 3 June 2011 and today is 18 June 2011. I asked them to email me when the item is posted but I am still waiting. I have sent two further emails of enquiry but have not received a reply.
Now this may seem a lot of fuss over a small missing item but Customer Service in the UK has fallen to such an appallingly low level that if we do not report it and continue to accept it then it will deteriorate further.
I do not expect to receive the missing item as AppleIpodRepair.co.uk have had my money and now apparently cease to care. If they did I am sure that they would at least answer my emails.
If the missing part does arrive then I will amend this post to say so. After all I am only stating the truth about this incident and will continue so to do.
Any readers of this article should consider carefully where to send their expensive iPods when needing repair and not just believe the Testimonials which any particular company chooses to publish. I don't suppose this one will see the light of day.