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1st January 2021.
Like most people, I wake up with a slightly sore head.
Like most parents I immediately check my phone to scroll through the ‘Happy New Year!’ messages that people without kids sent after midnight.
Amongst the messages is one from Apple, sent at 5am. ‘That’s nice’, I think. ‘They’ve sent a message to their customers as the ball dropped in New York City.’
I open the email.
‘Your trade-in value has been revised. Estimated £300. Revised £0.’
Happy New Year, love from all at Cupertino.
The reason they give for the change doesn’t make sense. Apparently I haven’t taken the activation lock off, but I know I have.
It must be a mistake, easy to resolve, I’m sure.
This is the story of the next five weeks, of multiple phone calls, repetitive emails, hard-to-please social media teams, and of several hours of my life wasted – but one that has a happy ending.
More importantly, it’s a case study in what to do – and what not to do – when something goes wrong in your customer experience.
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