Avatar
@iamgregb

A Case Against Chat Support

My Apple Watch has been acting up ever since I changed the region of my Apple Account. The Apple Watch app refuses to download any music to the watch, no matter what I do.

So, as a tech support person myself, I decide to contact Apple Support about it.

Here is how it went:

  • We start at 15:15.
  • I share detailed information about the issue and the troubleshooting steps I have already tried.
  • I can’t upload a screen recording of the problem because their interface doesn’t support the file format.
  • They ask me questions about things I have already explained.
  • I get disconnected from the first advisor.
  • I get reconnected to a second advisor.
  • They take some time to check the conversation history.
  • They ask me the same questions again about things I have already shared.
  • I am asked a few more questions, and I reply with more details.
  • The advisor finds out that I have a VPN app installed on my iPhone and suggests uninstalling it, even though there are no active tunnel profiles. It isn’t the VPN.
  • It is 16:00.
  • The second advisor says they have run out of troubleshooting steps they can provide and suggest escalating the issue to phone support.
  • I share my timezone, phone number, and current country.
  • They then find out that phone support isn’t available in Cyprus.
  • By this point, it is 16:15. I have just spent an hour talking to someone in a chat interface who is no help at all and hasn’t moved the issue forward even an inch.
  • Their final suggestion is that I call the Tier 1 support hotline myself to escalate the issue to a Senior Advisor.

An hour later, I am exactly where I started — except now I also have a phone number to call.

I have no idea about their support structure. And most importantly, I have no idea why they can’t just escalate my issue further and reply to me via email, which feels like the sanest thing to do next.

But just imagine how much easier it would be with normal email support. How much more time-, cost-, and mentally efficient email is.

The moral of the story: choose email. Always.