What Claiming Airpods warranty tells me about Outsourcing: Apple Store Singapore vs Authorized Service Centers
Given as a gift to me, Apple AirPods (2nd gen) was probably one of the most life-changing products I’ve had recently. Although admittedly, I would have not probably shelled out the amount of money if I had to purchase it myself. Given how long my previous buds lasted me, I always ended up usually getting myself value earbuds (read: very cheap/free).
Well, history repeats even with the AirPods that I love so much. Seven months into usage, I suddenly discovered that one evening during a call, my AirPods microphone suddenly became very soft / barely audible.
Pro tip: I was able to isolate the problem to the left AirPod. To test this, have the iPhone to only use either left or right microphone (go to Settings — Bluetooth — Airpods — Microphone ). Then used voice memo application on your iPhone to record yourself. You could see on the fly on the app’s wave indicator if there was any fluctuation of loudness during recording. Or you could simply play your recording afterward.
Warranty Experience
So I made an online appointment to have the AirPods examined and replaced. If you don’t know, AirPods can’t be fixed — at least officially, so any defects will result in replacements.
This was about a month into the Phase 2 of Singapore post-lockdown reopening, and all Apple service centers in Singapore operated at limited capacity.
An appointment was very hard to get in Apple’s own store — so I ended up booking a slot in QCD Wheelock since I could get the next day. QCD was one of Apple’s third-party authorized service center.
This was despite the horror story I had read on the internet about third party service centers.
A friend of mine even warned me that in the past he had been forced to pay out of pocket with another 3rd party service center (A-Lab) despite his AirPods had been under warranty. The reasoning given: there were signs of corrosion in his AirPods after checked with magnifying glass. Cause of corrosion = liquid damage ( sane person, he never submerged his AirPods).
I came 30 minutes earlier from my appointment in QCD Wheelock and I was still let in (bonus points here). During the checks, initially, the staff was not able to find any fault. But I came prepared, I was able to prove the issue (check Pro tip section earlier).
Then the nightmare started, the guy came up with magnifying glass.. and it’s the same story as my friend’s experience. He spotted green spots. Green spots were signs of corrosion due to sweat. Sweat = liquid damage = not covered under warranty. Luckily, I have gone through many books about stoicism.
So instead of going balistic and @#$%^%, I talked nicely to him that I refused to pay. I insisted that my usage should have been within the normal operating range of the product. The person wouldn’t budge but suggested me to retry at Apple Store Orchard after he was happy enough that he got to write his service report.
So I went straight to Apple Store Orchard Road hoping to be able to walk-in, given I was routed there from their other service center.
Yup — I was able to get the same-day appointment, with the catch: waiting time was five hours and I’ll get a text.
As you know, Apple is usually spot-on in with their benchmarks like the battery life of their products. Well, turned out they were pretty spon-on too with their service center waiting time.
I camped in the nearby cafe and I was able to make the wait productive by completing important work.. so the wait wasn’t too bad for me. That also gave time to prepare all my bullets of arguments: Apple sells Airpods with promotion depicting people exercising; Apple should not sell Airpods in tropical humid Singapore if sweat voids the warranty.
Around 6 PM, I received a text that my appointment was next. Turned out the array of arguments I was preparing were not necessary. Except for the surreal experience in the Apple store involving the safe distancing requirement (and how empty it was), everything went smoothly.
QCD told me I had to pay S$99 to replace only one side and even then I had to wait few days. Apple store honored the warranty and gave me a new pair (yes both sides) of new Airpods immediately, free of charge.
At QCD, I felt I was treated as an annoyance instead of a customer. In the Apple store, I felt I was treated not only that ‘Customer is king’ but as a human too. The genius bar lady, Elly was fantastic. We had a good chat as she was testing my Airpods: about how we both miss travel. And how it’s tough to wear masks especially when it’s to be worn all day like for her and her colleagues.
Hypothesis: Bottomline vs Topline
So what’s with this huge service disparity between Apple Store (and I’ve heard a lot of fantastic experience about Apple Store in Singapore and overseas) versus its third party service center?
I tried to look it up on Reddit or Singapore’s local forum like hardwarezone since this is such a consistent theme. I gather that the following hypothesis makes the most sense.
Apple Store functions not only as a service or sales center of Apple. It’s an ambassador to demonstrate the superiority of Apple brand(hence their pretty, and iconic design). It is simply in Apple Store’s mission to expand Apple’s topline.
Meanwhile, for third party service centers like QCD and A Labs, warranty is cost. They will also have to justify to Apple to claim back the cost of the warranty. It is in the best interest of these service centers to protect the bottom line.
Having considered all these, I wouldn’t fault all the third party service centers for their subpar services. I believe Apple also needs to play a hand to fix this problem.
With this hypothesis, Apple in my mind can possibly do either:
- Change the dynamics with these service centers and how they are accountable.
- Establish a more direct presence in the heart of Singapore. So they can stop outsourcing to these centers or absorb them completely.
Final thoughts
This is another display of how Outsourcing model not done right can possibly tarnish your brand.
Obviously only Apple and these service centers know the facts. So please take my personal opinion with a grain of salt. This is just an opinion of a customer who has had various Apple products for many years and never had to claim any warranty from Apple.. until few weeks ago.
