DigiHunter

Korean customer care: Responsible to Apple Korea or Asia-Pacific?

Dec 23, 2008 12:47

Apple Korea seemed to create one of great issues in 2008 by themselves and now Apple Asia-Pacific has come to solve this matter. Yes, it is not good to make this kind of noise and I don't understand why Apple Korea let this happen. They are a consumer electronics brand and these kinds of issues isn't positive to them especially since the company still wants to increase its market share in Korea.

Curious about what I'm talking about? It happened last week and has been broadcasted on the main TV news channel in Korea and all the newspapers lately. Some media outlets are asking why Apple is running a branch office in Korea if it is allowed to act like this.

Here is the brief story of the Apple iPod nano (1st gen) explosion in Korea.

I bought an Apple iPod nano (1st gen) a few years back and I left it on my desk to charge via a USB cable. Somehow it blew up while I was in a meeting. Who should I contact?

Yes, Apple Korea and what should they have done?
1. Check for any injury or damage on customer side.
2. Check the circumstances of how it blew up.
3. Advise what other steps will be provided after the phone conversation ends.
4. Send someone down to the site to check other possible reasons that caused it to blow up.
5. Replace your device for a new one and other items that were damaged by this iPod nano explosion.

Those are the most typical steps we mostly see in action, right?

I called up Apple Korea and recounted what just happened on my desk. The response was that similar cases have happened in Korea and they do have an action guide for such cases.(nano 1st gen battery related link) Also, they told me that it's a known problem for the 1st-generation nano. "Please send that iPod nano to us and we will recover your damages related this case." Just like this? No one even came to check the site and technical problems that may have caused my nano to blow up? Why? Because I'm okay or my office isn't burned out? I'm not talking about a broken LCD or earphone socket or something like that. The iPod nano just blew up on my desk while it was charging via the PC. I told them that I can take photos of this and upload it to community sites, but they didn't seem to care about that as well.

This customer listed the above story to one of Korea's best-known gadget community site the same day it happened. You can probably imagine what happened after this. The case has been discussed a lot on many community sites and Apple Korea contacted him again and offered him a new version of the iPod nano but still not going down to the site to check and saying it's overheating, not explosion (check out the picture above).

Well, there are more stories on this case but the main story is that Apple Korea didn't treat the case more seriously even though it was a known problem since the related explosion. Its service to the customer also came under criticism. The case has been handed over to Apple Asia-Pacific after it was broadcasted in Korea.

Korea is one of the unusual markets that Apple doesn't get more than 50 percent of the MP3 player market share. Also, the iPhone has not been released in Korea. The iTunes Music Store is also not available. Apple's customer service has improved but many Koreans still think that its service isn't good as other brands here in Korea. Apple Korea should listen courteously to what Korean customers are asking, since they have great gadgets and branding to promote in Korea. I don't know what they've done and are doing in Korea. Distribution is done by a selected company in Korea as well as the customer service. What they are doing here? Marketing? What kind of marketing?

It seems Apple Asia-Pacific will be facing a tough holiday season with problems in Korea.

Customers know what other local companies did for similar cases here in Korea. And, those companies aren't big like Apple. Apple is an international brand and company and should present the right way to take care of customers but they made a big mistake here at the end of 2008.

I have an Apple iPod touch 1st generation and 2nd generation. If the same happens to me, should I contact Apple Asia-Pacific to receive service as a customer? Or should I post a picture first to get Apple Korea's attention? That is question of the day.

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