Seeing several 1-star reviews does not surprise me at all.
I went in for a battery replacement yesterday. The whole dropoff and pickup experience was good and easy, but what happened after that was the issue.
After I paid and the rep left, I noticed visible and multiple cracks in the screen protector with one corner visibly the impact site of a fall. Fresh scrape on casing as well, so I flagged another employee to show the damages. The guy whose name I did not get glanced at it and and confidently said those damages had been there and those are normal wear and tear. I was surprised of that reaction, so I looked at him and said those were definitely not there. I pointed at them and said those were fresh and sharp to the touch. Again, he insisted those had been there. Make a note that this person had never seen my phone prior, so how could he possibly know that!? He then adds, those would be indicated in the work authorization and that he could show me those damages. I dared him to show me. I knew my phone, and I read the dropoff condition and there were none indicated there. No screen damage aside from minor old scratches in the casing.
He pulls up my account, and of course he didn't find any documentation of damages that he claimed had been there, so he glossed over photos during repair and saw a small scratch on one side and pointed at it, "see!" and quickly went through the others (there were no other damages in the photos). I pointed at the big fresh cracks on my phone and asked him to go back to the other photo showing no damage on that side. Voila, no previous damage. He had no comment. No apology. He goes, if we did that, I'll check if we have a replacement protector. "IF we did that." He's still denying and still no apology of the way he smugly treated me. He checks, and no inventory of the screen protector and says "we don't have it, so what I can do is offer you a discount on other accessories." I said I didn't need any accessory, what I needed was a screen protector. He wasn't offering any other solution. "What do you want me to do?" You tell me you work here (I couldn't think clearly coz I was upset and angry)
I told him I did not appreciate his tone and that he could have addressed the situation better, and investigated BEFORE asserting I was wrong. I was visibly upset so I had to step out the building to get fresh air. I went back to complain--it wasn't about the screen protector anymore, but by the way I was treated. I did not expect that kind of service from Apple.
I returned about 5 mins later and Ivan (a manager) listened, but he also used the phrase, "IF we damaged it.." so I was upset again. I did not want to relitigate, so I told him to not use "IF" because they clearly did, and that shut him up. I said we could take a look at the photos again. He did not want to do that. And my complaint was the bad customer service and he said he would address it. I pointed at the smug guy to identify and I said he could have him face me again to clarify things. He did not want to do that.
How was the situation fixed? They didn't have a replacement so they could just give me another accessory of the same value. He said $39 value. I said he could send a replacement to my home and I could replace myself. Not possible. It needs to be something inventoried at the store. I really did not need anything else, but he was insisting on "fixing" things (kudos), but by that he meant pick anything of that same value. Anything. I said fine, whatever. Give me a charging cord. He said he could do that. He could throw in a corded headphone to get it to $39. Fine. At the end of the day, I still need to buy myself a replacement protector but I do have extra accessories I don't need. I told him to train the employees better. He said he would address it.