Message to iStore

The iStore by Sandton Drive has proven to be *********** and ********* in the eyes of a customer.

On the morning of 16 July 2020, I had taken my iPhone to the store have its battery replaced after making a special booking the day before on what many would agree is the most un-friendly user online platform one would experience. I drove from Fourways to the store on Sandton Drive to drop off my device, where they had booked it in for me and said it will be ready for collection only by the end of the day. Therefore I decided to travel back to Fourways and wait for the store to contact me.

Two hours later, the store had contacted me saying that they could not replace my battery as the phone was purchased in Florida-USA. I believed this to be a very unprofessional response from the iStore. It’s unsatisfying that they choose not to accommodate customers who may be expats, international businessmen or even students studying overseas. They had returned my device to me, with NO battery replaced and they had factory reset my device having all my data being removed (which was absolutely unnecessary as one may agree).

I believe that I as a customer of Apple had chosen to do the right thing by bringing my iPhone to them to have my battery replaced and choosing to pay the full fee, instead of going to an unauthorized dealer, because I respect the brand. But we should ask ourselves as customers, why should we choose to have these morals and values if the entity on the receiving end does not. If iStore (Apple) does not.

After traveling to the iStore by Sandton Drive again to collect my device which had not been fixed, I found my iPhone being factory reset and all my data being removed. Therefore I had left the iStore that afternoon with less that what I had came for (with my battery still not being replaced and all my data being removed). To add to that, one of the staff members at the till encouraged me to pay for the full service saying that the battery had been replaced, only to later confirm that it actually was not (which is further proof of their incompetence). iStore had chosen not to accommodate me as a customer. I had left iStore that afternoon with not even a solution from them on how I can address my issue on a commonly used device by any individual. In their eyes, as an owner of an Apple product, I should simply discard it.

In an interview with CEO Tim Cook, someone asked him “what is Apple’s mission?” He responded saying that it was the same as Steve Jobs, from the time the company was founded, it was to “Serve Humanity”. As a global company, recognized worldwide, that is what was intended by the people who created it. Therefore I believe that iStore have failed. They have failed the global reputable company, and they have failed its mission and purpose, proving to be a disgrace to the remarkable men who created Apple.

The customers deserve better from iStore.