“Non-constructive rants or complaints” – Apple gets censorious on my ass

Friday, December 12th, 2008

: 2.3 software update: a disappointment and frustration too far? Just don’t try to tell anyone on Apple’s forums!
Image by niallkennedy via Flickr

I’ve heard of Apple’s notoriety in policing the company’s user forums for anything deemed unacceptably tarnishing of its image, but I’ve never been a victim of it before today. I posted a message to the Apple TV forums after discovering that the 2.3 software update broke our Apple TV, making it incapable of sending sound to the TV or the amplifier. Yes, that’s right—I now, until Apple deigns to acknowledge the problem exists and then actually provides a fix, have a pretty box that displays moving pictures and photos on the TV but only makes the slightest sound when the remote control is moved through the on-screen menus. I’d argue that a damning majority of Apple TV owners have had enough, and my post to the forums was neither ill-mannered, nor did it contain anything remotely abusive. It’s just that Apple didn’t like what I had to say. Hell, I complimented the bloody hardware—I dissed, with complete justification, the software running on it and the completely appalling end-user experience!

Well, this is my blog. I am my own despot, I need no other, as it were. And so, dear readers, I am going to repost what I wrote for all the world to see if it wants to. You’ll find what I had to say right after I first of all present to you the content of the unsolicited and decidedly infuriating email received in my inbox this evening. Enjoy. Or more likely, don’t. This company has had more money than I’d like to say from this household down the years–2nd generation, 3G, 4G and 5G (’classic’) iPods, iPod Touch, iPod Shuffle, iPhone, Apple TV, strawberry iMac, iBook, 17-inch MacBook Pro, 24-inch iMac… Have I forgotten anything? Probably. The point is, I’m a good fucking customer. I don’t think I deserve to be treated so bloody contemptuously. Do you? This, of course, is a rant—but I don’t believe what I originally posted to the forums was. If they think that’s a rant, blimey—they’re very sensitive souls!

Andrew (spicycauldron.com),

Apple removed your post on Apple Discussions, titled “Re: After tv update 2.3 — no sound on shows purchase,” because it contained the following:

Non-constructive rants or complaints

We are including a copy of your post at the end of this email for your reference.

Our terms of use, which include helpful information about using Apple Discussions, is located here: http://discussions.apple.com/help.jspa We encourage you to continue using the Apple Discussions while abiding by our terms of use.

If you would like to send feedback to Apple about a product, please use the appropriate selection here: http://www.apple.com/feedback

As part of submitting feedback, please read the Unsolicited Idea Submission Policy linked to the feedback page.

Kind regards,

Apple Discussions staff

++++++++++

I’ve only just updated to 2.3 and I’ve now got no sound from the Apple TV either. This is just stupid and insane! The woes I’ve dealt with in terms of slow responsiveness or none whatsoever to the remote… constant ’synching with iTunes’ messages interrupting watching shows… This is just the last straw, and yet it’s a wonderful piece of hardware let down throughout its history by software that could and ought to be so much more robust.

The discussion thread can be found here. I ask you, is Apple’s behaviour any way to build and nurture good customer relations? I don’t think so, and nobody is ever going to convince me that it is.

categories: technology

Comments to ““Non-constructive rants or complaints” – Apple gets censorious on my ass”

Dan says:

December 12, 2008 at 1:10 am

Dude get over it. Rewite your post without the whingeing superfluous fluff and get on with your life.

Spicy Cauldron says:

December 12, 2008 at 7:28 am

Hahahaha! That's hardly an opinion on the matter in hand, and the most obvious question to ask right now might be thought to be, do you work for Apple? But I know we couldn't rely on the answer being true either way, so there's not much point to that. Neither would it further the resolution of the issues people have with the Apple TV.

I get on with my life just fine, thank you very much–"dude"–and I'm relaxed enough, let's put it this way, to allow your comment to stand without doing an Apple on it. Now if you work for them, go do a good job. Customers usually thank people for doing that kind of thing. If you don't work for them, why not apply? Even in a time of recession, toadying goes down well with corporates.

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Tina says:

December 12, 2008 at 9:07 am

I'm fairly sure the dictionary definition of the word Discussion is to allow for opinion, comment and subjective discursive content. Here's the OED definition "the action or process of discussing something. 2 a conversation or debate about a topic. 3 a detailed treatment of a topic in speech or writing".
That is precisely what you did. You complimented the product whilst detailing your problems with it. It wasn't long enough to constitute a rant! Maybe the sentence stating the problem was stupid and insane upset them. But really, if this is what Apple define as a rant, then they must ignore any complaint they ever receive on the same grounds. What you wrote is tame and reasonable, and witty. You imply it is the last in a line of problems with this product. Maybe that is what upset them.
But why do they have a discussion board if they are not willing to have discussions on it? I was thinking of getting a Mac (our PC has died). I am now rethinking it.
Not sure why Dan commented. He had nothing to say!
BTW I like the fact the first three words under "popular searches" on your page are PAGAN CHICKENS GM. Quite a sentence in itself!

Spicy Cauldron says:

December 12, 2008 at 10:18 am

Another precisely targetted commentary, thanks Tina. Spot on, I'd say! I suspect it's all automated and it was those keywords that got picked up and set alarm bells ringing. Still, it is stupid and it is insane.

I'd still recommend Apple computers to everyone and anyone-they are so, so much better and require 100 per cent less user hassle, they just work, out of the box–but I would not, until we see major improvements, recommend the Apple TV to anyone. So yeah, don't discount the whole shebang on the basis of this one grievance, though I'd say there are lots of people posting across the Web about their less-than-stellar experiences with the ATV. But our iMac, our MacBook Pro, our iPods… All lovely, thank you nicely!

The Apple TV, by the way, is a set-top box that streams audio and video from a computer, Mac or PC, to your TV set. Sounds good until you realise the hardware is crippled by copy protection and decisions Apple made to limit what can be done with it. It's capable of running web browsers, playing all types of files…

But no. Apple doesn't want that to happen, and probably the media companies as well, and so it's been left to hackers to come up with ways of making the device more usable. I wouldn't recommend anyone try hacking the ATV, either, unless and until it's out of warranty. I'm going to give it a whirl today–I can always reinstall, I've had to do that before with the ATV just because Apple's own software on it was and is flaky–but frankly, this household's at the end of its tether where the ATV is concerned and we're willing to try anything to turn Steve Jobs' 'hobby' as he called it into a viable living room proposition…

Yeah, pagan chickens gm is odd. Run 'em together you imagine chickens protesting at GM crop sites, saying "Don't feed us this crap, and think of the Goddess!"

Of course if chickens could talk, they'd likely only be saying, "Food. Food. Food. Do you have food? Hmm. Food? Ah. Food! Food, food, food. Outrage! What? Food…"

Reply

John says:

December 15, 2008 at 8:28 am

Ha, I had a, admittedly not too serious, thread removed a few months ago. I was guilty of asking why when I set out somewhere with my ipod why more often than not I pick up an ear plug in each hand only to find the left one in my right hand and vice versa. Ok not the most taxing technical query but I thought a wee comment on Murphy's or sods law might have been forthcoming. Hand on heart I do not blame Mr Jobs for the order that my headphones appear.

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