How Apple's Sleep/Wake replacement program ruined my iPhone 5 and how I faced discrimination in service

Recently I gave my iPhone 5 for diagnostics to Apple for their sleep wake button replacement program (free replacement program in which they are recalling faulty phones). I felt discriminated on the quality of service provided (US and developed world versus that I got in India) and they managed to ruin a perfectly working phone which is now not switching on after they opened it up. They are not ready to accept their mistake and instead offering me a paid replacement at INR 22,000 (Approx US 366). I wrote the following to Apple's CEO Tim Cook recently and am forwarding the same to all the Board of Directors in Apple. Needless to say, I have suffered severe stress due to this and Apple is to blame for every bit of it. I have registered a complaint with the Indian Consumer helpline (457405839614) and hope this gets resolved soon.

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Hi Tim,

Good Morning.

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Kanishka Chaudhry. I am a loyal apple customer and love my iPhone 5 and iPad mini, much to the point of adoration and to the annoyance of my friends. I have never minded paying extra for the design, quality and the perceived stellar customer service.

However, I write this to let you know how Apple has recently failed to provide me the latter and ruined a perfectly working phone submitted to them for the Sleep/Wake button replacement Program. I know you are a busy man and I will try to keep it concise. I appreciate your time to go through this.

My iPhone 5 (Sno C32JT0TRDTWF) qualifies for the Sleep/Wake button replacement program. As is the process, I went to the George Street Sydney Store 3 weeks back. They diagnosed the phone and told me that though it qualifies for the program, they cannot replace it at their end as the phone's apple care has expired and it was bought in India. They advised me to take it to an Apple Store/Authorized Service Provider in India. I do the same and take my phone to on July 5, 2014 to Maple (Authorized Service Provider) when I came back from Sydney.

Maple took my phone telling me that they would like to run diagnostics again on it for 3-5 days to assure that it qualifies for the sleep wake program.Apple US's website says that Customer will get a loaner phone (from Apple or the Authorized Provider) while their phone is with Apple under this program. Maple did not provide me the same saying that they do not have that agreement with Apple.

Maple failed to call me within the promised 48 hours and I give them a call on July 7 2014. To my surprise they tell me that there is a liquid presence in the phone and hence the phone is not covered under the Sleep/Wake Program. Maple offers me a paid replacement for INR 22,000 (approx USD 366). I find it strange because the Sydney Store told me that it qualifies for replacement. 

I raise a case with Apple care (case id 631939710,633411538) to understand the disconnect. The trouble does not end here. Apple care gives me the contact number of their India helpline and I talk Santosh and then Shambavi.I get a call from Shambavi on July 10, 2014 telling me that my phone is not switching on and I need to take it back or I can go for a paid replacement (again INR 22,000 ~ USD 366).

I went to the Maple store on July 11, 2014 and asked them what went wrong. They told me that there was a liquid in the phone which they knew as per the indicators. They said that they knew that if they open the phone it might go dead because of the liquid, still they opened it to know if the phone qualifies for the Sleep/Wake program. They never informed me of the risk involved. If they had, it would have been my decision whether to give them a go ahead in opening the phone or not. They told me that they received a call from Apple to give it back to me in the dead condition or ask me to get a paid replacement. The TL, Fredrick, at the Maple store was very helpful and told me that he will try charging the phone again, keep it for another 3-5 days and see if it works. But he will go as per the direction from Apple.

I asked Shambavi to escalate the matter at her end. I get a call from hervi on July 14, 2014 telling me that she had done the same but the escalation team also says that I need to either take delivery of the dead phone or get a paid replacement. She also tells me to talk with Maple directly as she had done all she could at her end. I have requested her to pass me some documentation for the escalation but I have not received that yet. I had also requested her for an email id of the legal team but she only has an address for the APAC legal team in Australia on record and no email id where I can reach them.

Tim, I write this to understand from you what happens if the phone is not in warranty but is knocked off dead due to the mistake of the Apple Authorized Provider (while the phone is submitted to be diagnosed for an Apple Sleep wake replacement Program). I gave them a perfectly working device and they cannot give it back to me in the same state in which it was given to them.

Also, I want to understand why there is discrimination between providing loaner phones in the US and other countries but not in India while our phones are being examined / diagnosed for the sleep/wake button replacement program. Effectively every customer would have paid the same price for the phone and deserve the same service level. I will not go into the details of how vague I feel in my "non Apple days", leave aside the difficulties in using an old personal Generation 1 mobile as a backup. I hope being an Indian doesn't have anything to do with it.

I don't really care much about the replacement phone as I am anyways going to buy the iPhone 6 in September when it launches. All I require from Apple is my iPhone 5 back in the same state I provided them. I don't think it is an unfair to ask for that and for refusing to take a paid replacement. I am appalled at the service quality and find it strange how it can not even be at the basic level in India while it is stellar quality in the US and Australia.

Tim, I have taken too much of your time here but I do appreciate you going through this. I will go ahead on this as guided by you. I have not taken delivery of the phone yet from Maple.

Thanks a lot and have a good rest of the week.

Best Regards

Kanishka

Barfi - This movie is indeed different

 

 

 

This is an unusual movie for the Indian audience. After viewing it, it seems to me as a movie made for the passion of making a movie rather than for hitting rupees on the box office. Barfi is unadulterated cinema. It is a colorful orgasm of visual imagery and smartly wrapped allegory. Even though Ranbeer's comic acts seem to be a cross of Charlie Chaplin and Kishore Kumar, the intensity of his performance is uncomparable and he delivers the heady mix of influences with gusto.

 

The story is set in 1970's Darjeeling and Kolkata. It is an endearing account of a differentially abled person who feels the pinch of love and bears the brunt of discompassion when the girl he loves marries a "normal" person. Ileana plays the sauve, simple and sexy bengali girl really well. Priyanka plays the autistic cute girl who balances Ranbeer after Ileana leaves him and what evolves towards the end is a beautiful love tiangle sans the emotional baggage. I would say that Priyanka is so much in the character she plays that she doesnt look like Priyanka at all.

In this nearly well crafted script, there is not even one instance where in I felt that the movie tries to touch my sympathy vein (even in the most intense scenes). It does sensitize us but on a different level alltogether.

 

I would say that as all good things come with a pinch of salt, this movie has just one thing that could be "margially" improved upon. Somehow I felt that the story is loosely tied at places. There are chunks that could have been cemented well. But nevertheless a very good watch.

A 5/5 on sheer brilliance be it cinematography or acting or costumes or sets. It does justice to every aspect.

 

 

Book Review : Dongri to Dubai, Six Decades of the Mumbai Mafia

Dongri to Dubai presents a feature expose of Dawood Hasan Ibrahim Kaskar, the charismatic and suave boss of the dreaded D Company. In this masterpiece, with Dawood as protagonist, the author has re-created sixty years of Indian underworld right from it's inception. And that too in gripping detail.

The book starts with stories of genuinly good people turning into small time crooks in turn metamorphising into some of the most feared and powerful mafia lords in Mumbai. From small central Mumbai neighbourhoods to far flung suburban satellite areas like Bhandup, Ghatkopar, Virar, Thane, etc the mafia loops in everyone and everything that reeks of money or power. The meticulously researched book provides a comprehensive account of the mafia's dark games of supremacy and fratricidal warfare. It successfully exposes the underbelly of the Indian and South Asian politico criminal conglomerate. These sixty years seem like the dark ages from Lord of the Rings when the world is engulfed by the evil's darkness.  The details on misuse of the system and government machinary along with the intermingling of the black economy with the white in developing countries is nauseating.

But most importantly, the book gives a first rate description of Dawood's rise from a minion to a global power icon (he was ranked 57th in Forbes list of powerful people in November 2011). It is intriguing to read how a smalltime fake watch peddler turned into the fearsome Bhai due to his sheer daring and a scheming brain. He survives in the gruesome landscape pockmarked by gangs led by stalwarts such as Haji Mastan, Karim Lala, Varadarajan Mudaliar, and Pathan don Ahmed Khan aka Baashu Dada. He outsmarts all of them with his wit and guts, deccimates and amalgamates their empires, and they fade away into the far recesses of popular memory while he assumes mythic proportions.

Zaidi portrays that it was the police who created this David to boot out the Goliath (pathan mafia) from mumbai. Little would they have known, not even in their wildest dreams, that their protege would later become their worst nemesis.

In this book, Dawood is shown to be as unforgiving as Michael Corleone, as ruthless as the Solntsevskaya Bratva and as sly as Vito Corleone.

The book also showcases the might of the Indian Intelligence agencies which force Dawood to flee to Dubai. His linkages with the ISI, subsequent role in the 1993 Mumbai blasts, fallout with Chota Rajan, final shift of base to Pakistan and globalization of operations have been described in sordid details.

The research seems exhaustive and thorough, the narration is dramatic and the pace is fast which makes the book unputdownable. Just make sure that when you read it, be open for surprises.

I would rate this book a 4/5. A good read.

      Philips launches a Homophobic Advertisement to sell male grooming kits

In its latest advertisement, Philips features an effiminate John Abraham dressed in a pink Tshirt surrounded by macho, scruffy and supposedly tough and supposedly "Straight" John Abrahams. The advertisement starts with the effiminate John asking the macho Johns, why do they get to go on dates and not him. The scruffy one snubs him and replies "Kyunki ladki se Dosti Karni hai, Dostana Nahin" suggesting that "We want to do friendship with the girl, not enter into a Gay relationship as shown in the movie Dostana". The next sentence spells it out more clearly when the scruffy one says "Girls like to have Friendship with Real Men". 

My thoughts on viewing this ad for the first time was that has the creative quotient gone down so low that the marketers have to take pot shots at one community to sell off their product to another. The message this ad seems to convey is "If you want to be a real man (not a fag), use Philips Grooming Kit". So do they want to say that "Gays are not Real Men" and that "Girls dont like to do friendship with Gays" or that "Gays dont/cannot use Grooming Kits because they are not manly enough"? 

What do we expect next ? An anti black advertisement to sell a fairness cream to "brown" Indians ?

Technically, Tarun Mansukhani has directed this ad pretty well with static shots bringing all five Johns in a single frame and dialogues tying up the storyline. But let us not forget that he is also the director of "Dostana" which is a big, colorful, delightfully dumb Bollywood 'gateway' movie. The movie trades in stereotypes about swishy queers, shallow horndogs, frustrated career girls, guilt-wielding (s)mothers and overbearing aunties who need to chill out and get laid. And you know what? It's pretty damned funny and oddly subversive.

But that is besides the point here. The point here is that while in the movie, everyone learns a lesson or two about tolerance, this ad just acts discriminatory and is downright insulting.