YOUR CONSUMER QUERIES:EVERYONE LOVES Apple, right? No, not really. Recently, Donal O'Brien, the owner of Flame Restaurant in Waterford, had a problem with the LED on his iPhone 4S. It remained on constantly and was draining the battery.

“I rang Apple and after going through a couple of technical checks/troubleshooting, an express replacement was agreed. This was going to mean that a ‘hold’ of €480-plus would be put on my card for a few days,” he writes.

“This was fine with me as I would be lost without my iPhone and needed it replaced quickly – the alternative was that I send my phone off first, which wasn’t practical. I have a pub and a restaurant and the phone is essential for me.”

He was informed that a courier would deliver the replacement and collect the damaged phone and was told the courier would come along by 12pm on a Friday.

“I discovered that night that the courier had arrived at the pub at 4.55pm and just left the replacement phone and had it signed by one of the bar staff.

“I was off Monday so only got my hands on the replacement phone on Tuesday. With the replacement phone there was an empty UPS package, which was obviously for sending back the damaged phone,” he goes on.

“To make sure what to do, I called Apple Support and explained that I had a phone to send back and that I had a UPS package with a label on it.

“I clearly asked if I should call the courier service to have the phone collected but I was told by “Fernando” that I just need to post it. I said: ‘So I just bring it to the post office?’ and he confirmed this and said that there was already a label on the pack so just bring it to the post office. I thought this was a bit odd but figured he knew best so I followed his instructions.”

He had to contact Apple days later as the touchscreen on his replacement phone was not working properly.

“I was told this phone would now have to be replaced. I explained that there was already a hold of €480 on my card and I couldn’t afford to put an extra hold on my card. I was told that the worst- case scenario was that the hold would be extended. A follow-up call to Apple resulted in me being told they could not set up a new replacement until the original damaged phone was returned.”

Then he was told he should never have sent the package into the post office.

“I was also told that because I used a Visa debit card, the money was actually taken from my account, not just put on hold. I am now being told that until they have proof that I posted the phone, they will not return the funds.

“I was also told this phone may never turn up, in which case I would not get my money back. I requested that they try to track down a telephone recording or at least try to speak to Fernando, but I was told it could take weeks to find the call, if it was even recorded.”

He was told to ask An Post to look at CCTV to verify he did indeed post the phone and that maybe it could give him a letter confirming he did indeed post the package.

“The touchscreen issue has resolved itself, so the only issue remaining is that I am out of pocket by nearly €500 because I followed the instructions of Apple. I have had every version of Apple iPods and the iPhone and I am really, really disappointed with Apple’s carry-on.

“I am dealing with Patrick O’Neill, who tells me he is the furthest up the ladder of people I can talk to. He has been courteous and full of understanding, but that is no good to me as I can’t afford to just have €500 disappear on me. I am adamant this is Apple’s fault yet I am the one who is stung.”

The company subsequently contacted him to say it had tracked the original phone and it came back and admitted that he had been advised incorrectly. And Apple is going to return the funds irrespective of whether or not the phone shows up.

Sky Plus a minus

A READER called Siobhán called us and she is very cross with Sky Television.

“Every Christmas we normally upgrade our Sky package to include the movies. We take this offer for a period of three months typically, it’s a nice time of year for movies and it’s great to watch some of the oldies while munching through a box of snowballs.”

It certainly is.

Anyway, this time around the family has Sky Plus, so they began to record a number of movies for their three-year-old girl. “Although she has a mountain of newer DVDs, it’s the oldies that she loved watching.”

Last month she rang to cancel the movies, a little later than she should have, she says, “and the girl advised that along with removing the movies, that all movie recordings would be removed also. I can’t believe this . . . we paid to watch those movies, we also paid for the privilege of Sky Plus.

“The recordings should not be contingent on what package you use. Either let us always have them or don’t let us record them. Anyway, next Christmas we will ring Netflix instead and not bother with Sky. It will at least save us €30 a month!”

Airtricity blows hot and cold for reader

A READER called Siobhán contacted us about Airtricity and says she is “mad, mad, mad” with the company.

She has been with the energy provider since April 2011 when she moved into a rented house.

“When I signed up I was told I had to pay a €200 deposit which I would get back after one year,” she writes.

She was told the only reason why she wouldn’t get it back was if she left the provider before a year was up.

“I rang a few weeks ago asking about this and talked to someone there.

“He told me that it shouldn’t be a problem as I have a direct debit and have always paid my bill on time,” she writes.

“He said there’s always a small chance you could be refused by credit control but he couldn’t see any reason I would be.”

She thought that the €200 would be taken off her next bill but when she got an email from the company recently it had not been taken off so she rang them.

“I got through to the same person who then said that the €200 would only be refunded if you left Airtricity, totally contradicting himself as a few weeks ago he had said there shouldn’t be a problem,” said Siobhán

“I would have stayed with them if I got my deposit back but I will most definitely be changing now,” she said.

“I’d like to know how they can say one thing one week and another a few weeks later.”