I've recently had a rather bizarre experience: I dropped my iPhone 7+ (covered by AppleCare) and despite a case and screen protector the lower edge of the screen was somewhat scuffed by abrasion with a very rough concrete floor.

I contacted Apple Italy (I live here, bought it here) and was perfectly candid about what happened and the fact that I recognised it was my fault but wanted the screen replaced (at my cost) anyway. The waiting time was quite long.

So long in fact I mentally calculated it would make more sense to book an appointment with Apple in New York and had it fixed there whilst on a business trip.

So I went to the store in NY at the appointed time, very candidly explained what had happened and that it was my fault, fully expecting to be charged — and instead they fixed it for free in less than 20 minutes.

I was stunned.

This has been my experience in two of their stores in London. One of them even decided not to cover a defective product for free 1.5y after I've bought it in an EU country which gave me 2y warranty. I had to fly to that country to have it immediately replaced, for free. This one was really awkward since they have it on the system, they know when and where I bought it and under which terms and still decided not to help me. In my experience it's by far the worst customer support I ever had.

I'm experiencing something really similar to what your friend has described. The moment the outside temperature is below 20ºC and my battery is around 30-40% chances are it will die immediately. This started months ago with the update to iOS 10. I tried some of the final public betas of iOS 10.

After several trips to a service point, eventually Apple told me that this is not a hardware issue but a software one and to expect an iOS update that will resolve the issue. No estimates as to when that would be. I asked if it's ok to try the public betas to see if the fix was in and an Apple support rep said it's fine. Unfortunately the latest public beta doesn't fix this. As of now I just assume that my battery indication is off by 40% and I treat my phone as if the battery is empty when I'm out and I see it drop below 50%.

My experience with Apple customer service in UK was nothing but stellar. I've had multiple parts and products replaced on the spot in the Apple Store, no questions asked. So "Europe" is maybe not exactly correct.

It's Germany, believe me, my friend. Customer service in Berlin, especially. People working here in customer service seem to not have basic CS training and they are simply not polite. The most important thing to them seems to be to ensure that it's not their fault that you have a problem and that your problem is yours. I call it "don't give a st mentality". Really sad. It's one of the things which makes me want to leave this country.

On the other hand, Google's customer service is great in Europe (and the warranty lasts 2 years instead of 1 everywhere else).

I never understood how people are happy to pay premium prices and possibly an AppleCare when you still have to book appointments weeks in advance and go to a store in person.

Warranty is 2 years minimum in all of EU. If anybody says otherwise (plenty of sales and customer support people will try to convince you it's 1 year) show them this: http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/shopping/guar...

To quote - "Under EU rules you always have the right to a minimum 2-year guarantee at no cost.

This 2-year guarantee is your minimum right. National rules in your country may give you extra protection: however, any deviation from EU rules must always be in the consumer's best interest."

This is also on Apple's customer support pages when you check if you're still in warranty. It says that local rules apply when you're out of Apple's limited 1 year warranty.

People keep misunderstanding what this 2-year warranty is. It's not a blanket 2-year warranty where if your product develops a fault the manufacturer has to fix it - it's a warranty against manufacturing defects and manufacturing defects only. And the onus of showing that something is a manufacturing defect is on the customer, sadly. So if you bought a macbook, and 1.5 years into the ownership the screen dies, apple is under no obligation to fix it, unless you can prove that it died because of a manufacturing defect.

To directly quote from the article you posted:

"But, after 6 months in most EU countries you need to prove that the defect already existed on receipt of the goods, for example, by showing that it is due to the poor quality of the materials used."

True. When it comes to parts that don't usually die on their own without visual problems (like a cracked screen) this is not such a big problem. Usually it comes down to convincing whoever is behind that desk and being firm and calm about it. That's my experience at least.

That is what I meant, poor phrasing, I edited.

AppleCare used to be vastly superior (at least in here in Australia) - you could walk in without an appointment, and service was while-you-wait. I needed some repairs to a 2007 MacBook, they offered to repair it within a couple of hours, send me an SMS when it was ready, and offer a voucher for a coffee at a nearby cafe while I waited. And if they couldn't repair it same/next day, to swap it with a replacement machine. That's the kind of service I was paying the Apple tax for, to minimize my downtime.

But it's nothing like that now. Apple is back to 1 - 2 week wait on repairs, just like the third-party repair stores before the Apple Store existed here. Much of the point of AppleCare for me - same day repairs in any major city around the world - is gone now.