UPDATE: Hilarious shambles
Someone from Apple in Singapore finally called me yesterday, listened to my story and then went away to investigate. They called back today to inform me that there is actually an Apple pickup and delivery service for repairs but she couldn’t explain why, despite me asking about this for months, nobody told me about it.
For anyone interested, you need to go here: www.icare-delivery.com
The interface requires you to input the model, confirm you have logged out of iCloud and disabled the Find My Device feature. That’s a bit difficult if the device doesn’t power up but still there are instructions via a QR code.
Bizarrely, the QR code redirects to a story about Megan and Harry.
The one for iPhone and iPad also redirects to the QR generation company.
“It’s not difficult”
Indeed...
Also, iCare hasn’t yet updated its list to include my model, 15-inch MacBook Air (M4, 2025).
So after more calls and hours of faffing around, there has been zero progress. And we sink deeper into the depths of Apple’s service incompetence. But at least I had a laugh.
ORIGINAL POST START:
I live on Koh Phangan, a small island in the Gulf of Thailand where the nearest Burger King is a 30 minute boat ride away, and the closest Apple Store is another 700kms, or a 90 minute flight to Bangkok.
Apple things were always expensive, but I put up with it because the service was worth it. Apple stood behind its products. When something went wrong, it was efficiently dealt with.
But these days, I feel like I am being sold junk, charged premium prices, and ignored when the junk fails. Apple will happily take my money and deliver orders to my house but if I want something fixed, I have to personally take it to them.
Apple refuses to accept repairs by post. When my iMac screen was faulty, I wasted a whole day taking it to the mainland. They were happy to post it back.
While my iPad screen was accidentally damaged but still functional, I spent months trying to arrange for it to be fixed. Apple customer service were impotent. Then I got ghosted. No contact for weeks, several messages sent, and the iPad slowly degraded.
Eventually it became unusable and my repair needs suddenly became urgent. So, on Apple’s previous advice, I wasted half a day getting a boat to the next island, Samui, where there’s an “affiliated” reseller and repair centre.
On arriving I was told it would cost 27,500 baht upfront before they would even look at it, and they would definitely not be able to fix or replace it on the spot. The process would take a minimum of one month, when I would have to come back, and even then, there was no guarantee the iPad would be fixed.
That was Apple’s best option.
So yes, I lost my rag. I told Apple service people to go fuck themselves, called them all cunts, and shouted that I’d never buy another poxy Apple product again. Then I told them to fuck off once more for good measure and hung up. I wish it had been a landline so I could’ve slammed down the receiver with a satisfying crash. Instead I had to settle for manically stabbing the red End Call button with my finger.
Now I now have a useless iPad Pro and redundant Apple Pencil. I also have a useless Apple Watch, which worked well for a year before the screen came half-detached. On October 1st 2025, I have just woken up to find the Macbook Air screen is buggered.
I am a little stressed. Again.
Apple products these days feel like toys, they are junk designed to fail and be repeatedly replaced. And I live in an area where Apple can’t even be bothered to help me fix or replace the junk I keep buying. I am at a total loss.
If any humans at Apple are reading this, I urgently need some support, some equipment repaired/replaced. I have relied on your products for years to help me be productive but being part of a single ecosystem right now leaves me completely fucked.
After being a loyal Apple customer for over 20 years, how can I ever enthusiastically buy, or recommend any Apple products to anyone ever again?
As a customer, my relationship with Apple started in 2004, I purchased a PowerBook G4 15.2”. It was a solid, beautiful machine that lasted a decade and died gracefully.
Since then, I’ve bought more iPods, lots of iPhones, iPads, a few iMacs, several MacBooks and MacBook Pros, a MacBook Air or two, and even the watch and pencil.
For two decades now I have been a cheerleader for the brand but finally I am seeing the light…
I’m Munir Kotadia, and I will be writing about Apple in my upcoming book, A Million Years in Tech, which is based on my life growing up a refugee in Thatcher’s Britain—and discovering the world as a technology journalist during the dot-com boom.
Genetically Indian. Born in Uganda. Raised in the UK with a thick Scottish accent. Now an Australian citizen, living in Asia. I’ve won awards for my writing. I was one of the first online journalists back when some national newspapers were still calling the internet a ‘fad’.
I think I’m finally escaping the Apple cult.