Core group complaint (Airpods)

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ebendl

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Ugh, this irritates me so much. There's probably many threads about the Core group but excuse me if I create my own to vent in.

Bought Airpods 3rd gen in June 2022.
They worked a couple of months, then started getting issues with the left one. Seems like it doesn't reliably charge - so it would disconnect eventually completely. Followed as many pieces of online advice I could find, but because of this issue it basically stops the whole Airpod set from being reliably reset and repaired - since the case can't really "talk" to the Airpod.

Sent it in to May to the Core Group Service Center via an iStore (just before the wrranty expiration). They tested the Airpods, found that the mics weren't working (?!?) and then replaced both under warranty. I assume they didn't replace the case.

3 months later, the left one starts showing the same symptoms. Right one is just fine. Knowing they're out of warranty, I send it in again, hoping I can replace the left Airpod or the case only at a (probably an exorbant) fee.

Then I get this lovely message from the Core Group Service center today:
Dear Customer,

The below Airpods has been assessed at our Authorized Apple Service Provider and found to be damaged/faulty and no longer covered under the Apple Limited Warranty.
We would hereby like to inform you that it would be more cost effective to purchase new AirPods than acquiring a replacement quotation via the Apple Service Channel. Please contact your closest Apple reseller for pricing on new AirPods.

Kind Regards,
The Core Service Team
E: [email protected]
Click to expand...
 
You need to clean them.

Both the AirPods and the casing down the shaft.

They get dirty and the induction simply stops working.

Get those alcohol wipes in little packets.

Happens to my AirPods Pro every so often and a simple clean sorts it out every time.

That being said I’m not quite sure what the complaint is towards Core here. They were out of warranty and you knew this full well so what did you expect to get in a response?

I hate them as much as the next person but this seems perfectly expected and reasonable.
 
I definitely tried to clean them. I tried cleaning inside the case too etc. I tried resetting them - numerous time (following the forget/unpair/hold button etc.) procedure. Because it doesn't talk with the case (or it's battery is too low to work) it can't re-pair successfully (when you open up the case it doesn't pop up on screen).

They replaced the Airpods in May, so logically I would say the case is the problem?

I understand that it is outside the warranty - I knew it. Willing to pay to have it fixed. My complaint is that there's a problem with one of the airpods or the case. The other one is just fine. In the US you would have had the option to replace the Airpod or the case. Here I have to replace the whole set!
 
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What is the issue here, They are telling you it would cost way too much to fix so for your benefit it is better to buy new ones. That sounds like great advice from them.
 
SauRoNZA said:
You need to clean them.

Both the AirPods and the casing down the shaft.

They get dirty and the induction simply stops working.

Get those alcohol wipes in little packets.

Happens to my AirPods Pro every so often and a simple clean sorts it out every time.

That being said I’m not quite sure what the complaint is towards Core here. They were out of warranty and you knew this full well so what did you expect to get in a response?

I hate them as much as the next person but this seems perfectly expected and reasonable.
Click to expand...
Do the replacement units not have a new warranty ? They were only 3 months old....
 
epah said:
What is the issue here, They are telling you it would cost way too much to fix so for your benefit it is better to buy new ones. That sounds like great advice from them.
Click to expand...

I hope you're not trolling.

Is it unreasonable to get an option to replace only the broken part? There's three parts:
- Case
- Left airpod
- Right airpod

I know overseas that you can replace one of the above. I'm not even saying they should try and repair it, and knowing Apple, I fully expect that it would probably be more expensive than 1/3 of the price of a new set. But 100%?

Sure, I can understand if I dropped them or something that all three parts are broken that it would be the diagnostic and solution provided.

But
1) The right one works (I did a couple of calls using only the right one)
2) The case charges, pairs and have no battery problems
3) The left one and right one was replace 3 months ago
4) The left one doesn't seem to charge in the case.

If I were the Core Group I'd:
- do my normal diagnostics
- try charging them in another case (surely I must have spares)
- try charging other airpods in the case
- narrow it down to one of the components
- if it were two of the components that were defective, then it is probably uneconomic to replace both and then I'd inform the customer "the left airpod and the case is broken - it is more cost effective to buy a new set".
 
ebendl said:
I definitely tried to clean them. I tried cleaning inside the case too etc. I tried resetting them - numerous time (following the forget/unpair/hold button etc.) procedure. Because it doesn't talk with the case (or it's battery is too low to work) it can't re-pair successfully (when you open up the case it doesn't pop up on screen).

They replaced the Airpods in May, so logically I would say the case is the problem?

I understand that it is outside the warranty - I knew it. Willing to pay to have it fixed. My complaint is that there's a problem with one of the airpods or the case. The other one is just fine. In the US you would have had the option to replace the Airpod or the case. Here I have to replace the whole set!
Click to expand...
Ja nee, no way Core will give you the service that an Apple iStore will.
 
ebendl said:
Ugh, this irritates me so much. There's probably many threads about the Core group but excuse me if I create my own to vent in.

Bought Airpods 3rd gen in June 2022.
They worked a couple of months, then started getting issues with the left one. Seems like it doesn't reliably charge - so it would disconnect eventually completely. Followed as many pieces of online advice I could find, but because of this issue it basically stops the whole Airpod set from being reliably reset and repaired - since the case can't really "talk" to the Airpod.

Sent it in to May to the Core Group Service Center via an iStore (just before the wrranty expiration). They tested the Airpods, found that the mics weren't working (?!?) and then replaced both under warranty. I assume they didn't replace the case.

3 months later, the left one starts showing the same symptoms. Right one is just fine. Knowing they're out of warranty, I send it in again, hoping I can replace the left Airpod or the case only at a (probably an exorbant) fee.

Then I get this lovely message from the Core Group Service center today:
Click to expand...
Core Group is a useless company owned by useless people who conned their way into being an Apple reseller in South Africa. Their service sucks, their unhelpful staff know less than Siri on solving any device problems and their management (when i have complained) are more incompetent than our Government.

I've taken an out-of-warranty faulty iPhone to a US Apple Store before and they sorted it out and only charged me a $50 admin fee. Core Group here will just try to sell you another one of their "fake rip-off" Warranty's which is actually not an Apple Care warranty because they're too crooked to do that, they make more money off selling an insurance policy faking itself as a warranty.
 
ebendl said:
Ugh, this irritates me so much. There's probably many threads about the Core group but excuse me if I create my own to vent in.

Bought Airpods 3rd gen in June 2022.
They worked a couple of months, then started getting issues with the left one. Seems like it doesn't reliably charge - so it would disconnect eventually completely. Followed as many pieces of online advice I could find, but because of this issue it basically stops the whole Airpod set from being reliably reset and repaired - since the case can't really "talk" to the Airpod.

Sent it in to May to the Core Group Service Center via an iStore (just before the wrranty expiration). They tested the Airpods, found that the mics weren't working (?!?) and then replaced both under warranty. I assume they didn't replace the case.

3 months later, the left one starts showing the same symptoms. Right one is just fine. Knowing they're out of warranty, I send it in again, hoping I can replace the left Airpod or the case only at a (probably an exorbant) fee.

Then I get this lovely message from the Core Group Service center today:
Click to expand...
ebendl said:
I hope you're not trolling.

Is it unreasonable to get an option to replace only the broken part? There's three parts:
- Case
- Left airpod
- Right airpod

I know overseas that you can replace one of the above. I'm not even saying they should try and repair it, and knowing Apple, I fully expect that it would probably be more expensive than 1/3 of the price of a new set. But 100%?

Sure, I can understand if I dropped them or something that all three parts are broken that it would be the diagnostic and solution provided.

But
1) The right one works (I did a couple of calls using only the right one)
2) The case charges, pairs and have no battery problems
3) The left one and right one was replace 3 months ago
4) The left one doesn't seem to charge in the case.

If I were the Core Group I'd:
- do my normal diagnostics
- try charging them in another case (surely I must have spares)
- try charging other airpods in the case
- narrow it down to one of the components
- if it were two of the components that were defective, then it is probably uneconomic to replace both and then I'd inform the customer "the left airpod and the case is broken - it is more cost effective to buy a new set".
Click to expand...
Have you considered approaching Digicape? (not sure if they would be more helpful than Core but you never know)
 
OK, further reply:

Good day

Please be advised that a replacement part /unit comes with a 90 day warranty and the left and right AirPod are out of the 90 day warranty hence we are returning them as it would be more cost effective to purchase new AirPods than acquiring a replacement quotation via the Apple Service Channel.

Kind regards
Core Service Team
Click to expand...

I have replied with "what is broken? The airpod? The case?". I'm willing to bet I get no definitive answer.

Wish Apple would just start bypassing Core group and launch "natively" - like they did in India a while back.

AfricanTech said:
Have you considered approaching Digicape? (not sure if they would be more helpful than Core but you never know)
Click to expand...

No, not in this instance. Not very hopeful, though. I have an US iPhone 11 with a small crack in the screen and a battery in need of service. Core Group didn't want to touch it. Digicape said they will only do battery replacements. Their response at the time was:

Hi

DigiCape is an authorised reseller which by Apple, we are not allowed to repair some items, like any screen iPhone we can’t repair, but we’ll repair battery replacement, speakers but not screens.

I hope I make sense.

Regards,
<service rep name>
Click to expand...
 
ebendl said:
OK, further reply:



I have replied with "what is broken? The airpod? The case?". I'm willing to bet I get no definitive answer.

Wish Apple would just start bypassing Core group and launch "natively" - like they did in India a while back.



No, not in this instance. Not very hopeful, though. I have an US iPhone 11 with a small crack in the screen and a battery in need of service. Core Group didn't want to touch it. Digicape said they will only do battery replacements. Their response at the time was:
Click to expand...

If it is the case at least you have an avenue to maybe procure another second hand as plenty of people have lost the AirPods but not the case.

Considering it’s just out of this 90-day warranty which didn’t resolve the original problem I would also hope for some kind of goodwill gesture.

I’d recommend taking it up with Apple directly and explaining the whole issue, I have in the past had them sort people out directly or force instructions on Core.
 
I feel your pain. Had an airpod fall out while jogging and a car drove over it. Unfortunately I can’t help you because I threw out the case and other airpod. Felt bloody silly being unable to just buy one.

IMG_6590.jpeg
 
3WA said:
I feel your pain. Had an airpod fall out while jogging and a car drove over it. Unfortunately I can’t help you because I threw out the case and other airpod. Felt bloody silly being unable to just buy one.

View attachment 1589284
Click to expand...
Already quite interesting that you were unable to buy a single airpod - the idea of being able to replace a single Airpod or just the case is commonplace overseas and if this is Core's position, then it sucks.

I'll try and complain with Core / Apple but not too optimistic. At this point I'm probably going to request that they send it back, then I'll test the case with a colleagues airpods and my airpods with his case.

If I can figure out if the one part is broken, then I'll try and replace it when I go to the UK in Oct (lucky enough to go due to work).
 
If I can't replace a part or the service center is correct and it makes more sense to replace the whole thing, then I'm definitely not going to replace them with Airpods.
 
OK, latest update: they're shipping it back. No further details on what was broken.
 
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