More iReports you should see
Held Hostage By iPhone 5 Lightning USB Cord.
After a two year wait, my iPhone 5 was here and I was excited about starting a whole new relationship with my new iPhone 5. Having lived through every iPhone release, I was used to long wait lines, extended delivery dates, problems with activation. But in the end it was all worth it. I felt that I could deal with anything that came my way. After all, I survived “antennaegate” buy modding my phone with a Zagg full body cover. I survived several trips to the Genius Bar to get other issues fixed, and I calmly sat by while my new Maps program took my freeway down a mountain cliff in 3D mode as my teenagers (who use Android) laughed at me until they were in tears and rolling on the floor of the car. After all, I was dedicated, loyal Apple user since leaving Windows over 10 years ago and I was willing to let some things slide in the interest of overall satisfaction. Since then my device has become an integral part of my business.
The truth is that I am lost without my iPhone 5. I am totally dependent on it and it has become and extension of me. I also have to admit it, there is something about Siri that makes my device seem more human and more helpful. I guess I am attached and am comfortable with my newfound relationship with her.
So here I am a survivor helping to push technology to the edge by buying the very newest and best and living with what comes my way. I’ve seen it all. Been through it all. What could be worse I thought? And then it happened. I lost my new iPhone 5 Lightning charge cable the day before a Sunday departure for an very important business trip to Chicago.
No problem you might say? Just go buy another cable and all is well. Well that single cable lived up to its name and struck me like lightning. That simple new trim connection that provides power and lifeblood to my new iPhone 5 was about to hold me and my business hostage and turn my day and pending trip upside down.
As I walked into the AT&T store with my battery at well below 14% I thought “No problem I’ll be connected and charging again within minutes”. But I was in for the shock of my life. I casually asked for a replacement cable and I received a look of despair like someone had just hit my car outside. Then they broke the news. . . the news none of us wants to or expects to hear. “We don’t have any Lightning cables. We have been trying to get them but Apple has not been shipping us any cables....” No problem I said. “I’ll just take a 3rd party cable and be on my way.” The atmosphere slipped a few notches deeper. “No one is making the new iPhone 5 cables because Apple has a patented “chip” in the cable to prevent others from making the Cable”
“What??????” My jaw dropped. You mean there is no place I can buy this cable today? “No” they replied. My mind raced before me. No battery no phone. No phone no contacts, no notes, no calendars, no email. . . and no Siri? How could I travel alone without her? She’s always there for me! All of a sudden I felt like someone who broke down in their car in Baker California, a town in the desert that has the world’s tallest thermometer, but no transmission for a Volvo XC90. Jeez!!!
I was stranded but not ready for defeat. Not me. I am a survivor. I started making calls. BestBuy, WalMart, AT&T Retailers but to my dismay. . . there was no charger cable to be found for my phone and there was no Apple store in my town, not that they would even have one in stock. How could Apple lock every manufacturer out of making charger cables for the iPhone 5 and then not have any available? No cables at AT&T? Really? How stupid is that for such a smart and successful company like Apple? I was stranded!
By now I was part panic and part fuming. I was angry at Apple. Infuriated is more like it. I felt cheated and used. How could they control and hold me hostage me like this? I stormed out of the store wanting to chuck my useless iPhone under a moving car. I was so mad I even decided to use the last 13% of my battery life talking to an Apple Senior Supervisor . . . even if it did not resolve in a solution. I had to tell them how disappointed I was. Then in the middle of the call, just as I was connected to a senior supervisor, my battery died and I was all alone again. Me and my useless iPhone 5.
Ahhhh! Now I was finally ready to get an android phone. Yes! I would dump the iPhone. That’s it. I would move to a Samsung Galaxy S III that’s what I would do. There I was back in the store holding an Android device. I was thinking of ending my relationship with Siri but I couldn’t. . it just did not feel right. It felt so strange to me. Besides, no device knew my MacBook Pro or me better that my iPhone, How would I sync all my data seamlessly? The list went on. I went home depressed and desperate but also feeling like I have been cheated on and used.
With my iPhone battery dead I resorted to one last call to Apple using Skype. That’s when I was connected to Celeste. Then the magic of Apple began to happen. Real customer care and understanding. Someone on the other end of the line actually cared about my situation. I was not connected to India or the Philippines to a representative who would attempt to read from a script in an effort to comfort me. I despise that!
This is where Apple began to shine again. This is where customer is really number one in Apple’s eyes. I was feeling a little better and I had a glimmer of hope again. She told me that they locked out other cable manufacturers because many cheap knockoff cables were shorting out and blowing iPhones and said that they wanted to control the quality. They were also short on cables because of the huge iPhone 5 demand. That made sense and I even thought of my iPhone going up in smoke if I had bought a cheap cable and tried to use it if I could have found one today. That would not have been good.
Within minutes, Celeste had two Apple stores on the phone in Chicago where I was to arrive on Sunday and located a store next to my hotel where they would hold a coveted Lightning, patented, chip embedded charger cable for me upon my arrival the next day. Thank you Celeste you rescued me!
I have learned some things since my unfortunate circumstance. First, don’t ever lose your Lightning charge cable. . . actually buy a backup. I did. Second, Apple really does go out of their way to treat their customers special. I don’t think I would have received the attention that Celeste gave me from any other phone manufacturer. Celeste really cared about me and my business trip and she took the time to find a solution for me.
Third, Apple does go out of their way to make a superior, quality product even if it means that it has to reign in control over some of its replacement components made by others that may be causing this quality to be tarnished (as is the case with knock off charger cables).
I am grateful for Apple’s dedication to their customers and their product design and their tight integration. Thank you iCloud. I have come to depend upon all of these qualities and even in what seemed like a disaster to me, it was these very qualities, Apple qualities that helped me resolve my problem and get be back up and running.
Thanks once again Apple. I guess I am good for another 10 years . . . assuming you keep up the good work. Its nice to have a company you can depend upon when things to go wrong. Perhaps that’s why despite all the harassment from my Android teenagers I am still very happy to be an Apple customer and user.
The truth is that I am lost without my iPhone 5. I am totally dependent on it and it has become and extension of me. I also have to admit it, there is something about Siri that makes my device seem more human and more helpful. I guess I am attached and am comfortable with my newfound relationship with her.
So here I am a survivor helping to push technology to the edge by buying the very newest and best and living with what comes my way. I’ve seen it all. Been through it all. What could be worse I thought? And then it happened. I lost my new iPhone 5 Lightning charge cable the day before a Sunday departure for an very important business trip to Chicago.
No problem you might say? Just go buy another cable and all is well. Well that single cable lived up to its name and struck me like lightning. That simple new trim connection that provides power and lifeblood to my new iPhone 5 was about to hold me and my business hostage and turn my day and pending trip upside down.
As I walked into the AT&T store with my battery at well below 14% I thought “No problem I’ll be connected and charging again within minutes”. But I was in for the shock of my life. I casually asked for a replacement cable and I received a look of despair like someone had just hit my car outside. Then they broke the news. . . the news none of us wants to or expects to hear. “We don’t have any Lightning cables. We have been trying to get them but Apple has not been shipping us any cables....” No problem I said. “I’ll just take a 3rd party cable and be on my way.” The atmosphere slipped a few notches deeper. “No one is making the new iPhone 5 cables because Apple has a patented “chip” in the cable to prevent others from making the Cable”
“What??????” My jaw dropped. You mean there is no place I can buy this cable today? “No” they replied. My mind raced before me. No battery no phone. No phone no contacts, no notes, no calendars, no email. . . and no Siri? How could I travel alone without her? She’s always there for me! All of a sudden I felt like someone who broke down in their car in Baker California, a town in the desert that has the world’s tallest thermometer, but no transmission for a Volvo XC90. Jeez!!!
I was stranded but not ready for defeat. Not me. I am a survivor. I started making calls. BestBuy, WalMart, AT&T Retailers but to my dismay. . . there was no charger cable to be found for my phone and there was no Apple store in my town, not that they would even have one in stock. How could Apple lock every manufacturer out of making charger cables for the iPhone 5 and then not have any available? No cables at AT&T? Really? How stupid is that for such a smart and successful company like Apple? I was stranded!
By now I was part panic and part fuming. I was angry at Apple. Infuriated is more like it. I felt cheated and used. How could they control and hold me hostage me like this? I stormed out of the store wanting to chuck my useless iPhone under a moving car. I was so mad I even decided to use the last 13% of my battery life talking to an Apple Senior Supervisor . . . even if it did not resolve in a solution. I had to tell them how disappointed I was. Then in the middle of the call, just as I was connected to a senior supervisor, my battery died and I was all alone again. Me and my useless iPhone 5.
Ahhhh! Now I was finally ready to get an android phone. Yes! I would dump the iPhone. That’s it. I would move to a Samsung Galaxy S III that’s what I would do. There I was back in the store holding an Android device. I was thinking of ending my relationship with Siri but I couldn’t. . it just did not feel right. It felt so strange to me. Besides, no device knew my MacBook Pro or me better that my iPhone, How would I sync all my data seamlessly? The list went on. I went home depressed and desperate but also feeling like I have been cheated on and used.
With my iPhone battery dead I resorted to one last call to Apple using Skype. That’s when I was connected to Celeste. Then the magic of Apple began to happen. Real customer care and understanding. Someone on the other end of the line actually cared about my situation. I was not connected to India or the Philippines to a representative who would attempt to read from a script in an effort to comfort me. I despise that!
This is where Apple began to shine again. This is where customer is really number one in Apple’s eyes. I was feeling a little better and I had a glimmer of hope again. She told me that they locked out other cable manufacturers because many cheap knockoff cables were shorting out and blowing iPhones and said that they wanted to control the quality. They were also short on cables because of the huge iPhone 5 demand. That made sense and I even thought of my iPhone going up in smoke if I had bought a cheap cable and tried to use it if I could have found one today. That would not have been good.
Within minutes, Celeste had two Apple stores on the phone in Chicago where I was to arrive on Sunday and located a store next to my hotel where they would hold a coveted Lightning, patented, chip embedded charger cable for me upon my arrival the next day. Thank you Celeste you rescued me!
I have learned some things since my unfortunate circumstance. First, don’t ever lose your Lightning charge cable. . . actually buy a backup. I did. Second, Apple really does go out of their way to treat their customers special. I don’t think I would have received the attention that Celeste gave me from any other phone manufacturer. Celeste really cared about me and my business trip and she took the time to find a solution for me.
Third, Apple does go out of their way to make a superior, quality product even if it means that it has to reign in control over some of its replacement components made by others that may be causing this quality to be tarnished (as is the case with knock off charger cables).
I am grateful for Apple’s dedication to their customers and their product design and their tight integration. Thank you iCloud. I have come to depend upon all of these qualities and even in what seemed like a disaster to me, it was these very qualities, Apple qualities that helped me resolve my problem and get be back up and running.
Thanks once again Apple. I guess I am good for another 10 years . . . assuming you keep up the good work. Its nice to have a company you can depend upon when things to go wrong. Perhaps that’s why despite all the harassment from my Android teenagers I am still very happy to be an Apple customer and user.
What do you think of this story?
Select one of the options below. Your feedback will help tell CNN producers what to do with this iReport. If you'd like, you can explain your choice in the comments below.
Be and editor! Choose an option below:
iReport welcomes a lively discussion, so comments on iReports are not pre-screened before they post. See the iReport community guidelines for details about content that is not welcome on iReport.
© 2013 Cable News Network. 
Comments