This review was not what I expected to write about the Apple Vision Pro.
Last Friday, I took a day off work and went to the Apple Store in Polo Park, excited as a kid on Christmas morning, to pick up my pre-ordered Apple Vision Pro. The demo and walkthrough went very well, and I have nothing but praise for the store associate who gave me a basic tour of the AVP’s capabilities. I quickly learned how to use my eyes and hands to navigate. I was so impressed by the technology, declared it worth every penny I spent, and walked out of the store with my bag in my hand, feeling on top of the world.
I heard I was the first person in Manitoba to walk out of that store with an Apple Vision Pro. I wanted to be on the cutting edge of VR and AR. I wanted to be one of the cool kids. I was ready to go.
but.
At this point, unless something changes quickly, you’ll have to go back to the same Apple Store, return the newly packaged Apple Vision Pro and all of its accessories (like the carrying case) and get your money back.
Why? Well, I’m glad you asked.
I am returning my Apple Vision Pro for one reason only: I scanned a copy of my glasses prescription during the ordering process, and the AVP’s ski mask-like design made it impossible for me to wear the glasses.
When I went to pick it up last Friday, they cleaned my glasses and put them in a machine called a lensmeter, which automatically measured my lenses and spit out a code that I could use to grab a pair of magnetic prescription lenses from their extensive collection in the back of the store for demos. In other words, even if you didn’t have your prescription lenses yet, you could still go through the demo and walk-through process in the store, and like I said, it went smoothly.
The problem is that I only have 15 days left to get a full refund on my Apple Vision Pro, no questions asked. The clock started ticking the moment I left the store. And as it turns out, my prescription lenses are still pending in the US and I can’t get in touch with them. any I asked a real UPS representative to explain to me why the delivery couldn’t be made at the promised time today.
I spent all day refreshing the tracking page, waiting for it to change from “Shipping” to “Delivered.” That never happened. The last status of my order was July 13, and my prescription lenses were in storage at the UPS facility in Louisville, Kentucky, and have been there ever since. No word, no updates. No texts or emails with status updates (even though I have those set up).
From this point on, my nightmare began.
I spent hours tonight trying to contact a real, live human at UPS to tell me what the hell was wrong with my prescription lenses, but to no avail. Every time I got stuck in AI chatbot hell, I went round and round.
So I decided to return the Apple Vision Pro and get my money back, as the 15 day return period was very likely to end before I could return it. use This is going to be a mess! I assembled it, charged it, and put it on once, and I can’t see anything without the corrective lenses I need. I can’t even get started on setting it up! Time is ticking while I’m holding a CA$7,700* paperweight that’s basically useless. And I’m angry.
What I don’t understand is why Apple decided to partner with UPS to ship prescription lenses, and why Apple forces you to order your device and prescription lenses at the same time instead of ordering the lenses in advance. Maybe once you actually get your prescription lenses, Then I need to go back and buy one. But before that, I shouldn’t buy one.
But I have no intention of sitting back and waiting for UPS to do the right thing and get me out of their AI chatbot prison. I even tried to file a claim, got denied, and mentioned the phone number of the AI chatbot I was fighting with all evening.
I was willing (and even eager) to pay a fortune to be one of Apple’s glorified beta testers, but if I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t do it. use The device I bought! For those who need prescription lenses, this sales process is a mess, and until it gets fixed, I can return my Apple Vision Pro, and my money can sit in my bank account until they do something right. enough. This is not the level of service I expect from a company like Apple, and the fact that they decided to partner with UPS and their crappy customer service is truly astounding.
Updated Thursday, July 18, 2024 at 9:00 AM: Now my tracking page looks like this:
So, since I can’t use my Apple Vision Pro and have no idea when my prescription lenses will ship, I’m going to pack it up tomorrow and return it to the Apple Store within 15 days for a refund. The return period applies unconditionally.
Updated Thursday, July 18, 2024 at 10:44 AM: I just had a very frustrating 30 minutes on the phone with the Apple store in Polo Park, which started with me being interrogated again by an AI chatbot pretending to type on a keyboard and telling me to hold on a second. When I finally spoke to a real person, I couldn’t find my original purchase receipt in my email at all and had to go through a bunch of hoops to get them to send me another receipt, which I’ll print out and take with me when I return everything on Friday.
I am becoming increasingly angry about this whole experience, and it has nothing to do with the specifications of the product itself. It has everything to do with how I was treated as a customer. UPS gets the lion’s share of the blame here, but my situation shows that Apple may need to adjust its purchasing process for people who need prescription lenses.
Update Saturday, July 20th: So I took my Apple Vision Pro to the Apple Store and spoke to both the business manager and the store manager. They told me that they wanted me to take full advantage of the 15 day return period and that I would not start the watch until my prescription lenses were released from their awkward situation in Louisville and in my possession!
So I took my box home and now both of us (me and the store) are trying to figure out why the delivery was delayed and how to fix it. (Please note that all of this happened ~ before The Crowdstrike outage appears to be affecting UPS as well. As of this morning, the status on the tracking page is still “shipping date available ASAP” and they are still stuck in Louisville, Kentucky as of July 13th.)
Update Tuesday, July 23: Well, today UPS updated the tracking page for my prescription lenses to a delayed status and said, “We apologize for the inconvenience. If you are the shipper, please contact the recipient to confirm delivery. If not, you may initiate a claim to provide a resolution.” So it looks like UPS lost my lenses.
I tried to file a claim again by filling out several pages of information on the UPS website, but I got the same error message as last week, and was again directed to the 1-800 number and AI chatbot hell. After yelling at the chatbot for 30 minutes (apparently not trained on this phrase) I would like to make a claim), I finally got connected to a real, live human being in the tracking department, who introduced me to a woman in the investigations department, who informed me that I now needed to start an investigation into who sent it (i.e. Apple or maybe Zeiss) as to what had gone wrong. So I dutifully passed along all the information this woman had given me to my contact at the Apple Retail Business office in the Polo Park store.
At this point I am ready to tear my hair out in frustration. I have been going back and forth between giving up depression and white-hot anger (which has been unfairly directed at several people over the past two weeks). It doesn’t help that I am fighting with the bank and the Canada Revenue Agency over a mistake. Prior Financial planners who make a plan in 2022 will all be subject to penalties for tax years 2022, 2023, and 2024. I went through the following: many I took clonazepam last week. Sometimes I got so angry that I would tremble. The apple thing was like the cherry on top of a shit sundae. very It was a bad week overall, but I’ll digress.
This has been a horrible customer service experience so far. The worst since I tried to repair my broken Valve Index VR headset. that From experience, I swore I would never do that. always Purchase a Valve Index VR headset for a virtual reality lab project currently underway at the University of Manitoba Library. While I like the Valve Index hardware, May God bless you If you encounter a problem and need assistance with the issue, or (God forbid) you You want to talk to a real person about the problems you’re having.
Valve’s entire support system is set up to hinder you rather than help you, and is very similar to the UPS setup (and the Canada Revenue Agency). I can forgive, but I won’t forget, and my current experience with Apple, Zeiss, and UPS is starting to resemble the Valve Index disaster. (I was incredibly satisfied when my blog post describing my nightmare support experience with Valve showed up on the first page of Google search results for “Valve Index support.” At least that’s how I was. Your experience may vary.)
You gave Auntie Ryan a terrible customer service experience and you trusted and relied on her. everyone You’ll hear about it, baby! (Or as I often say, “I ~is That bitch.)
At this point Apple is working with UPS’s investigation team to figure out what happened to my first order, and I’ve already placed a second replacement order, which is expected to arrive between July 27th and 29th. And Apple will refund me for the first set of lenses, which are now believed to have been lost in Louisville. And I’ve received apologies for the inconvenience and hassle from the Apple Store and UPS. So now I’ll just wait.
*1TB Apple Vision Pro price, 2-year AppleCare coverage, carrying case, state and federal sales tax ($5,628 at today’s exchange rate)
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