Product repairs stuck in limbo as most Apple Stores remain closed indefinitely

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Got an Apple product repair stuck in a shuttered Apple Store? It's safe.
Got an Apple product repair stuck in a shuttered Apple Store? It's safe.
Photo: Brad Gibson/Cult of Mac

Repaired devices that customers couldn’t pick up before Apple Stores closed will remain piled up for some time due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Many Mac and iPhone owners now find themselves between a rock and a hard place, according to various reports and social media posts.

“We made every possible attempt to get people’s products back to them,” an Apple spokesperson told Business Insider Friday. “There certainly are people that, for whatever reason, did not pick up their products before we closed and their products are at our stores.”

Some customers apparently couldn’t be reached, or otherwise couldn’t make the two-day pick-up window to get their devices before Apple Stores shuttered.

Upset customers are beginning to tell their stories online. Some contradict Apple’s contention that individual stores did everything possible to contact consumers and have them pick up their orders before March 16.

Apple Store pickups … who knows when

For customers who missed the two-day pickup window after stores closed outside mainland China on March 14, their iPhones, Macs, Apple Watches and other products are essentially locked up until Apple reopens its stores. Right now, nobody knows when that might happen.

Apple said it is working with customers who sent products to Apple repair centers to have their devices returned to them rather than sent to retail stores for pickup.

Apple’s original timeline to reopen its stores was March 28, but updated wording on its website March 17 changed that to “until further notice.”

Apple repair customers speak out online

Consumers with Apple products stuck in Apple Stores are speaking out, all of them with different situations…

Some independent Mac stores are trying to fill the void of Apple Store closures by remaining open and doing repairs. Locally owned Austin MacWorks in Austin, Texas, continues fixing what it can with repair stock on hand.

Apple operates 506 retail stores across 24 countries, including 272 in the United States and 234 elsewhere.

Apple did not reply to repeated attempts from Cult of Mac for comment on this story.

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