Overkill & Complex Warranty Registration App – Warranty Life Review

I was an 80s child born in the 70s and have used computers since they were not so common. I remember playing “The Oregon Trail” on an Apple ][e in elementary school, and have used programs, software, apps, or whatever you wish to call them my entire life ‘til this day as I am writing this review on my week or two old iPad Pro 10.5. I even graduated from a “Computing” program at Oxford, and understand the nuances and intricacies involved in writing a good solid user interface (UI), and can guarantee you that this app is not one of them. I hardly ever write reviews anymore so there must have been something that triggered a substantial amount of anxiety while completing what should have been a simple product registration. I do not know how well the company response is to warranty claims as I just finished registering my liquid glass screen protector for the iPad that I am writing this very review, and frankly warranty claims in general are a huge pain so I do not wish to find out. I always register AppleCare+, so this is more or less “backup insurance” or an extra level of protection as I do not enjoy “down time”. I know that I can rely on Apple and it’s AppleCare+ product as I have been using their products since the 80s (see above). Now back to the app. First, one of the “tests” was to draw with your finger so that the entire screen is covered changing it from white to green. This is time consuming, and with the coating that is being warranties does hurt your finger as it takes between 30 and 60 seconds of rubbing. Second, you have to use the front-facing camera to take a picture of the tablet’s screen in a mirror. As the iPad Pro 10.5 is not super-heavy, it is still awkward, and could end up resulting in dropping the device while completing “testing”. This could, and very much should be improved. Third, there is no option to simple upload a copy of your receipt to complete the registration process as you are required to take a picture of that too! Most wireless carriers send you or at least allow you to download a PDF copy of your receipt, so why not offer this as the “simple & obvious” solution? Fourth, even though I chose my correct state of “New Jersey” during the final steps of registration, it somehow defaulted back to their first choice in th list which is “Alabama”. Fortunately, I was able to fix this, but had no visual indication that it “took” as I was receiving some sort of verbiage about my e-mail already being used for registration. I finally completed this meandering process in about a half hour of time, time that could have been put to better use, and time that I wont get back! I strongly urge the developers to take a strong and careful look at the UI/UX and make the necessary changes so that a simple warranty registration could be... well, simple! I also urge management to take charge of their developers to ensure that they can make a simple app work as expected, or since it is business as it is the insurance industry, perhaps find new developers who are more competent at completing basic tasks. This strongly smells like a project outsourced overseas to save money, and perhaps, maybe designed to be a huge pain so that warranty claims don’t have to be paid out! Remember, if you can’t register, you can’t make a successful claim! Either way, please do something to address this business-centric nightmare in the making as I could easily see it becoming a driver to lose sales in our ever so social online world!
Review by SuperFlyEDSguy on Warranty Life.