I've edited this for people who can't read more that a few dozen words at a time: Apple gave me about 900 bucks tonight. If your attention span is a bit longer, the whole story is below: I didn't start out to become one. Heck, I've probably built dozens of Wintel machines myself, I've been some sort of System Admin for Windows networks since getting my MCSE in NT 4.0, my current laptop is a Dell that I rebuilt with Windows 7, and I still use the last desktop I built with XP for some things. But slowly, I've amassed an array of Apple products, and this evening, I got justification for paying the Apple “premium” on products that now often can be almost directly compared to Wintel products (at least from a hardware standpoint). It started with iPods of which my wife and I have probably bought half a dozen through the years. Then I bought her an iMac (about two generations back….core 2 Duo), and then we got iPhones—which I can’t live without now—and then I got her an iPad, and then last month, I got her a Mac Book Pro for her birthday…….which kind of allowed me to inherit the iMac. Anyhoo……….she e-mailed me the other day saying she was “sick.” She was sick because she turned on her iPad at work, and the screen was messed up. When I got home, I looked at it briefly, and I assumed that the display adapter was probably messed up or the cable was loose. The screen wasn’t cracked or anything, but it was definitely messed up-----lines going across the middle, and some more down one side—about 15 percent of the screen was completely unreadable, but otherwise, it seemed to work fine. I didn’t think much about it, and made an appointment with the Genius Bar at the Apple Store at Baybrook Mall. We went there this evening, and the guy took a closer look at it, and then took it in the back with the techs. When he came back, he showed me that there were some cracks internally in the screen—the portion you touch was fine, but internally there was some hairline cracks, and even more damning, there was a small……..almost unnoticeable dent in the aluminum case directly behind these cracks. My wife had bought a leather case for the iPad, and there was a riveted snap in the case around the location of the dent in the iPad. The Apple guy thinks the case might have been the problem along with some added pressure from something------we don’t know what; my wife takes it to work in her briefcase, and it worked one night, and not the next day. Well, the Apple guy made it obvious to us that the problem was physical damage, and that isn’t covered by warranty, but after our lengthy discussions on what happened, he said that even though this issue wasn’t covered under warranty, Apple was prepared to buy the system back from us for $400 and apply that to a new one. It was a 3G 63GB model, so that was almost half off on a new one. I wasn’t thrilled (but not mad at Apple--more like made at ourselves), but I bit my tongue, opened up my walled and whipped out my Amex. I knew there would be some long faces in our household without that iPad. It wasn’t this guy’s fault, so I wasn’t going to b**** and moan, so I tried to be as nice as possible. He had asked about what Apple products we had, and I told him as he was doing whatever it is they do in their systems, and I told him that I had bought my wife’s MB Pro at Macmall, that I wasn’t real happy with the way they do business, and that I’d probably buy my next machine from the Apple store. Well………to make this long story not quite as long, he said he wanted to check on something, went to the back, came back to see me, and said that he could tell we hadn’t done anything deliberately to mess up the iPad, that he knew it was a horrible experience for us, and that even though there was physical damage to the unit—which is not Apple’s fault—he was going to give us a new iPad. Free of charge. I’m a fanboy now. That's REALLY special customer service.
tl;dr but congrats, now go buy yourself some organic green tea and hug the nearest tree, then go home, smoke a bowl, and hammer your wang to Steve Jobs' latest keynote address.
awesome example of customer service. when you're ready to buy your next system, make sure you go see this guy again.
I do, actually. Macs don't really offer anything different except for perhaps a sleeker appearance and a more user-friendly environment for people unaccustomed to using computers.
They have good customer service. I got a 3g swapped out on the extended warranty 3 days before the warranty expired with a 2 minute conversation...all of that said, it still seems silly to call their techs 'geniuses'. At any rate, good for you. I'm not an apple fanboy, but in the end, their products are good. And to me, IT is all tools anyway, so they have a good rep, much like craftsman used to have in the hand tool market.
just made an appointment with the genius bar for next monday because my iPod Classic is clicking and switching songs on its own. what are the chances that i will get a free fix or a free replacement with my warranty expired already? (slim to none i guess ) this iPod only lasted a year since the one i originally bought had a cracked screen and i was able to get a replacement under warranty a year ago. i am suprised that a $300 gadget can only last for 1 year
Read the whole thing. Great story. I'm always happy to hear stories of people treated well at Apple Stores. I was at one for 9 hours today. I will be back there tomorrow for another 9 1/2. I can tell you that most everyone in that store works hard and genuinely wants to help. Stories like this make it all worthwhile; for every customer who just wants to yell at you and argue, there are 5 stories like this. And for those who have had negative experiences, I'm disappointed to hear that. I can't solve everbody's problems here, and this really isn't the proper channel for me to discuss them anyway. But if it's that important, send me an email through the BBS. It may take me a couple of days, but I will read it.
i went to the apple store for the first time ever last weekend even though i've had an ipod since 2004 and iphones since the 2g. My iphone has been giving me problems and i didn't want to spend 400 for an early upgrade. Well I took it in...it had been less than a year. After I described my problems to him, he said "well with those 2 separate problems, it's not even worth trying to fix it. let me go get you a new one" Within 15 minutes, I was in and out with a new phone, activated on my number. Insanely good cust serv..
Too bad they don't treat the manufacturing employees the same way... http://gizmodo.com/5544324/another-foxconn-worker-kills-himself ...and I know, Foxconn manufactures parts for other companies as well.
"It's official: I'm an Apple Fanboy" "3G 63GB model" Yeah that basically explains why your an Apple fanboy, they don't make a 63GB model.
That was just one guy with a soul, not Apple. He did the wrong thing in that situation, technically that's bad customer service...
