Coffee break- customer support the way it should be
I am sitting here in the local coffee barn sipping on a dry cappuccino and thinking back on good customer support. The story about the Dell support gone bad was fresh in my mind as I headed earlier to the Apple store to return my mini-adapter for the iPhone. You may recall they issued a recall a few weeks ago for the adapter as it may break in the plug and create a fire hazard. I have been meaning to take mine into the Apple store to exchange it but never got around to it so today off I went.
I was greeted by a rep and explained the purpose of my visit who took me to the back genius bar. They asked for my old adapter and my iPhone serial number so I handed both the adapter and my iPhone over. They accessed the About page on the phone and entered in the serial number. In thirty seconds they handed me a new adapter and that was that. Now this is not a complicated process but I’ve had similar situations with other vendors that went a bit differently. Kudos to Apple for recalling the defective part and making the swap super simple.
This went so quickly that I looked at sleeve cases available for the MacBook and really like the incase neoprene sleeve so I got one. I’ll give more details about this sleeve soon but what I liked about it besides how thin it fits the new MacBook is how it has handles (something many sleeves do not) and it also comes with a detachable shoulder strap for those who want one. Nice construction and only $45. I don’t see it on the incase web site so maybe it’s only available in Apple stores.
Funny you mention this, James, because I had a similar experience yesterday at my local Apple Store. I had picked up a new MacBook Air the day before (1.86/SSD), and I noticed it had a bright stuck pixel. Went in yesterday about an hour before closing, and they were packed at the Genius Bar, but they quickly took mine in and checked it, and I was out of there within 15 minutes with a new computer. While I was waiting, I also bought an Incase sleeve for my new computer.
I also noticed that they have put in a new Genius Bar-type area in the SonyStyle store, with a full-time technician there…wonder where they got the idea?
It is the same in the UK from my experience. My iPhone developed about four dead or stuck pixels, one right in the middle of the screen.
I booked an appointment with the local Apple store, arrived on time and was taken to my Genius. Within 3 minutes he had listened to my problem, confirmed it was an issue and outlined his solution -
Get me a new iPhone.
Securely wipe my existing iPhone with me present.
Set up and activate the new iPhone.
Confirm with me that all was working as required.
Less than 15 minutes later I was walking out of the store with the new iPhone in hand. I created my MobileMe account on the spot and my contacts, calendar etc. all started syncing as expected. Only the apps needed installing when I got back (which I did by simply restoring the device through iTunes).
No hassles. No questions. No conditions. No arguments. I have fallen for Apple in a big way this last year and this experience was just the icing on the cake.
I have had wonderful experience with apple customer support in the US. One of the reasons I switched back to their products after a short Windows run had a lot ot do with customer support. But my experiences in the Hungarian office was not even close. I had a screen problem. They told me that I probably sat on the laptop or soaked it in something (the problem did not look like such activities would cause such a thing. Especially the soaking as the problem was in the middle of the screen but away from the apple logo. I guess Apple does not have an official apple store here, but I sure as hell did not get the service I was hoping for. (I guess nobody offers decent customer service in Hungary anyway.) I got the problem fixed in the US.
Nice to see apple makes returning a defective hazardous item so easy. Shame they shipped out millions of them with such a dangerous condition in the first place.