Apple Computer's Customer Service

I truly have been a fan of Apple Computer's products since I was in lower school. I used and supported Macs throughout all of my educational career.

Unfortunately, graduation forced me into the business world and I had to learn PCs and the world of Windows. Macintoshes fell by the wayside as they aren't a business class machine, and for work purposes, I needed one at home to build (and subsequently, break) to learn how to do my job better.

Eight years later, FINALLY, Apple Computer's savior, Steve Jobs, came back to Apple and pushed through the Intel-based Macintosh. FINALLY, I could buy a computer that allows me to return to my Macintosh roots but also allows me to run Windows when necessary. I bought my MacBook Pro laptop for my birthday, May 2006. Got the 3 year warranty as a just-in-case. Eh, it's a laptop... will probably be abused a little, may as well.

Good thing I got that warranty because I had hardware issues, which is so unconventional of Apple machines since they are proprietary hardware. There was a service recall on the batteries. Got that replaced. Just before DJ was born, the fans died. Replaced. Then, a few months later, the video card became faulty. Replaced the motherboard (integrated graphics card). For some reason, that video card was a lemon so I needed another motherboard. Then my laptop started to overheat - only when the power cable was plugged in. Replaced the I/O logic board. I'm thinking... ok. I've gotten everything but... the case itself replaced,... and the RAM. I should be good for awhile. Everything was covered under warranty, so... no skin off my back, just time I didn't have the machine.

Then last week, something didn't seem right. My desktop support gut instinct kicked in...the harddrive is running too long and when it shouldn't be. Uh-oh. On Friday night, I started a Time Machine backup to our Terabyte drive, and went to bed. Saturday morning, my laptop wouldn't boot. But did I actually get a good backup??

Spent 3 hours trying to get the machine to boot which it finally did, and confirmed that I got a good back up, but that's all I could do, literally, because then the machine effectively died again. Made an appointment with the Genius Bar at the Apple Store in Towson... 7:20pm that night. Check.

At my appointment, the Genius asks me what's up. I tell him I think the drive is dying. He listens to it and says, "The drive is dead." Figures. Every other component I have in the machine has died, so why not that, too? "I have a backup", I tell him, "so go ahead and send it off to Apple for a new drive. I'm used to this routine by now... I've certainly done it often enough." He looks at me curiously. I told him to look at my service history. He's reading and reading and his eyes are getting wider and wider... and then he stops. He looks at me, pauses, and then says, "How about another computer?"

::blink::
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::blink::

Then my eyes pop out of my head. "SERIOUSLY?!"

Because I had more than 3 catostrophic failures within the last year, Apple offered me an "equivalent" laptop to replace mine. I nearly fell over. I expected to have my harddrive replaced. Never in my right mind did I ever *expect* Apple to replace the machine. Steve and I would talk about that in jest, but never actually believe it to happen. The Genius says to me, "Be back in an hour with the original box, power cord, system disks, and anything else that came with the original laptop."

I was out of there like a shot. Got home, grabbed what I needed hauled back to the store, and there I was, standing there with a new MacBook Pro in my grubby little paws, still shocked at the outcome. "Do you want the extended warranty?" he asks.

YES!!!!!! Like that answer required thought or something...

Saturday night, Apple made a long time customer and brand loyalist very, very happy. They went above and beyond any expectation of mine in replacing the machine. I can appreciate that my MacBook Pro very likely had issues, being the first model year. In turn, I expect that this new laptop should have almost no fundamental hardware issues. I should not be in the situation where I'm out of a laptop for service as often as I was again.

Three cheers to Apple for their World Class Customer Service.

Tinsel E - part 4

Week 4 of dental captivity. Here is the update.

The canker sores are gone and have been replaced by "callouses" in the spots where my braces rub the most. This is not to say I'll never get another canker sore... one mis-bite or other blow to the mouth (say, DJ head butting me in the mouth) will result in a canker sore. I've decided that canker sores are the worst part about having braces. They hurt ALL THE TIME, you can't talk, and you certainly can't eat. Although there are over the counter topical relief products, they don't last very long because saliva does it's job and washes the topical product away.

My mouth always feels like I've been chewing gum all day. It's that "tired of chewing" fatigue. Yet, I'm barely chewing anything these days. In fact, the softer and smaller the food, the better. I'm cutting up my food into tiny pieces, like the way I'd cut it for DJ to eat so that he could effectively swallow it whole if he chooses not to chew it (which he does regularly). So I'm eating the way he is... I'll make one attempt at chewing and then just swallow it whole. The result is that a) I just get frustrated with eating because it takes son long (even with swallowing stuff whole because it takes so much longer to cut up everything that small) so I just don't bother and b) I'm usually still hungry after a meal. This is maddening but frankly, it is truly that much easier to remain hungry than to try and eat.

To boot, I can't bite into anything with my front teeth. They are sore still whether I'm eating anything or not. If I do try to bite something with them, it's excrutiating. So then I try to bite it with my back teeth, but that opens the door for breaking a wire or a bracket, so I refrain from doing that, too.

From what I can tell, I've lost 5 pounds since I got the braces because of the braces. I'm certainly not exercising... too lazy right now, but that'll change come field hockey season. At least that's a plus! I'm wearing a belt for the first time in a year! :-)

My dental health has got to be better because of this. I'm always paranoid that I have food caught in my braces and am brushing 2-3 times a day, not including the multitude of times I rinse my mouth out. Brushing is a little painful because of pressure of the brush against the teeth, no matter how light the pressure is. But it's better than having food stuck...talk about unsightly and believe it or not, uncomfortable.

I tried flossing a few days ago. What a PAIN. For each tooth, I have to thread the floss under the wire between the brackets on the front side of the tooth, and then floss that particular tooth. Rinse, repeat. Holy moley it takes me forever to floss. To boot, flossing between certain teeth really hurts; I'm guessing those are the teeth that are moving the most.

At night when I sleep, I'm drooling, forcing me to sleep with a towel on my pillow at night now. I'm dry mouthed, too, so I must be sleeping with my mouth open. Or, I'll wake up and my teeth really hurt; I must be clenching my mouth shut. Faaaantastic.

Despite all that, I can already tell that my bottom teeth have moved. From the top looking down, the teeth that were starting to get crooked are definitely more in line with the way they should be. If you look from the front, the brackets themselves look like they are starting to line up correctly. The day they were put on, it looked as if the orthodontist didn't put them on evenly. But if you looked closely, you'd see that he put the bracket in the same spot on each tooth but because the teeth are crooked, look misaligned. What I don't know is how it's fixing my overbite issue.