Tuesday, March 31, 2009

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.

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