Mr Fish Speaks: Apple to the Rescue

Hello there bloggy world!

Karie has wanted me to write a post or two for some time now but, until now, I have not had the right inspiration. This is a follow up to this week’s Wordless Wednesday picture of my destroyed iPad. First let me explain what happened to the little guy. I was casually browsing iTunes for some old Pink Floyd I had just discovered was missing from my music library when I was hit with the motivation to rip the 100+ CDs Karie and I have collected over the last several years. Now these CDs are all in one box and really have not been touched due our extensive digital content, and due to this I had no idea how heavy the box was. So, realizing I would need both hands, I placed my iPad in the box and gave the box a clean and jerk motion to pick it up. As I was so graceful, my iPad was thrown from the box in a fluttery, flippy kind of way and impacted our hardwood floor from a peak height of about 6’. Needless to say, when it made contact with the floor it made a sound that could not be mistaken for anything else. In fact, it almost sounded like it yelled, “Nice going dumbass!” That of course could have been my own thoughts in my head.
So I told you all of that to tell you this…

Karie and I Googled what it would cost to repair the glass and found some people had posted on the Apple support forums talking about how their local Apple store had replaced and or repaired their iPads for free due to the same type of moronic carelessness. So, with hope in my heart and fully ready to admit my wrong doing, Karie and I set out to the Apple store in the Chandler Fashion Mall.

Once we arrived, the first thing I noticed was the literal sea of blue shirted employees. Most of who were 20 something tattooed, pierced, Generation X’ers but all looking very happy with their work environment. I was approached by what I can only call a maitre-de who exhibited genuine sorrow when I showed him the damage to my iPad. He then made me a tech appointment for 15 minutes later for their Genius bar to have my iPad diagnosed. Karie and I quietly waited our turn browsing the Mac’s and techy stuff we would love to max out my credit cards on. Our name was called and we meet with a tech named Eric who was very nice and seemed extremely knowledgeable regarding Apple products. I explained to him what happened and that I was hoping there was a ‘dumbass’ clause in their warranty he laughed and said that unfortunately there was not such a clause. Well, he started typing away at his computer and came back to me about five minutes later with,

“I have good new and some bad news. The good news is your iPad is still under warranty, the bad news is this isn’t covered under the standard warranty.”
I replied, “Well doesn’t that bad news kind of negate the good news?”
He laughed again and said, “Yes I guess it does, but there is more good news. I am going to cover it anyway as a onetime deal.”

I was FLOORED. I didn’t have to fight, argue, lie, or do anything sexual. They just covered it! He then explained that not only was he going to cover it, they were not going to fix it; they were going to replace it with a brand new unit. No mailing off my iPad and waiting 6-8 weeks to get it back repaired. It was as easy as just swapping it out. Of course, since it was an iPad 1 not a 2 he had to order it for me but 2 days later I have my brand new replacement.

So to close, I say, Great job Apple! Customer service like this doesn’t happen anymore and I for one will be voting for Apple with my dollars in the coming months and years.