MacDailyNews reader “Lynnw” sent us an email this morning that’s too good not to share:
I have had a hardware issue recently with my original iPad 3G. I called Apple recently and they tried to assist me with the problem. I telephoned them again this afternoon because I discovered my warranty was going to run out on Monday. The problem I had was with the input area, it was slow.
Anyway, I spoke with a senior technical advisor and he didn’t want me to go to the trouble of going to an Apple Store or having to wait for another device because I am visually impaired… big time. He said hang on and you should receive a call from Apple.
Within an hour they were calling to inform me that they were shipping me a brand new iPad 2 3G and to simply sign the agreement so they could send me a box for the one I presently have. They’re shipping the new one first so I am not without one in the meantime. and email my John Hancock and they would ship out the device to me tomorrow. They asked if I wanted white or black, I said white and sure enough the guy confirmed that they would be sending me a white one.
I am sitting shell shocked from the kindness this agent and Apple in general has shown me, never mind grateful. What a company and I am so impressed. My husband nearly fell off his chair! I kid you not!
Amazing!
MacDailyNews Take: Apple Inc. The greatest company in the world.
That is awesome! Apple has always treated me right!
And they are especially nice if you are signed up for AppleCare. The only Mac I’ve had with AppleCare was a Power Mac G5 a few years ago. The front FireWire port stopped working just before the three-year mark. They said “Thanks for having AppleCare” to me multiple times, first when I called tech support to trouble-shoot, and then when I took it to the local Apple Store for repair. I felt like they were taking responsibility for the problem, and they sincerely felt bad about causing inconvenience (which is actually true because that thing is HEAVY). And the FireWire port repair was done VERY fast; I think I went to pick it up the next day.
Yep, they’ll do that kinda thing. My dad accidentally dropped his 3GS in the toilet and when he went in to get a replacement, they gave him one free of charge. Best part was that this was right around Christmas too!
This doesn’t surprise me. My friend bought an iPad 2 a few months ago for a 3-month motorcycle trip across the country. Three weeks in he dropped and shattered his brand new iPad! It was entry his fault, but he took it to an Apple Store and they replaced it for free! He was most impressed. What other company would have done that? None! I doubt even starbucks would replace your coffee if you spilled it!
Hot damn, I want a new iPad, too. Now, where’s that 20 oz framing hammer?
Your comment made me lol 🙂
A friend of mine purchase a MacBookPro and had issues with the screen …. He went to a local Apple Store (purchased originally online from Apple) and they checked out the machine and then said wait a minute, came out from the storeroom with a new Mac and transferred everything for him, wiped old machine, and he left with a new computer …..
Kicker was it was an upgraded model with a better screen and maxed out on ram – what a deal ….. The Apple girl told him only one they had in stock, so he got lucky ….. And the icing was he got the box, the whole darn thing, like he just purchased ….
It was his first Apple product, and he was impressed!
I to had an awesome visit to the apple store, my iPad 2 had been dropped and damaged the volume button, I went in to find out how much the cost for repair was, walked out with a new iPad 2 and the genius gave me a new smart cover cause mine was dirty!! He said he wanted me walking out looking new!! Best company in the world indeed!
Nice.
I have numerous similar stories about Apple, they just seem to want to treat their customers the right way.
Took my MacBook Pro in cause the bluetooth stopped working, walked out with a brand new MacBook, again a better upgraded model.
I’m an Apple guy for life cause I know they do their best for their customers.
Can’t top that but my last visit to the store in Norwich, UK with my daughter’s almost 5 yr old!! white MacBook ended up with a new keyboard, new top surround, new hd, new screen and a battery thrown in for 20 quid – all done inside 24 hrs.
Greatest company in the world? you bet.
Update a few minutes ago. The senior advisor I spoke with yesterday telephoned and mentioned that he would like to offer me a smart case since my original Apple case won’t fit and asked what color I would like. I mentioned an Apple Red and again he’s sensing this out free of charge. Grateful.
Apple in the past has been so good to me dating back to my PowerBook G4 aluminum laptop and also my 2 year old MacBook Pro that had issues. A guy named WoodyL at the time overnighted the laptop and sent me the full edition of IWork along with it.
Anyone in the world who doesn’t consider purchasing an Apple Brand product is crazy and I question their common sense. You get what you pay for and priceless customer service support. Thanks Apple
You rock!
Curiously, why do you suppose the competing copycats (from CEO presentations, to products, to marketing, to online and physical retail stores, to advertising, to packaging, to casual wear zen and countless other whatnot) are painstakingly slow to copy this altruistic side of Apple Inc.?
Lynn, I’m very happy for you and your husband. Thank you for sharing your story. I was a nice Sunday read.
i received better treatment buying my first $2000 iMac vs 911. Sold all other investments and bought all Apple stock last year……Screw u Samsung!
About 2 years ago, I woke one morning to discover that the green light on my magsafe connector was not green. I didn’t know if it was the power supply or the battery. I took the whole thing into the genius bar. I explained and they went away to test my kit. My genius returned saying that the fault was the power supply. I replied; “Great! That answers my question. I’ll get a replacement, please.” While he went away to find a new power supply, I took out my credit card to pay. You see the machine was 3 years old and way out of warrantee. The genius returned and told me to put my card away. Apple was going to give me the new power supply! I couldn’t have been more surprised. And happy! Great customer service!
Same issue. Didn’t get mine for free though, but didn’t pay full price either.
No wonder Apple has >90% customer loyalty.
You don’t get to be the biggest consumer brand in the world by treating your customers like crap. It’s this type of pattern of behavior that built the Apple brand into what it is today…the co-may that everyone is trying to mimic.
I actually am a tier 2 advisor and sit net to the person that took that call! Thanks so much for posting the nice things, we dont get to hear them often and this made his day when I showed him! Thanks again MacDailynews!!!
I use my MBPro a lot, but protect it well. Still, after 1.5 years one rubber foot came off and the charger’s pivoting cable ear broke off. I do have AppleCare, as I’ve learned that ocassional things fail particularly when used constantly.
I expected a new rubber foot to stick on and that they would not replace the charger, though it showed no abuse.
Apple, instead, simply put on a whole new bottom plate and gave me a new charger.
Any place else would have simply given me the cheap solution of a stick-on rubber foot and told me I must have broken the ear by dropping it (which I didn’t).
Apple does it right.
A good friend of mine, whose husband has always been a die-hard PC user, had a fantastic experience with Apple. She bought herself an iPod touch and couldn’t get it to sync properly with the family PC. Apple took the time to actually troubleshoot the PC for them–even for a couple of issues that had nothing to do with the sync problem. They were so impressed with the service of a company that would even take the time to help them fix longstanding PC issues that they are a solid Mac family now. An iMac that even the husband has come to like, and two iPads that they offered each other for Christmas.
What did you expect? PCs…giving trouble since Windows Vista. XP was the only solid product Microsoft released. I can’t even begin to relate the hair tearing experience I faced when confronted with the Ribbon in Office 2003. Absolute nightmare. And they’re thinking of extending the Ribbin metaphor to cover Windows Explorer in W8. Imagine the stampede to the Mac side of things when W8 is released in 2012. Not surprising that Apple is expected to shift 4.6 million Macs this quarter.
PCs…giving trouble since MS-DOG.
There, fixed it for you.
Actually I beg to differ BLN, XP was just a slower bloated version of W2K. Windows 2000 was likely the best OS MS ever produced (if you were coming from the consumer side then, yes XP was better (more stable ect, because of the NT kernel) than the consumer win98 or 98se or god forbid winME. But XP was a definite step down for professional users (who were “upgrading” from windows 2000)
I’ll second the point on win2k… The most stable version of win I’ve ever used, especially with latest service pack and patches, and with a very lean, clean install… At the time it was more stable than Mac system 9 by a country mile. It was my last win system (used until 2008.) I’ll not use windows again, period. No reason to at all.
This is one of the reasons I love Apple. Just last year my logic board went out on my ’08 MBP (way out of warranty) and when I took it in to have it fixed, they fixed it. For free. Who else would do the things they do? Nobody.
Not to burst your bubble but that may have been the extended nVidia warranty so technically they had to.
I guess I am just unlucky.
I’ve never had an Apple hardware problem since I bought my first Apple product, a Mac Plus, in late 1984.
I did have to fight with Mac OS 8.0, but that was software not hardware.
The Mac Plus wasn’t introduced until January 1986… I bought mine – which I still have and which still works! – in October 1987 🙂 $2,600 and worth every penny.
A friend of mine from England called me on FaceTime to say his HD crashed. He looked at his customer service agreement and realized it was expired by three months. So thinking he was out of luck, he called local computer repair shops and all of them were quoting above 200 pounds (that’s about $350). He called apple just to see what they had to say. To his amazement, apple didn’t say “sorry, it’s out of warrantee go away” as he was expecting. Instead they recovered his complete data over the phone.
My experiences over the last 15 years with Apple support have always been stellar. They spend the time to help fix the problems I’ve had – even the ones I caused.
I ordered a MacBook Pro, birthday present for my wife, with a RAM upgrade. I failed to see that the shipping date would be later due to the upgrade. When it didn’t arrive prior to her birthday I called and the service rep politely explained what the deal was. She couldn’t get the computer to me in time for the Bday but she did overnight a free carrying case for the soon to be shipped computer.
A small gesture like that is the reason I am a Mac fan. And the fact that I have to use Windows on a MacBook for a specific app and Windows is so unfriendly.
I’m surprised you didn’t curse Windows and all its ilk more forcefully. No matter. Here let me do it for you. Windows is freaking malware that has to be tolerated, like clearing leaves from your storm gutter in the fall. You know you have to do it but it’s a pain in the butt.
I am on my 3rd iPhone 4 , all free after the original
I too had a free replacement courtesy of Apple, this being my iPhone 4 as the one I bought outright started to fail.
Apple after all ‘make insanely great products’ and are backed up with ‘insanely great service’.
When I got my first iPhone, my daughter spilt coffee on it. The middle third of the screen stopped responding to touch. I called Apple. They shipped me a box. I sent it in. They shipped me a new iPhone.
Then I got the iPhone 3G. I dropped it from 12 feet up onto concrete. The glass did not crack, but the LCD underneath did. It still worked. I took it to an Apple store. Walked out with a new iPhone 3G free of charge.
Then I got iPhone 3GS. It was 3 months out if warranty when one day while traveling in a different city, it refused to charge at all. I walked into an Apple Store. The Genius tried everything, but couldn’t get it to charge, and said that he was sorry but I was way out of warranty to do anything. I told him that I have used a Mac since 1984, so please do something. He said wait a minute. He went back, got a new iPhone. He charged me 80 bucks for a battery and I walked out with a new iPhone 3GS.
I am now on my iPhone 4….
Let’s not forget that other companies also show respect, kindness, and graciousness to their patrons. My father’s Kensington trackball failed years after the warranty expired. Kensington sent him a new trackball free of charge.
My daughters refurbished MacBook from March 2006 had a kernel panic. Apple Genius folks reinstalled the OS and everything is fine. Thank you Apple!
Really nice!!!
Reading this store just says everything about Mac
🙂 thumbs up to You.
Same thing with me! I had a 15 month old 3GS that i had a problem with. It was 3 months out of warranty plus i had dropped it 2 months after i got it and shattered the screen. Out of warranty and shattered screen and they replaced it for free. Best thing that happened to me that year (tells you how crappy things are for me)
Tis the best MDN story in a while. Thanks to both LynnW and MDN for posting it.
And many smiles to Apple for making it happen.
I doubt that greedy Samsung will try to copy that Apple idea. You know,…… Great customer service.
I have bought many Apple products since my first in 1987. Inevitably, with so many items there are occasionally some problems. This story perfectly describes my experience with Apple’s customer service and tech support. There’s no other company like it.
I do not have such a luck. I have problem with my iphone 3gs and I call them and they replace one for me, a new set without accessory but I find oout it is a faulty set with mute button not funtioning at all. So I call them again, and same thing as previously they will replace one brand new for me, without accessory. So I gonna queue up for 1-2 hours to get the replacement each time. But they said they can’t do anything about it. Beside that, they did mention something like, well, if you don’t like it you can go for other brand.
I had a totally different experience. My computer would no longer boot. I called phone support. I had to pay just to get someone to talk to me. The guy spoke terrible english and kept asking me to do things that I had already tried myself. Phone support never listened, they just kept asking me to do things but couldn’t or wouldn’t explain why Over 3 days with callbacks I must have spent 8 hours on the phone. The service was terrible! I will never buy another Dell again.
That’s a really good story!
Man, and I thought you were serious. What a twist! That’s some M. Night Shyamalan stuff here… 😀
in a world of mind numbing mediocrity where you are constantly bombarded by advertising from companies that claim that they give great service and scream at you that they are the best around, one can’t help being a shocked when a company quietly treats their customers like actual fellow human beings, instead of hiding behind micro fine print warranties. Apple is not just about great consumer products. It’s also about great customer treatment. I personally discovered that when I returned my drowned week old iphone4 fully preparing to have to buy a a new one. My only hope was for some mercy on the price they would charge me or possibly picking up a refurbished phone. To my astonishment, I walked out with a brand new phone at no charge. These people have my heart and soul (and money) for life.
Bought a new iPad2 64 3g online, got the next day. Found the screen to have a yellowish tint. Went to Apple store, they replaced it without problems.
Third cracked MacBook keyboard cover after two MacBooks, was told take it to Knox St. Dallas Apple store, 120 mile drive, for replacement. Get there, they don’t have the replacement part. Upgraded me to a 15” MBP. As much as I dislike many Apple policies, their service rocks, and has the last 23 years I’ve been a user.
That’s so cool posting this story and it’s great that Mac geniuses are reading this. Good chance to thank them for their excellent customer service. This dates way back for me, too. First iMac bought across from Apple in Cupertino, stopped booting and was just out of warranty, so the independent shop refused to fix it without some horrendous charges. Walked into the Apple lobby and complained to the receptionist who called a VP of customer service. She was awesome, told me she was on the case. By the time I moved into a new place in Burbank the next weekend I got a call, what color new iMac did I want. Next day it showed up FedEx (Lime). Not only was that problem solved, I’ve probably spent over $10,000 on Apple stuff since then and bought stock because of it. Apple just does this stuff right. I always buy Applecare not because I expect it to break, but just for that actual peace of mind that they’ll stand by their stuff.
★★★★★
I haven’t been that lucky. Had power supplies go bad on me, never got a replacement. Purchased a refurbished Cinema Display that was DOA, the local Apple store did not take it. Had to return it by contacting Apple and setting up an RMA. Now I have friends that have had a lot better luck than me.
Great story and a hell of a nice way to treat a customer!
Now if that had been a PC from any number of companies the manufacturer would have told her to call MS cause it was a windows problem and MS would have said to call the manufacturer back since the copy of windows install was OEM. At some point a tech in foriegn country would have had her run a “restore” and her data would be gone. Hours would end in frustration
They’re pretty good but sometime lack in the technical
Expertise. I got a magic trackpad for my (work) 4 year old IMac. Installed the magic track pad update and the machine wouldn’t find a hard drive. After hours on the phone with apple techs they concluded that it was my motherboard and too bad. I couldn’t start on the start up disc etc. So I gave up and installed the track pad on my (work) new iMac. Same thing. Hours with a level 2 ir whatever supervisor and same thing: must be the motherboard. I was upset. I surfed the web for a while on a different non broke mac and found that if you use the wireless remote it will force a DVD restart. The level 2 tech hadn’t even heard of that. Needless to say I reinstalled the os on both macs using the wireless remote to force a DVD startup and both machines, that “needed new motherboards” were fine and are still fine a year later. So lesson learned: always check the mac forums when apple techs say you need a new mother board.
Hey, Apple, what about me? You took a very big amount from my credit card in February without authority. I emailed, phoned, even sent old-fashioned hard copy letters. Nothing. Zip. Nada.
What has made me a diehard Apple customer since 1985 is this story and the following comments. My own experience is that i bought a 17″ Macbook Pro recently. Shortly afterwards my grandson spilled his juice into the back. I took it to the Apple store and explained that it was my fault and could they price the repair. Logic board, battery, fans, keyboard -$1300. A week later I got it back -NO CHARGE!! I can’t recall any other company in all my years that has treated me like this. Don’t even talk to me about the value of any other computer. I’m not listening.
A couple of years ago my old G5 water cooled computer was having problems. I took it to a repair shop and had the power source replaced but the problems persisted. I was reluctant to bring it to Apple because I thought the repairs would be too high since I was the second owner and the computer was years beyond warranty. The tech told me he thought it needed a motherboard and to call back on thursday. When I called they said there were too many things wrong with my computer and they were just going to give me a new one, a quad core dual xeon. I can’t imagine any other company doing that.
I switched to Mac years ago after suffered from self-inflected wound by using Dell PCs (for over decades) . What a relief I feel now!! For tech support, I no longer have to listen to someone from oversea who barely speak English telling me do all the basic QA tasks.
For those of you have any negative or positive experiences at any Apple store, you can email to Mr. Tim Cook to voice your opinion. What’s his email address?
Try s.ballmer@microsoft.com. You can be sure your mail will never be read.
Different story for a change. I have always purchased top of the line goodies from Apple, always with apple care. The only product that failed me has been a brand new MacBook Pro 15 bought the same day it was announced in mid 2007. This is the notebook that got the NVIDIA video card problems. Over the 3 years of AppleCare, Apple changed 3 times the logic board, 2x the DVD, 2x the battery, 1x the ventilators and the last time they had to change the logic board, the AppleCare rep told me that the next incident, they would do something for me due to the constant breakup of the machine. 1 month after the AppleCare ended, same logic board problem! 4th time. Apple refused to repair it and totally forgot about the proposal to do something for me. I had to get angry on the phone with the AppleCare rep and remind him that the video card was covered for another year under the lawsuit agreement with NVIDIA. The guy put me on hold and transferred me to another rep who said, as a gesture would repair the PowerBook for free since I had been a long time valued customer. I denied the gracious offer and reminded him that it was covered for another year. They ended up repairing it but what a fight and what a dissapointment. I was ready to buy a brand new one, had they given me a credit, whatever the value but they made me stick to my lemon. The battery and DVD stopped working since but am very happy with my macbookAir and new iMac 27″. Still love apple despite that episode and the $400,000 I lost on AAPL when the WSJ announced Steve Jobs was dead… Great company, Great people, Great products.
On December 25, 2010, I gave my significant other an iPhone 4 with AppleCare for Christmas. After the holidays, the very first week after she went back to work, she dropped it while getting out of her car and cracked the screen.
Accidental damage is not normally covered under warranty — that’s what insurance is for, but being cheap, I hadn’t purchased one the new insurance policies that now are available for such problems. Heartbroken, she took it in to the Apple Store and told the Genius Bar tech her sad story. He simply replaced it — no questions asked.
im so glad for you. I guess this is only possible in the US.
When the hard drive of my new MBP stopped after 2 months, I returned my MBP only to get a €79 bill because “there was nothing wrong”. Two weeks later I returned my MBP again because my hard drive broke down again. Took me some time to convince them that I got my €79 back. Again “there was nothing wrong”, I really had to be more careful. As you guess, it took a third hard drive crash, another two weeks later, before they decided to replace my hard drive. Finally my MBP has been working flawless ever since.
It all depends on the customers attitude. Granted some companies only allow their employees ability to make exceptions. Some people are jerks and some are not. I’ve seen people go in to the Apple Store and say ” My friend got theirs replaced for free, can you replace mine ? ” Only to be upset because they get denied. Everyone has a story to tell. We just have to decide who to believe and who not!!!
Apple did the same procedure for me one time with a frayed laptop power brick, way out of warranty.
Just two weeks ago AppleStore did an ultra-good swapout deal on my sick iPhone.
Good times.
It’s nice to hear all your fantastic stories about how Apple have a great service to their customers.
Sadly enough where I live (in Sweden, Gothenburg) the service is really, really bad. When you have some kind of trouble with any Apple product, the staff is cranky and upnosed and the undertone is that you, as a customer, are bothering them with a problem you deliberately have caused yourself.
Shut up! Buy your apple product and don’t bother us again seems to me the motto of the apple staff here in Sweden 🙁
I wished a lived in the US when it comes to how Apple treat their customers 🙂
All I want to say I am sure most of above stories are from the western hemisphere.
Here in Asia especially Singapore , where there is NO Apple direct customer support except via phone, the service sucks.
Every retailer always have a hands off approach.
I have never heard of a one to one replacement and that only occur within 7 days of purchase . Other than that do not hope to get it within 1 week.
Apple pls check up on the service providers in Asia..!!
I live in Romania (Eastern Europe :). There is no official Apple store here only resellers. I’ve had an Iphone 3G bought with contract to Orange carrier. I had dust under the screen, partially was my fault (I had an “Invisible Shield” on it and some dust remained between the foil and the edge of the phone, an when I took the foil off some of the dust entered under the glass), I took the Iphone to the carrier, and they exchanged the next day with a new one. It had about one week left of warranty.
Now I own an Iphone 4 neverlocked, brought for me from Canada by a friend. I had cracked the front glass by dropping it. Then I’ve had a problem with the home button, it wouldn’t work one in ten presses. I took it to a resseler in the town I live, and I had it replaced with a new one in a week. The new one had another problem with the volume down button, it remained stuck in just a few days. I’ve had this one replaced too. Although I stayed for two weeks without an iphone due to the lack of official apple store, I am a happy customer. I still have two months of warranty, I hope I won’t have to use it.
Sorry about my grammair, and for the long post 🙂
People who complain that Apple stock doesn’t pay dividends need to realize that Apple prefers to do kind, sometimes expensive repairs for their paying it’s customers for free with some of that extra money. Apple has such a cash horde they can afford to give these above and beyond courtesy offerings.
It’s nice for Apple to have the financial ability be the customer friendly company people just don’t expect to see anymore, not one that’s trying to squeeze every last dime out of it’s customers. I’m happy to take my dividends this way, for me and split with other Apple product users.
I’ve had several experiences where Apple did the right thing, and replaced the machine on the spot.
HP does the same thing with CEOs.
Hahahahahahaha 😀
My iPhone 3GS developed a crack by the silent switch, so I took it to the Store in Liverpool. The Genius typed in my serial number and said he was sorry but my iPhone was three weeks out of the 12 month warranty and there was nothing he could do. I thought as much, so I thanked him for his time and efforts and left the shop. Whilst walking back to the train station my iPhone rang; it was the Genius I had just spoken to. He said he felt bad that he couldn’t do anything, so he’d had a word with his manager and he said that if I came back in he would sort it out for me.
So I turned around, went back to the Store and he was waiting there with a replacement iPhone. Swapped it out in 5 minutes and I was away.
So a bit of mutual respect got me a new iPhone. Lesson to be learnt here – it’s not always the best policy to go in shooting your mouth off.
Five Star Service – you just can’t find it anywhere else than .
My wife dropped her week old MacBook Pro, so we took it back for repair. Apple fixed it for free, even though we told ’em that we had dropped it! Couldn’t ask for more.
I ordered a 21 inch iMac and forgot to select the option for a wired keyboard. I called them up and asked them if I could change my order. The guy said “it would delay your iMac by 3 days, so I’ll just send you a separate wired keyboard for free”
My expression: 😀
Where did the Bluetooth Wireless keyboard go? I use it with my PS3 🙂
Thank you, Apple, for being awesome.
Same thing happened to a friends of mine – he ordered his iMac and forgot to configure the wireless keyboard option so they sent him one in a separate parcel for free.
Rock on!
That is a great story but not surprising to me.
After many falls in hard surfaces I was at a baseball game and with all the excitement I dropped my iPhone 4 once more and it cracked badly the front glass screen, a continued using the phone with no problem an the totally craked glass screen held up for more than a month, I checked with independent repair shops in NC and Fl. amd they quoted me $169 for replacing the front of my phone, I finally made an appointment with my local Apple store and I was there less than 10 mins. and I got a brand new unit operating with all my contacts.
So far my Apple experience, priceless…
since I updated to Lion my mail will not send on my macbookpro
I have talked with apple many times and they admit there is a problem but have no time frame to when they will fix. This is crazy! No one at the store is telling the poor people with new computers that the mail will not send when they get home!
I am big Apple fan and own every thing they sell but this is a big deal!
I have a apple doing the right thing story as well. I had an 8 month old MacBook Pro whose face time camera would fuzz out and then stopped working entirely. Took the machine into the apple store on 14th street in NYC and they diagnosed it as a bad camera. The camera and LCD are all one unit, so they had to replace the whole lid of the machine. I get a call a few days later that due to unforseen circumstances in fixing the machine, I was getting a brand new machine, free of charge. They transferred all my data onto the new machine and it was ready when i went to get it. The genius was extremely apologetic, but I wasn’t upset, I got a sandy bridge upgraded machine for free!