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.
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.