And back, and back, and back
While syncing the replacement for his engraved engagement present iPod, Jason says:
It makes me pretty happy to see that Apple’s willing to do fast warranty service on a walk-in basis, something that keeps its customers coming back.
Er, um, yeah. Even though I know that nobody posts to their weblog saying “well, my iPod hasn’t broken for 324 days now, and my PowerBook hasn’t required any service for 417 days,” every time I read about yet another person’s fine experience with taking their broken toy in to an Apple store, I think again about how it’s a six hour drive to my nearest Apple store, and about how few fine experiences with shipping broken Apple toys in for repair I’ve read, and I wonder again whether or not Apple builds hardware that’s robust enough for people in the sticks to use.
Yeah, I’m lucky that I live near a few Apple Stores in Boston, and had the same luck in NYC (and even have the same luck here in Sacramento, with a hotel across the street from one). But I hear ya’ — it was amazing to me that they replaced nine iPods while I was there, and I wonder how many they’re not replacing because their owners don’t have the fortune to be able to walk into a nearby Apple Store. (And I’m also somewhat saddened that my engraved iPod is now gone, replaced with a sterile new one… time to find a good laser engraver that’ll set me back up.)
I’ve sent my Powerbook back to have some warranty work done and it was completely painless — they sent a shipping box with return labels, I sent the laptop in and got in back in two days. I got the box on Monday and had a working laptop again on Thursday afternoon.
I’ve gotten the same response time from Dell, so that’s nothing special for Apple. The thing that sets them apart though, is that if you live near an Apple store, you can get alot of problems fixed right away. Dell doesn’t have that option.
Thankfully I’ve not as yet had to take my iBook or iPod in for repairs because I’m dreading it. The few times I’ve gone into an Apple store I’ve been met with such a disinterested attitude from the sales staff that it leaves me with absolutely no desire to return. I’m willing to allow that my Mac ineptitude colors my experience, but I’m not the only one who’s gotten the elitist attitude so it can’t all be my imagination.