Amazing Apple Store experience

My friend tried to convince me that the people who worked at the Apple Store were either demons or just stupid (apparently they kicked him out while he was trying to "copy" Microsoft office). I generally would agree, many of their employees can't basic answer questions about things that aren't iPods, iPhones, or Macs (cables, earphones, third party software).

But today when I went in to claim my warranty on my in-ear headphones, I was truly amazed. Here's the dialogue I had with the man at the register:

Me: "Hi, I received these headphones as a gift last Christmas, and the left earphone no longer makes any sound. But because it was a gift, I have no proof of purchase.

"Okay." Grabs new headphones off rack opens them up, hands me the headphones, takes my old ones

"Alright, but i am missing one of the small size rubber tips and both mesh caps"

"Okay." Takes tips and mesh caps from new box, gives them to me

"So I'm good to go?"

"Yep".

So without any proof of purchase for an eighty dollar product , checking to see if the headphones were actually broken, or checking to see if my warranty was up, he gave me an entire new set of headphones minus the original packaging. That is stellar service if you ask me!

Nice story. Just cements the notion of a great company even more. Good to hear these feelgood stories every now and again

This is the kind of thing smart companies understand about customer behavior..those headphones probably costed Apple a few bucks to make and they are selling it at a pretty good margin.

But forgo those margins and give away something that didn't cost them a ton to create anyway and you walk way with a very positive experience and might return and purchase something, or share your story with someone else who goes and purchases something..

You've just become an Apple Evangelizer and that's EXACTLY what they want..a win-win for you and Apple..

Regards

TattooedMac said:

Nice story. Just cements the notion of a great company even more. Good to hear these feelgood stories every now and again

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It sure would be nice if we could get the folks that specifically join Mac-Forums to complain about how "bad" Apple products and customer service are...to read 5-10 of these positive experiences...so at least then they would get a little more of a fair & balanced picture of Apple (not just their own individual negatively biased perspective).

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

to read 5-10 of these positive experiences...so at least then they would get a little more of a fair & balanced picture of Apple (not just their own individual negatively biased perspective).

- Nick

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Yes i totally agree with you there Nick.

It goes with any product though. I have read a lot of reviews and the majority are in the negative threshold. People like to complain more than give gratitude about products.......
Probably (sadly) because if they complain that they will be given something free or at incredibly reduced prices ...

TattooedMac said:

Yes i totally agree with you there Nick.

It goes with any product though. I have read a lot of reviews and the majority are in the negative threshold. People like to complain more than give gratitude about products.......
Probably (sadly) because if they complain that they will be given something free or at incredibly reduced prices ...

Click to expand...

Of course the other thing to consider. If someone who has a problem with Apple (at least from their point of view)...even if they read about 1000 positive experiences other folks have had...they're still going to say..."Those 1000 positive experiences aren't helping me with my 1 negative experience!"

So there's no making them happy! We know that Apple has probably one of the best...if not the best...customer service records of any retailer out there. But even with that history...no retailer will have 100% customer satisfaction.

- Nick

I really like to hear about this stuff It's one of the things that makes me feel very safe that I bought something I'll be happy with, even though it's yet to show up at my door

In my experience, probably 75% of the time or more, that people complain about something, it's because they go into it expecting something unrealistic in the first place. Some people have a sense of entitlement that just boggles my mind.

If it makes you feel better Nick - I went to the Genius bar before I ever bought a Mac. I asked them about X11 and what does it support? Can I display back? Can I compile X11 programs and run them on the Mac? I got a blank look and the reply was "I'm sorry I've never dealt with the Unix side of things."

I think they are also told to tow the company line. I asked about a few "hackish" things like using a mouse with an iPad, how to stream other Audio to the Airport Express and the guys at the store said there was no way to do it. Admittedly the mouse takes a jailbreak, but Airfoil is a valid program.

Otherwise the service and information is generally pretty good at the Apple store.

Cool story, and a proper outcome.
As was said, there are always hundreds more topics moaning about how bad things are instead of how good.

I will add my recent Experience to this thread. In 5 days time, I experienced a harddrive failure, a heat sensor problem, and a failed superdrive with a DVD hopelessly stuck in the drive. During my 4th visit to the Genius Bar, I was overwhelmed when I was told that with my Apple Care policy, I could have the drive replaced or I could have a brand new iMac. After they picked me up off the floor, I became the proud possessor of a new i3 iMac with a 1 TB drive to which I added 4MB Ram. I have certainly spread the word about my experience with Apple, Apple Care and Time Machine back-up! And after all that, they even gave me a refund on the unused portion of my Apple Care policy.

once i called microsoft when my recovery discs would not be recognized for purposes of upgrading my os. i had purchased the upgrade version of xp thinking i could just use my recovery discs as "proof of windows". ms has nothing to do with recovery discs but they sent me a copy of windows just so i could upgrade my system. didnt even charge shipping.

i used ups once in my lifetime. i dont care how they rank but when i did give them my service they failed me. i had a time sensitive letter i needed mailed. they promised 2 days initially then said 4, which was ok. they took 3 weeks however. didnt call me, didnt have a reason why they hadnt delivered my mail and refused to give a refund.

needless to say, i havent given them a second chance to fail me. whats my point? the only reason you need to be a fan of a company or not be a fan of one is the reason they give you.

A Navy axiom: "One awww sh*t wipes out 1,000 attaboys!"

Charlie