Super Customer Service at the Apple Store
About two weeks ago, my GF got a refurbished iPod Touch from the Apple online store. The refurb was pretty cool, but it seemed to have a really low battery life. I made an appointment with the Apple Store App for the Genius Bar and the guy who helped us was really cool.
We explained that she just bought the refurb and it was pooping out after like 3-4 hours of use. The guy showed us some battery saving techniques (like lowering the screen brightness and turning off location services, etc). At this point I was like, “come on guy, I already know that!” Then he just gave us some paperwork to sign and a new iPod! YESSS.
The awesomeness here is that he didn’t question us like we were total idiots and assumed we were right. He didn’t make us do any stupid diagnostic tests to prove we were telling him the truth. This is what set the experience apart from others, like when I call the cable company and they make me turn my modem off and on, etc. Thanks, Apple! The only thing I would’ve changed is that I scheduled the appointment for like 7:30 and they didn’t get to me until around 8.
The new iPod is working a lot better, so I’m glad we went in to do the switch. In other news, I am thinking of getting an iPad, because (gasp) I was wrong. In the future I should probably forego the knee-jerk assumptions for new products before I actually try them out. I can probably just say I did it for the lulz again and go on to become the next John C Dvorak. The iPad is actually quite neat. Understanding the iPad HIG goes a long way toward appreciating it. I also wrote an iPad version of my other app, so I’d like to actually try it on a real device at some point.