Yeah, I was very impressed with Apple! I was hoping I'd get my $12 back when I called, but not counting on anything. The rep I spoke to said they'd refund me the $12 right off the bat and then offered an accessory, which was a very pleasant surprise. When I said I wanted the camera connection kit, she asked if there was anything else I wanted, so I added an extra dock to usb cord since I'm always running short on those. I keep joking that I don't know if it was her last day and she was trying to screw over Apple or what, but whatever it was, I appreciate it!
Apple has a MASSIVE markup on those accesories, I took a risk and bought a dock connector Cable ($19 from Apple IIRC) that said it was from Foxconn (from some website, used PayPal), I spent $1.30 on the cable. It looks the same, works the same, came in a plastic baggy not a cool Apple box, but you get the point. I'm almost positive it is EXACTLY the same thing (or a very accurate knockoff, knock on wood so far so good), so it's really a smart idea to use those as schmoozers when it really doesn't cost them that much, but it made you feel like you got $50 off of them!
I've always been impressed with Apples service though, they just fix it, no dilly-dallying or fighting over whose fault it is, they just fix it. Not true with HP!
Actually, with HP, I had a PC a relative had bought that they called me over because it didn't work. I fought with HP for hours they finally agreed to let me ship it to them to be fixed, they sent it back, still had my handprint in the dust on top of it, still didn't turn on (bad PSU, I tested it, but for crying out loud I'm not paying to fix it on a BRAND SPANKING NEW PC!). I called, complained again, they said they would send me a brand new PC, I didn't believe them so I put a tiny mark with a permanent marker on the bottom of the case, the "New" PC had the same mark. HP THEN informed me that "After replacing an entire PC on warranty because the customer is not satisfied with the repair workmanship, the warranty is void". I complained about it NOT being a new PC, they just told me I was lying and had just put the dot there.
So my relative spent $40 on a new PSU, and used it for a year before it crapped out again. I will never buy an HP product after that experience, in fact, when an old family friend of mine (A physician) needed to replace his 25 Hewlett-Packard PC's in his office building, I convinced him to go with Dell
HP, think you were saving money with that service? HA!
-John