The Summit - Birmingham
I am SO glad you started this thread, as I was about to start one myself
because of my experience yesterday at The Apple Store at the Summit in Birmingham Alabama.
So often we hear about the negatives, and I'm sure a lot of people don't report the POSITIVE ones as they feel that those are their due as consumers.
My Story.
Wanting to save a few bucks on sales tax, I ordered my daughters Christmas present, a brand new MacBook, from Amazon.
In fact, this was pretty much to be her only Christmas present, besides the various accessories and added memory to go with it. (4GB from Trans International for the low low price of $96 plus shipping).
Well it all arrived Friday.
After doing the bootcamp thing, I decided to go ahead and install the memory. A pretty simple process, right?
I've installed memory in just about every mac model ever produced, including the Classic series, where you run the risk of actual electrocution, if you do something wrong. I say that only to relay the I am a VERY experienced Mac User and no stranger to the insides of a computer.
I've put HD's in Powerbooks, Ibooks, Imacs, so JUST dropping some memory in a MacBook SHOULD have a been an easy 5 minute process.
Battery out, Little ram shield gone, pop both old modules out, and the forst one goes in like it's home for Christmas.
The second one? Well that one was a little tricky. It was kind of rough going in and would not seat properly. Hey, that happens. Sometimes these things are a tight fit. A little more pressure, no go. A little MORE pressure. Still no go.
Something definitely wrong.
So I look inside. There appears to be a little "flap" of something blocking the bottom of the slot. Strange. Try to force it in again. No go.
But it appears the the "flap" has gotten larger and more pronounced.
Something appears to "peeling" up from the bottom of the slot.
A smart man would have stopped there.
Well. As the rest of the story proves, I may NOT be the smartest man alive.
Figuring it must be a piece of plastic "film" or perhaps some bit of crap that was not supposed to be in there, I pick up some tweezers and try to pull it out.
Out pops this long silvery cable thing, kind of mangled at this point, with a blue connector at one end.
Panic sets in at this point.
Knowing I had one good chip still in there. I close everything up and try to boot it. A Mac Users Worst nightmare. No chime. No Flash. Not a peep.
REAL panic sets in at this point as I feverishly count down the days to Christmas, and realize that most of the "service work" I hear talked about on these boards is usually around 2 weeks.
Did I mention that this was pretty much my daughters ONLY Christmas present?
So the Man who killed Christmas, being me, picks up the phone and desperately calls my local Apple Store.
The news I got was not particularly good to hear.
"Hmmm....you did NOT buy it here?"
"3rd Party Ram?"
"You did WHAT?...with TWEEZERS?"
"Ah...It'll probably take about 2 weeks, and I'm pretty sure it WON'T be covered under warranty"
But, nevertheless, they agreed to let the Man who Killed Christmas, being me, see an Apple Genius, the next day.
Anybody familiar with this area can tell you what a freaking ZOO the Summit Mall is this time of year, and the Apple Store was no exception.
They wuz hoppin.
So I finally see my name on the big screen and sheepishly approach the counter. I explain my problem to Ellie, a nice looking girl who seems to be all of 19 years old, and I am prepared for the worst. Not to mention that I had to "explain" all of this with 2 lines of people on either side, all giving me that same "poor bastard" look that we all give when we see somebody who has REALLY botched things up.
Elie takes my poor new MacBook behind the huge metal "wizard of Oz" door they have and I wait for a while. Every now and then her head pops out to ask a question or two.
"This came out through the RAM slot?"
"With Tweezers?"
"Are you a FREAKING MORON?" (Okay, I made that one up)
Finally, the verdict. I had some how managed to pull the keyboard connector wire, out through the ram slot (where it had NO BUSINESS being) and severely mangled it.
Ah.
Damn.
My worst fears confirmed.
Now I KNOW it will have to be "shopped". Christmas cancelled.
Wrath of ex-wife. Disappointment of daughter unit. Empty tree.
Ah, THE SHAME of the man who killed Christmas. With tweezers.
Ellie is a super-hero.
She needs a cape, a costume and a theme song.
In ten minutes she had replaced the cable, from a previously damaged return unit, installed my new ram, and did it all with a smile on her face.
It all worked perfectly.
No charge.
Christmas was saved.
Okay.
Maybe it does not seem to be a life changing experience.
But what makes it special is that she did not have to do ANY of it.
I did not buy it there.
I did not even buy the RAM there.
I did the damage myself.
It was a madhouse in the store.
It would have been VERY easy, and somewhat even expected in this day and age, for someone just to throw it on the pile of "damaged" goods and pass it on to the service department.
But she took the time to make something right for someone that was not even a customer, with no personal gain, just to help somebody out of a jam.
That is just golden.
Made me feel kind of cheap for "saving" a whopping $90 bucks or so by buying online.
So thanks to Ellie, who's last name I did not get, Toni David, the Store Manager who took the time to talk to me on one of the busiest shopping days of the year, and the whole staff of the Apple Store at the Summit.
You guys rock.
I think I know where I'll be buying all of my "accessories".
William R Calderini
and glad to hear christmas is saved 
