Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPod Absolutly AMAZED with apple care, and DHL!

L

lisius_kent

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 10, 2004
33
0
Bend, Oregon
So I have my 5G 30 GB Ipod that I purchesed in December. A freind of mine dropped it a couple of months ago onto the concrete floor, and the hard drive started failing periodacly with a folder with an exclamation point. One day while updating it the hard drive completely failed. I took the matter up with an online service request on Sunday night. Monday morning an empty box was on its way to me. By tuesday afternoon the box was at my front door when I got home. I put my ipod in the box and called DHL with the # apple had givin me on a peice of paper in the box to schedual a pickup. On Tuesday they had picked up the box when I had gotten home. By wednesday apple had received my Ipod. On Thursday they had diagnosed the problem and a replacement was pending. My Ipod was extremily scratched up and I was expeting one in similar condition. But on Saturday low and behold a DHL lady came to my door, and let me sign for my Ipod. She was probibly the nicest lady I have ever seen. I tear open the box and there sits a brand new ipod with the stickers still on it and everything! I find it very awsome that I can have my broken product out on Monday, and have a brand new one on Saturday. I chalenge any other company to have that kind of service.

DHL was also amazing because I live in a very hard to find spot and whenever I order anything from Fed-EX or UPS I have to drive all the way down to there sorting facility, or call them and give them directions. But DHL was spot on in finding my place when no one else could.
 
I've also had great experiences.

My Apple wireless mouse fell apart so I called up Apple, I received a new BT mouse the very next day (Thanks DHL). I popped the broken mouse back in the box and sent it off.

It was probably the easiest thing I've ever returned. Plus, other companies usually make you pay for shipping at least one-way, where Apple pays for it both ways.

My only complaint about DHL is that their latest pickup windows is 2:30 pm, which wasn't late enough for me, so I had to take it 2 whole blocks to Office Max. :p
 
Yeah, Apple is good. When my iPod broke, I took it to an Apple store and they gave me a refurb on the spot, no questions asked. I had bought mine 13 months before and didn't buy the warranty and they still replaced it for free! I was expecting to pay!!!
 
I'm surprised they did that for you no questions asked if it was that scratched up.
 
It all comes down to cost really. Apple probably have a 50% - 60% profit margin when making the iPod. If you send the product back to them, it might not always be economical to make 'modifications' to your equipment. I mean buying more components from suppliers than is determined for market 'sales' demand, extra labour to handle the broken ipod, labour to fix it, and package it ...

Im sure some of the costs are reduced throught its economies of scale, e.g. its delivery services with DHL, UPS, TNT etc, but I still think its often better for them to replace it with a new model, which has been accounted for in demand figures and operating costs.

Anyhoo, yeah I did the same thing with my In-Ear Headphones the other day. Which infact reminds me, i need to send the old ones back - dont want the £25 charge!!
 
Same thing here, when my iPod 3G failed on me, I sent it in, and in less than 1 week i received a new refurbished one with no scracthes or anything.
But if i may suggest, when you go to the Apple Store, its much faster, if they have it in stock , they will give it to you right there, or else wait 1 business day and they wil have it and give it to you.
 
adam-uk said:
It all comes down to cost really. Apple probably have a 50% - 60% profit margin when making the iPod. If you send the product back to them, it might not always be economical to make 'modifications' to your equipment. I mean buying more components from suppliers than is determined for market 'sales' demand, extra labour to handle the broken ipod, labour to fix it, and package it ...

Im sure some of the costs are reduced throught its economies of scale, e.g. its delivery services with DHL, UPS, TNT etc, but I still think its often better for them to replace it with a new model, which has been accounted for in demand figures and operating costs.

Anyhoo, yeah I did the same thing with my In-Ear Headphones the other day. Which infact reminds me, i need to send the old ones back - dont want the £25 charge!!
Click to expand...

i think that you are spot on here, although people debate whether to 'stretch' for an ipod etc, they're not worth all that much to apple, so shipping a new one out...and by doing so pleasing the customer and therefore aiding customer loyalty...is probably the cheapest option.

also, what is this £25 charge?
 
student_trap said:
i think that you are spot on here, although people debate whether to 'stretch' for an ipod etc, they're not worth all that much to apple, so shipping a new one out...and by doing so pleasing the customer and therefore aiding customer loyalty...is probably the cheapest option.

also, what is this £25 charge?
Click to expand...

Exactly, Customer loyalty and brand recognition is often a better outcome for the company than the small surcharge loss they have on giving a new ipod. Im an example of that, my ipod service was good....i bought a mac eventually.

Yeah, you have 10 working days. lol, i need to ring UPS and get that sorted too!
 
adam-uk said:
Yeah, you have 10 working days. lol, i need to ring UPS and get that sorted too!
Click to expand...

woah, from what date (the day you report the fault or the day you recieve the item)? I think I still have an old ipod dock that i wanted to send back, they didn't send me a box to return it in though!
 
student_trap said:
woah, from what date (the day you report the fault or the day you recieve the item)? I think I still have an old ipod dock that i wanted to send back, they didn't send me a box to return it in though!
Click to expand...

When you receive your replacement product, in my case my in-ear headphones, you also receive a free-post mail sticker to stick on the box you 'received' your replacement in.

Using the box they sent your items in, you are to put your faulty goods back in the box, making sure the return sticker is on, then ring UPS or whoever to come collect!

Easy! :p

P.S: It 10 working days from when you receive the goods! They will know, as you sign for them...
 
adam-uk said:
When you receive your replacement product, in my case my in-ear headphones, you also receive a free-post mail sticker to stick on the box you 'received' your replacement in.

Using the box they sent your items in, you are to put your faulty goods back in the box, making sure the return sticker is on, then ring UPS or whoever to come collect!

Easy! :p

P.S: It 10 working days from when you receive the goods! They will know, as you sign for them...
Click to expand...

thanks for the info. Hopefully i haven't missed the deadline yet, not sure if i still have the box either.

If they are to charge you, do they let you know or just bill your card?
 
When my powerbook CD drive was broken, I phoned up, the next day I had the box, I phoned the delivery company, it just so happened a delivery guy was on the next road, within 5 minutes he picked it up, it was fixed within two days, and it got back to me the next day, thats about 4 days.
 
cwedl said:
When my powerbook CD drive was broken, I phoned up, the next day I had the box, I phoned the delivery company, it just so happened a delivery guy was on the next road, within 5 minutes he picked it up, it was fixed within two days, and it got back to me the next day, thats about 4 days.
Click to expand...

That is very good. I do like hearing great stories like these about Apple. Makes me feel warm to know there is a company out there that cares about its customers. My bro's 5G iPod was replaced within 3days of telling Apple UK (late on a sat night) and we were very pleased with the service.

Apple - keep it up, I'm switching more people!!

F
 
i have two stories to praise apple and their customer support

1. i was one of the first ipod users when the 5Gig came out back in 2001. at that time i was a pure PC user and was intregued by apple computer and definatly lusting after the ipod. but it was too expensive so i collected money over the next 6 months. right before summer of 2002 i got a brand new 10GB ipod. and then over the break, i went to india for a long trip. through the 3 month trip i used the ipod extensively, it got scratched and at one point one of my friends broke off the little lip inside the headphone connector. needless to say i was distressed, i went the local apple shop in Delhi and they said they service everything else except ipod as they are not sold here. so i went online and filled in the request for broken headphone connector. but i was not to be back to US for another month. when i got back, there was a box sitting for about 3 weeks. i called back apple and they said, sure just use the same box and send it in. i was ready to pay the damage cost to get it fixed as i wanted it perfect. But too my surprise, few days later, a box appeared with a Brand New 10GB ipod :D .


2. so couple of years after that i had enough money to get my very first apple (after having converted some of my other friends, i had money to buy one for myself) and that is my 15in PowerBook G4. It is a work of art.
well at one point someone at school knocked off my bag of the chair and the my powerbook was inside it, and it bumped in the front left corner and i had few scratches. and i knew apple would not cover this. after a few weeks my keyboard starting detaching and few keys made a squeky sound. i went to the apple store in Lenox Mall, in Atlanta, showed it to the Genius. he told me that he wasn't sure if apple would fix this as its dented and if the keyboard problem was connected to the fall. He took it in anyway.

Hold Be hold about 2 weeks later my powerbook was back and this is what apple did to it

- new lower case
- new HD
- new LCD (apparently it didn't pass some of their QA)
- new keyboard and upper case.
- new Superdrive (it was making some noise according to them)

and this was all without me having apple care. this was all under the original 1 year warranty. they basically rebuild my laptop. :eek: :D

I am amazed everyday by the effort they put into customer satisfaction.
 
Based on my experience, I think the AppleCare folks on the phone are pretty great. However, I'd avoid using the so-called "Genius Bar" at any Apple store like the plague.

Back in early March, I called AppleCare b/c the Superdrive in my iMac was failing - they told me to go to the nearest Apple Store (Emeryville, CA) and it would be replaced. I showed up at the store after making an appointment and experienced the following: they were 45 minutes late to see me, the representative wanted to re-install OS X before he'd believe the Superdrive was failing, didn't have any DVDs to verify the drive failure problems anyhow, and told me that if I didn't want to wait longer (I'd been at the store for close to an hour and 15 min at that point) they could check in my iMac and look at it in the "next 11 days to two weeks." Quite literally, at that point I said, "f*ck that, give me back my iMac, I'm leaving."

But, that night I called the good 'ol AppleCare folks on the phone and explained the situation. The next day I had a replacement Superdrive from Apple/DHL. Took out the failing drive, popped in its replacement, and sent the old drive back to Apple. They confirmed receipt of the old drive in three days. Easy peesy!

The lesson learned for me was to just deal with the folks on the phone.
 
I just filled out the battery recall information on a 15" PowerBook online, and 2 days later I had a new battery, shipped FedEx, with a pre-printed return label. I sent them the old battery the next day in the same box.

However, I have now sent my PowerBook in for the lower memory slot replacement, which Apple took cheerfully even though it was past the warranty period, but when they shipped it back to me by DHL the shipper misrouted the package and it won't arrive until Monday (it should have been here on Friday). This is the first time I have ever dealt with DHL, and the misrouted my package! Oh well, things like that happen I guess.
 
I have a good experience with Apple as well.

When I first got my iMac G5 it was REALLY loud so I called up Apple and they told me to take it to the nearest Apple reseller to get it checked out, so I did and the problem was that it needed a new logic board I believe? I don't really remember quite what the problem was but anyway they fixed it for free (I have Applecare) and otherwise it would have cost like $400.00. One more reason to love Apple. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back