Just a hit back at the many stories of late that Apple is losing its long held customer centric philosophy....
I purchased a launch day rMBP base model with the standard 8GB ram and loved the machine from the moment I opened the box. Sadly it suffered from image retention (LG screen) and needed to see Apple. Note my model was fine until early August, it does take time for the screen to develop the retention issue and it was highly visible come August, after about 30 seconds of a window being opened.
Let me point out that I've been an Apple customer for a fair few years and know that they make mass produced products, problems are expected and you should not expect perfection from every product made.
I gave Apple a call early August to get a repair, they immediately offered a replacement instead (even though it was from an authorised reseller!). I gladly accepted and thought I would be a bit cheeky and ask if I could have a memory upgrade on the replacement as I found 8GB was limiting for VM work. Apple accomodated this and I gladly gave them my card details for the £160 increase in cost.
The replacement order was set up and an appointed contact in Apple was given to me to liaise with. I happily waited but recieved a call a few days after the replacement was set-up to be told that my custom build (base retina plus 16GB Ram) would be delayed for 7-10 days as builds were back logged, I was fine with this as the way I see it I was recieving a brand new unit with new warranty, all sealed etc.
Apple disagreed and said they had removed my card details from the order and I will not be charged for the memory upgrade on the replacement!! £160 saved and I didn't even have to ask, I was happy even with a delay and paying for the memory. Brand new unit vs repair? No brainer.
I received my new unit today and it is a Samsung screen with the promised 16GB of ram, no image retention (time will tell but it looks as though LG screens, some not all, are the affected batch). It is perfect.
I gave Apple a call this afternoon to thank them for such a pleasent experience and for giving me a free memory upgrade, before I could get this in the gentleman from Customer Relations piped 'I'm ever so sorry your replacement order was delayed by 2 days outside of the estimate given'. I must say a 2 day delay (12 days instead of 7-10) is perfectly acceptable to me.
Apple thought that I deserved some sort of 'appeasement' for my 'trouble'
They gave me a choice of any Apple product bar, software from the App store, iTunes vouchers and no Apple TV (Guessing margin related?)
My wife has wanted an iPod Touch for a while and I let her talk to the gent, he was more than happy to give her (me) an iPod Touch, even offered engraving she should be so lucky. He exclaimed that if I have any issues what so ever, Apple will help every step of the way.
Now, i'm far from a 'fanboy', I'm a Macbook user of many years and have always considered Apple to have above average customer support, but to give a free memory upgrade and an iPod touch (£329!) for a faulty product and a 2 day delay is astonishing.
A replacement was more than appeasement enough (new warranty etc), I was happy to pay for a memory upgrade and loved that Apple were flexible to allow that during replacement, but no, Apple went all out by any service standard.
The latest 'corporation boo' and 'Steve Jobs would have never allowed this' speeches are astonishing in light of what I have witnessed.
Thanks for reading.
I purchased a launch day rMBP base model with the standard 8GB ram and loved the machine from the moment I opened the box. Sadly it suffered from image retention (LG screen) and needed to see Apple. Note my model was fine until early August, it does take time for the screen to develop the retention issue and it was highly visible come August, after about 30 seconds of a window being opened.
Let me point out that I've been an Apple customer for a fair few years and know that they make mass produced products, problems are expected and you should not expect perfection from every product made.
I gave Apple a call early August to get a repair, they immediately offered a replacement instead (even though it was from an authorised reseller!). I gladly accepted and thought I would be a bit cheeky and ask if I could have a memory upgrade on the replacement as I found 8GB was limiting for VM work. Apple accomodated this and I gladly gave them my card details for the £160 increase in cost.
The replacement order was set up and an appointed contact in Apple was given to me to liaise with. I happily waited but recieved a call a few days after the replacement was set-up to be told that my custom build (base retina plus 16GB Ram) would be delayed for 7-10 days as builds were back logged, I was fine with this as the way I see it I was recieving a brand new unit with new warranty, all sealed etc.
Apple disagreed and said they had removed my card details from the order and I will not be charged for the memory upgrade on the replacement!! £160 saved and I didn't even have to ask, I was happy even with a delay and paying for the memory. Brand new unit vs repair? No brainer.
I received my new unit today and it is a Samsung screen with the promised 16GB of ram, no image retention (time will tell but it looks as though LG screens, some not all, are the affected batch). It is perfect.
I gave Apple a call this afternoon to thank them for such a pleasent experience and for giving me a free memory upgrade, before I could get this in the gentleman from Customer Relations piped 'I'm ever so sorry your replacement order was delayed by 2 days outside of the estimate given'. I must say a 2 day delay (12 days instead of 7-10) is perfectly acceptable to me.
Apple thought that I deserved some sort of 'appeasement' for my 'trouble'
They gave me a choice of any Apple product bar, software from the App store, iTunes vouchers and no Apple TV (Guessing margin related?)
My wife has wanted an iPod Touch for a while and I let her talk to the gent, he was more than happy to give her (me) an iPod Touch, even offered engraving she should be so lucky. He exclaimed that if I have any issues what so ever, Apple will help every step of the way.
Now, i'm far from a 'fanboy', I'm a Macbook user of many years and have always considered Apple to have above average customer support, but to give a free memory upgrade and an iPod touch (£329!) for a faulty product and a 2 day delay is astonishing.
A replacement was more than appeasement enough (new warranty etc), I was happy to pay for a memory upgrade and loved that Apple were flexible to allow that during replacement, but no, Apple went all out by any service standard.
The latest 'corporation boo' and 'Steve Jobs would have never allowed this' speeches are astonishing in light of what I have witnessed.
Thanks for reading.