Boy, I'll say! There have been other anecdotes on these forums specifically about trying to get a Genius to replace a yellow display and getting the third degree from them. (Although, when I had display problems on my 3GS, I found the AppleCare support team to be equally accommodating, so I can't speak to Apple Store anecdotes myself.) That this particular Genius went out of his way to notice a problem that was not noticed or brought to his attention by the customer -- especially one that, if the stories are to be believed, many Geniuses would give you a hard time about anyway -- and then went through as many phones as it took before he found an acceptable one (another thing you don't hear of happening all that often) is pretty incredible.
What Apple Store was it that this took place at, so that those of us who might be in the same area can reward them with more business?
-- Nathan
This took place at the Apple Store on Buchanan Street in Glasgow, Scotland.
I'm still in shock at just
how good that particular Genius was, especially considering the shop hadn't opened for business that day and people can be a little tired/moody in work first thing in the morning (opening time is 9:30am, but Genius Bar appointments can be booked from 9am onwards ... mine was for 9am).
I've told friends about the service, and even they have been taken aback. By comparison, my sister had no end of hassle with Sony trying to get her boyfriends' PlayStation 3 in for repair a second time with an A/V output issue after it was initially returned for a BD drive error. They refused point blank to repair it again as it had gone through their "rigorous testing before being sent back". Now, compare that attitude and customer service to what I received from Apple ... it's night and day, and when Steve stood on that stage and said, "We care about our customers", he wasn't lying.
The Genius was insistent on finding me a display which matched his "perfect white" display, and although he could see the interlacing lines I mentioned, it wasn't his main concern. He was not happy with the yellow display, he said it wasn't right and was probably a faulty display.
As I said, I went in and calmly said "I know no two displays are the same, but I was advised when I called to pop in and have it looked at because it could be a loose connection. If you tell me it's fine or within range for the display, I'll leave happy with that explanation, but I just thought I'd have it looked at".
He looked at my phone, asked where I was noticing the interlacing most, and he immediately said he noticed them in the darker sections of the gradient beside the clock on the lock screen. However, it was when he loaded up MacRumors on his iPhone (which was the page I was at on Safari at the time he done the comparison), he said the yellowing on my display was really bad and needed replaced. He also used the white portion of the Calendar icon to show just how much difference there was between his white display and my yellow one.
With each black box unit he opened and booted up, he held it up side by side with his phone right in front of his face and looked at them closely to see how much the black box unit matched his own iPhone 4. And, as mentioned, he opened not one but three until he got one that matched as close as possible.
Again, I am one very,
very happy Apple customer right now. They never fail to make my custom feel genuinely valued and they put many other large corporations to shame with their customer service and level of dedication within their staff.
