Sorry for the length of this post.
The past Black Friday I took advantage of the discounts on Apple.com and bought a slew of Apple products. The one I most looked forward to, was the new base configuration iMac 21.5", that I decided to purchase, hoping for a flawless machine. I had read about all the issues that have plagued the line, but told myself, hey not all of the machines could be faulty.
Well, when my iMac arrived, I tried it, and my first impression was just Wow. The screen looked beautiful, the machine, just so elegant. It is after working on it for a few hours that I noticed the bottom half of the screen had a rather pronounced yellow tinge. I tried to ignore it for a while, but soon it just gnawed at me, looking at the bright whites at the top half and the dingy yellows at the bottom. I called Apple support and the associate had me reset the PRAM etc, but to no avail. He told me to take it to the Apple Retail Store, for a genius to examine it.
What followed next, I have written about in another thread. A horrid experience to say the least. Thanks to a forum member here, I got an email address, that I wrote to, describing my experience at the Apple Store, and how insulted my wife and I felt, being talked down to, called liars in all but the name, etc. I didn't expect anything to come out of this. I have mailed Dell Corporate and other companies in the past, only to be ignored.
But then, day before yesterday, someone from Corporate mailed me, asking for my phone number, and apologizing for the incident. I mailed back that I was indeed very appreciative that someone took the time out to follow up with me, and that from my side, this gesture they had made, was enough.
However, yesterday, I get a call from Apple Corporate, and the lady was just the nicest. She apologized profusely for the bad experience at the store, and listened very patiently while I explained that it was not the faulty hardware that had us upset, but rather the treatment meted out by the "Genius" on staff. I explained to her, that I understood that the associate might not have been able to recreate the problem immediately, but there was no basis in calling my wife and I, liars.
She told me, that if I was willing, they'd be more than happy to make the situation right. She had located a week 41* iMac in the retail store, and that even though this was a higher CTO Mac (3.33Ghz, 4GB RAM, 1TB HDD, with discrete graphics), Apple would be willing to give this unit to me at no additional charge. I could inspect the machine for as long as I desire at the store, and accept it if I wanted.
I was just dumbfounded. I didn't expect that in the least. For me, just the courtesy call/email was enough, but Apple went above and beyond what was required/called for, to make their customer happy. I have nothing but the utmost regard for a company that would go out of its way to address its customers' concerns, when it could very well choose to disregard the same (like Dell, HP, and Sony have in the past, for instance). Needless to say, they have won over an Apple fan for life.
And yes, the new machine is flawless. Thank you
.
*I should mention that on the day I went for my Genius Bar appointment I had asked for a Week 41 machine in the store, as all the ones on display didn't have yellow tinges, and were week 41. I didn't expect the Apple Store employees to entertain that request then, but they refused my request rather rudely, telling me that I would be charged a restocking fee if I didn't accept any iMac they brought out for me outright.
The past Black Friday I took advantage of the discounts on Apple.com and bought a slew of Apple products. The one I most looked forward to, was the new base configuration iMac 21.5", that I decided to purchase, hoping for a flawless machine. I had read about all the issues that have plagued the line, but told myself, hey not all of the machines could be faulty.
Well, when my iMac arrived, I tried it, and my first impression was just Wow. The screen looked beautiful, the machine, just so elegant. It is after working on it for a few hours that I noticed the bottom half of the screen had a rather pronounced yellow tinge. I tried to ignore it for a while, but soon it just gnawed at me, looking at the bright whites at the top half and the dingy yellows at the bottom. I called Apple support and the associate had me reset the PRAM etc, but to no avail. He told me to take it to the Apple Retail Store, for a genius to examine it.
What followed next, I have written about in another thread. A horrid experience to say the least. Thanks to a forum member here, I got an email address, that I wrote to, describing my experience at the Apple Store, and how insulted my wife and I felt, being talked down to, called liars in all but the name, etc. I didn't expect anything to come out of this. I have mailed Dell Corporate and other companies in the past, only to be ignored.
But then, day before yesterday, someone from Corporate mailed me, asking for my phone number, and apologizing for the incident. I mailed back that I was indeed very appreciative that someone took the time out to follow up with me, and that from my side, this gesture they had made, was enough.
However, yesterday, I get a call from Apple Corporate, and the lady was just the nicest. She apologized profusely for the bad experience at the store, and listened very patiently while I explained that it was not the faulty hardware that had us upset, but rather the treatment meted out by the "Genius" on staff. I explained to her, that I understood that the associate might not have been able to recreate the problem immediately, but there was no basis in calling my wife and I, liars.
She told me, that if I was willing, they'd be more than happy to make the situation right. She had located a week 41* iMac in the retail store, and that even though this was a higher CTO Mac (3.33Ghz, 4GB RAM, 1TB HDD, with discrete graphics), Apple would be willing to give this unit to me at no additional charge. I could inspect the machine for as long as I desire at the store, and accept it if I wanted.
I was just dumbfounded. I didn't expect that in the least. For me, just the courtesy call/email was enough, but Apple went above and beyond what was required/called for, to make their customer happy. I have nothing but the utmost regard for a company that would go out of its way to address its customers' concerns, when it could very well choose to disregard the same (like Dell, HP, and Sony have in the past, for instance). Needless to say, they have won over an Apple fan for life.
And yes, the new machine is flawless. Thank you
.*I should mention that on the day I went for my Genius Bar appointment I had asked for a Week 41 machine in the store, as all the ones on display didn't have yellow tinges, and were week 41. I didn't expect the Apple Store employees to entertain that request then, but they refused my request rather rudely, telling me that I would be charged a restocking fee if I didn't accept any iMac they brought out for me outright.
