1 post tagged “keyboard”
After months experiencing disappointing customer services, finally today something really nice happened. Though I don't like making free advertising for companies in general - I do want to recognise quality and good service when you get it.
In this case it goes to Apple.
My 2.5 year old white MacBook had the top keyboard cover broken near the border and two thin pieces of white plastic were about to break off on both sides of it. I had fixed both with super glue and though it didn't look perfect, it was OK.
Today I decided to go to the Apple Store here in Munich to see what it could be done, since I had also read that Apple was changing for free the white casings in case of severe cracking - they recognised the bad quality delivered and they are doing something about it.
So, first good impression, you book an appointment via the internet - you just don't have to go to the store and hope after waiting forever that somebody will ask you "may I help you" - as it sometimes happens in shops.
Though mine was fixed at 18:20, and arrived at 18:25 (I lost the subway...), a nice lady at the "concierge" told me to take a seat and that I would be called. After 5-10 mins she picked me up *personally* (no shouting), and a friendly (honestly) Genius called Philipp looked at my MacBook.
After 30 secs and without any "but" or "if", he told me that they would change *for FREE*, completely out of warranty!!, the top keyboard cover, complete of keyboard itself and trackpad, since it was due to a faulty design. The cracks and the plastic splits are due to the thin plastic spacers located on the screen lid, where the magnets that keep the lid closed touch the top keyboard cover. He checked whether they had all the parts in-house, called a supervisor (30 secs total) to approve the free repair out of the 2 year warranty (in the EU we have 2 years warranty - the benefits of being in the bureaucratic EU), got my mobile number and took the MacBook with him. He said they would call me on the mobile within 8pm.
After 30 mins, I have been called on the mobile (!!) and went back to the Store and I was given back a "new" MacBook. The plastic keyboard cover, the keyboard itself and the trackpad are brand new.
All for 0€.
I have no idea whether another company could provide such a service, so fast.
So, certainly Apple is not perfect, and I was lucky that all parts were available so that they could give me a prompt service, but they certainly fare much better than others. And with this free repair, that costs Apple maybe 10-20€, they have renewed my loyalty as a customer for my next laptop - in 1 or 2 years, if nothing changes and the quality remains the same, I will buy another MacBook.
This is how you secure business. This is how you keep customers happy. So, if you ask me, buy a MacBook.
People talk about the "apple tax" - if paying a tax gives you 2 hours of excellent customer service and free out of warranty repairs, "no questions asked", then I rather pay it. I am still convinced there is a Windows-PC tax as well - and you get nothing in return; no sorry, you get Vista.
And this goes along the line of other extremely positive impressions I got from Apple Customer Service: my iPod Shuffle (1st generation) substituted out of warranty; the reimbursement of 100€ for the Apple Cinema Display due to the "price matching policy": after 1 day of purchasing it on the Apple Online Store, I found on the internet an offer 100€ cheaper. I sent a screenshot of the internet page with the cheaper offer from another shop to an Apple email address and after 1 week the money was on my credit card account. No fuss, no discussions, no questions.
If there were only more companies working like Apple.....for example Deutsche Telekom could be a just a tad better, just a "bit".....
