A few months ago, my 4th generation iPod touch‘s home button began to show signs of unresponsiveness. Since the iPod was still under warranty, I made an appointment with the local Apple Store for service. I’m always amazed at how busy the Apple Stores are. There’s never a quiet moment inside these glass enclosures. The visit to this store was no exception.
After a brief wait, a Genius played with my iPod’s home button for a minute before opting for an instant replacement. I happily took this iPod home and set out to restore it. When I got home and powered the iPod, I found the backlight was damaged — the screen was awash with white. Lame. I made arrangements to take the iPod back to the store the following week.
The next Genius thought I was clearly smoking crack. How could one of their perfect refurb iPods have a bad backlight? “We check these things, sir.” Right… After play scolding me for another minute, she brings out another refurb iPod. I ask if we can power this one on in the store, “just to make sure.” The iPod won’t power on. So much for that factory pre-charge, right? She tells me to take this one home and just let it charge for a bit. “It’d be incredibly rare to get another bad iPod,” she says.
Well as it turns out, this one’s a dud too! This iPod won’t even hold a charge long enough to power on. Now I’m irritated. I call Apple and eventually get in touch with one of the local store managers. (They briefly tried to shuffle me off to AppleCare.) “What do you think we should do to make this right,” he asks. I tell him it’d be great to get a replacement iPod out of retail packaging and not a refurbished unit. He quickly agrees and I’m, once again, off to the Apple Store.
The Geniuses aren’t very sympathetic. “There’s just no way we gave you two defective iPods!” I can’t help but detect the underlying loss-prevention tone. They think there’s some kind of fraud going on, but they replace the iPod as the manager instructs. I tell the girl, “I just wanted the situation right from the start.” The first defective refurb should have prompted an immediate retail exchange. Three trips later should entitle me to “something.” A $10 iTunes gift card, maybe?
Maybe I sound greedy, but in the past, companies worked hard to keep your business. When I worked for a mom ‘n pop business, the owners bent over backwards to keep the customer happy. New parts, store credits, etc. Now you’re lucky if you get the thing you originally asked for. I realize Apple’s a huge corporation, but they should never forget their roots or the little guy.
What do you think? Sound off!