Hot diggety! In spite of the snit over the MobileMe misadventures, I have to say that Apple’s “Geniuses” outdo just about everycorporatebody in the customer service department.
Think of it: Got a problem? See an actual human being! Not only that, but the human being knows what he’s doing!!!!! What an extraordinary idea. Qworst should hire Steven Jobs as a consultant to advise on how to handle customers.
Today’s Genius, Zachary, instantly recognized the issue with the port connection to the Cox modem. He also knew how the Mac “forgot” my password (noooo, i did not change it and in a senior moment forget it myself), and he was able to make some recommendations about routers to get the Dell laptop connected.
Mac hardware is pricey, no question about it, but for the premium, you get what you pay for: gear that works and techs who will speak to you and actually can help you.
🙂
This is so timely! My dad’s mini went into dire kernel panic on Monday. Every last geeky trick I knew didn’t do anything. So, because he was still covered under Apple Care, we set up an appointment for Tuesday at the neighborhood Apple Store.
The genius boy fixed it in half an hour. Happily! For free! He even mentioned that Dad could come in sometime in January just before Apple Care runs out and he’ll look at the drive again.
We’ve been a mac family forever and I’ve been used to: “Well, drop it off, we’ll get it on the bench in a few days and see what we can do…” Now, those guys occasionally troubleshot in exchange for brownies, which was awesome, but I like this upgrade. Plus one of the old gurus now works at the Apple Store 🙂
Apple Care saved my tuchus when the iMac died in the middle of the MobileMe fiasco, adding to the chaos. They did an expensive fix on the machine, for “free” (i.e., for the cost of the warranty). But…I was told it was good for the machine’s lifetime. Nooo?
Weeell… Apple Care isn’t. That usually gets you 3 years of free tech support, shipping, and fixes. Everything is covered.
After that things get sorta fuzzy. Sometimes you’ll pay for tech support and talking to a human. I’m not sure what the cost of talking to a Genius sans Apple Care is. You’ll usually pay for some shipping. But if it’s a known hardware issue Apple tends to pick up the tab for the parts and labor. Dad and Sis’ computers both had faulty logic boards at one time or another and Apple fixed them for free. Same with battery issues. I think because we took it to an authorized repair shop (pre Apple Store) we didn’t even get dinged for shipping.
So, I’d guess the repair is guaranteed for the life of the machine but you might have to pay to chat with a human in a few years.
Hmmm… I’d better have a chat with them about that. Thanks for the clue!