As I told you yesterday the power cord to my Mac started smoking. I took it to the Apple store a few blocks from my house. I was told I was out of warranty. However if I bought through the Genius Bar, I could have a $19 discount. The caveat to that is that if I take the discount, I only have a 90 day warranty instead of a year on the replacement charger. Now I may have to take the short bus to a regular bar, but it seems to me that skipping the warranty on something that may or may not catch fire is not a very good idea.
So today I call up Apple Support looking for a fight. I didn't get one. At first it was because I did not have Apple Care and unless I paid $29 to talk to someone the Siri-esque robo-voice was hanging up. But when I lied, I did apple, I lied to Siri and said I wanted to pay the $29 I was vectored through to a human. I quickly said "my power cord caught fire". THis is a tip for everyone. Apparently the words "your product" mixed with the word "fire" really get you some fine customer service.
They replaced it. For free. That's it. What's more I went to back to the store with my repair ticket number and instead of having Apple ship me one and me having to mail mine to them they exchanged it right at the store. I got just what I wanted and aside from about 4 hours of time it did not cost me a thing.
I was shocked. But what really shocked me is this sneaking suspicion that was way too easy. Why did they do that? Was there a recall? Was I entitled to more? Is there something wrong with my computer?
But that is the world we are living in. Gone are the days of quality customer service. We have to fight for every penny, every price match guarantee, every warranty. But today Mac Daddy had a soft spot for me. You might say I was the "Apple of his eye." That or they wanted rid of this old lady who was scaring off the millennials who came to the store to buy something. Either way thanks.