Reddit user labuzan posted a nice story today, detailing how a family iPhone went through the laundry, and what happened when they took the dead device to an Apple Store and told their story.
The results were not what you might expect.
Instead of charging for a replacement phone, the Apple employee serving them handed one over free of charge, saying: “We made an exception.”
Needless to say, a family already loyal to Apple just got its loyalty quotient increased by several notches.
Giles Turnbull is a freelance writer in England. He also writes for the Press Association and The Morning News. You can find out more at his website, and follow him on Twitter @gilest.
27 responses to “How To Make A Customer Happy: Replace A Dead iPhone For Free”
Since 2003 I’ve purchased one Power Mac and Cinema Display, three MacBooks, one top of the line iMac, 4 iPod Touches, 2 iPod Classics, and 3 iPod Nanos from Apple. The only free thing I’ve gotten from them is the shopping bag that they put my purchases in. My kid cracked his first iPod Touch, did they give me any concession at all towards the replacement bill?
They think articles like this make their customers happy? Noooooooooo.
My wife recently dropped her iPhone 3GS and the screen shattered. We still had the Apple Protection Plan on it but it was supposed to still cost $99 to replace the glass. We were fine with the charge, being my wife’s own fault, and expected to pay. After the Genius took the phone to the back, he came back with the repaired iPhone and said that because he’s a strong believer in the Apple Protection Plan, he waived the charge as a one-time courtesy.
Needless to say, we were quite happy. I suspect that this is something Apple allows their Geniuses to do once per customer at their own judgement, to seem like they made an exception just for you, but it’s definitely excellent customer service, something you seem to only get from Apple nowadays.
Thanks to the Apple Store, South Park Mall in Charlotte, NC. :)
The folks at Apple store are simply put superb. Whenever I have had a problem they have gone out of their way to help me fix it.
That particular Apple store is the best I’ve ever been to. They’ve done me right on a few occasions.
I would have to say that you seem to be in a minority. I have seen my local Apple Store replace many products after the warranty ran out. I’m not saying they always do, but they tend to have the best customer service I’ve seen in the computer industry. If you’re not happy with Apple you can always stop buying their products.
You are Pretty Damn good right!
I dropped mt iPhone 4 and totally cracked the screen. I had heard they would let you buy one of the replacements if you were under warranty for like $200, so I went to do that. But the guy could apparently see all the stuff I had and that out of 4 phones, a desktop, two laptops and an iPad I had never given the trouble and he asked is manager if they could replacement for free the boss said yes without hesitating.
Similar to what others described. I had a mac laptop with the “exploding” battery issue. The warranty on the laptop had expired, but it also happened literally a week after the company’s battery replacement offer had expired… i went in ready for an argument, and was so surprised; they took a quick look, grabbed a new battery, and I walked out in 5 minutes.
Best Apple fanboy story i’v ever read :D
This can result in angry customers who expect to be treated the same yet do not receive the same ‘exceptions’
Ha… I was not so lucky. I went to the Raleigh NC store in the Crabtree mall. My car got flooded and I had my phone in my pocket. It was raining really heavy and I had to get out and push my car out of the water. While this was happening, my pants got soaked and my phone got water damage. The phone still came on and did everything it was supposed to but it ran hot. I took it to that store and explained my situation and the tech there pretty much said I was screwed because I took the back off to try a new battery. Said I voided my warranty because “I REMOVED THE FRIGGIN BACK COVER”. There is no sticker that says removing the back or the battery will void your warranty. That’s super gay. I lost a little respect for apple that day. Never the less, I put it on ebay and sold it to a guy in Taiwan for $612. I bought a new one direct from ATT for $400 and came out $200 up. Ill be doing the same thing when the iPhone 5 comes out, minus the water part of course :)
Friends teenage son broke his iPhone 4 screen she was all set to pay thru the nose for him a new phone at the apple store … Surprise Apple replaced the phone, talk about a happy customer, she’s all about singing Apples praise to anyone and everyone who she can. Best ad dollars Apple ever spent.
Interesting and informative post
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Might as well add another positive voice. Every in person touch I’ve had with the Apple Stores (first in Oak Brook, IL, and then at Main Place in Naperville, IL) have been nothing but exemplary with hardware replacements coming with not as much as a second thought. I bought into the Apple brand in November, 2008, with a 13″ MacBook. It went through three logic boards in under 2.5 years. The last time it failed was in January, and as it was still under Applecare, they replaced it with a MacBook Pro of a comparable level. I paid to upgrade to a 15″. Note again: End of January. Fast forward to last week when the new models were announced. Walked in, explained what happened and I didn’t even FINISH THE SENTENCE about wanting to exchange and was prepared to walk out and sell on Craigslist and they said, “No problem.” Paid a few more bucks (again) to go up to the 15″ 2.2 i7, but a great experience.
Same thing with an iMac that was giving us trouble; replaced it with new top of the line and even tossed in equivalent amounts of Apple’s memory when I went to Crucial.
I firmly believe that it gets back to the old axiom about being nice to somebody else and they’ll be nice to you. I’ve been friendly, cordial and polite and they’ve responded in kind each time. As if the hardware isn’t enough to keep me as a customer, it’s the things they *don’t* have to do but will do voluntarily that lock me in until something drastic happens.