Just a few minutes ago I went to go meet my dad and sister at the Lenox Mall Apple store. WHy? Melissa is going to college in the fall and we needed to get her a good computer. I’ve been working on selling my friends and family on Apples ever since I got my first 12″ PowerBook G4 the summer before I started college, and finally I’ve convinced a family member to join me. By the way, my friends tally is 4 direct purchases I’ve impacted heavily and at least 2 indirect impacts. I am considered by many of my family and friends as an Apple fanboy.
In April my iPhone had its moisture sensor tripped. It worked one night, I had a couple drinks in a hotel conference room (in Arizona, btw, so it’s dry as heck outside and inside) and went to bed. Next morning, microphone wasn’t working properly. Been using speakerphone since. Apple told me I was SOL and it was $499 to replace the phone. I told them to take a hike and made the speakerphone switch – which means I can’t talk on the phone in noisy environments. Today they told me I could get an out of warranty replacement for $199. I’m going to do it, and they’re tricky enough bastards that I actually thought “Oh! $200 is a good deal!”
But my real issue with Apple is that they’re changing their approach and screwing customers over. The new integrated battery is “better” because of longer battery life and all that jazz – and is supposed to make up for not being able to easily replace it. Apple fans just accepted that change because most of the time we just buy a new computer before we buy a new battery. Here’s the trick: You can no longer change your own memory. The saleswoman told me “if you’re really savvy you can do it yourself” and I said “but it voids the warranty, right?” and she was just quiet.
Apple is known for great customer service and they’re not offering that. $600 and then $200 to replace a phone that went on the fritz does not make me happy. They’re supposed to have superior hardware and design – and guess what? Frickin’ amazing displays and unibody design is great, but if you can convince me that me NOT being able to replace my own memory is a design UPGRADE, I’ll buy you a frickin’ ride to the International Space Station. You’re not making friends, Apple. You’re not treating your customers right.
Nobody said “Oh, Mr. Ake, We can see that you buy a new computer every 3-4 years and purchase iPods and other accessories from us. Your expected value to the company in 10 years is between $15,000 and $30,000, depending on how happy you are with our company. Here – let us get you a new iPhone. We know the moisture sensors are tripped sometimes on accident.”
Nobody said “A built-in battery is great and all, but can’t we make it easy for consumers to replace their own memory and/or hard drive? That’s kind of important.”
Instead, they’re worried, as the saleswoman said today, about getting people back in their stores. “It’s business, we want people back in the stores,” she said “Besides, a PC is worse…” yada yada yada. The real issue here is Apple is going to have people back in their stores – pissed off – when they could treat us right and have us back in their stores because they friggin rock. Everyone wants to like Apple, but they’re not making it very easy right now.
Shape it up, Apple. Steve Jobs, you need to kick these guys into shape. This isn’t the way to do business when your reputation is built on superior service and design. Don’t piss off the faithful.
And give me a new iPhone, damnit.
