Score A Point for the Apple People

Since I was going to blog about it if it had gone the other way, I’m sort of compelled to blog about it now, too.

I had my first little glitch this morning. When I ordered the MacBook yesterday, it was after talking to a couple people at Apple and trying to figure out which would be better:  to order from them or pick up at Best Buy. I wanted the new operating system installed—Snow Leopard. Both BB and Apple said that wasn’t going to happen right away—that you’d get the software in the box and would just drop it in. The woman at Apple said that I might have trouble getting one at BB right away because everyone was going to be waiting for the software release today, plus Apple has a back-to-school incentive of some sort.

So I ordered from Apple. They said the computer would ship in 3-5 days. The ones that ship after midnight last night will ship with Snow Leopard in the box, so I assumed I was all set.

I get up this morning and check e-mail before we go walk, and there’s a notice that my computer shipped last night, about 6 hours after I ordered it. Normally this would be most excellent, Zappo-esque shipping news (Zappos doesn’t advertise that they ship overnight because, they say, they want the customer to be delighted when their order arrives so quickly). But I immediately knew it was a problem:  if it shipped before August 28th, it didn’t ship with Snow Leopard.

I called. Sure enough, I was right. So I went into Real Person Mode, where I very patiently explained the problem, explained the conversation I’d had with the saleswoman yesterday, explained that I could just as easily have waited a day, if I’d known.

She was very nice, very apologetic. She contacted her manager and told me that, as compensation, they would credit my card $30. She asked if that would be OK.

I told her that that wasn’t what I wanted. I told her that what I wanted was for them to put a copy of Snow Leopard in the mail to me today so that it will arrive at the same time as the computer and I can do everything—set it up, install the OS, start to learn my way around—at the same time.

I went on to tell her that I had several other options that I didn’t want to use:  refusing the computer when it was delivered, sending it back and demanding a refund, resorting to Twitter and Facebook and my blog—all things I certainly didn’t want to do.

I should have left this part out, as it wasn’t necessary in this case. In the past, it always has been:  you have to convince the company, whichever one it is, that you have unlimited time and patience and resources and are going to keep nagging and nagging and nagging until they remedy the problem. It’s how I got the new trees after Chemlawn killed ours, and the replacement shower door after TileEx ruined the brand new ones. For many companies, the world is divided into People Who Will Be a Pain in the Butt, and People Who Won’t Bother.

She couldn’t have been nicer or more helpful. She seemed to understand my point exactly:  that I had ordered when I did because the saleswoman had convinced me this was the fastest way to get a computer with the new OS.

In short, she fixed it. Snow Leopard will be shipped, officially, “within 3-5 days.” She said that was all she could tell me, but I’m guessing it may well go out sooner. She said they’re still going to give me the $30 credit, which wasn’t necessary. I’m not one of those people who is always trying to get money for stuff. I WILL try to get a bargain—like if there’s something in the store with minor damage—I’ll always ask if there’s a discount. But after I buy it? To try to weasel money for some reason? That’s slimy.

It’s great policy on their part, though. I wonder:  who came up with the $30 amount? Because it seems like a very deliberate amount to me:  $50 would be too much for them to handle. $10 wouldn’t be enough to salve the irritated customer. $25 would seem the optimal amount, so $30 seems like lagniappe. You know? Very savvy.

Anyway:  so my first interaction with the people at Apple proved to be quite pleasant. Naomi was cheerful and helpful, with a good sense of humor and not a hint of condescension—and we all know how rare that last is with so many computer geeky people who know full well how little most of us know about the True Nature of Computers.

Almost makes me want to buy the protection package just so I can talk to them all the time.