Apple Care-a-lot

My optical disc drive in my precious I-Book wouldn't eject. I'm not sure, but I think it's because I somehow managed to put two discs in there. But I couldn't be happier with my experience getting it repaired by Apple.

First of all, it gave me an excuse to visit a two-story Apple Store in Los Angeles. Normally having to wait an hour to see a technician would have been a major inconvenience. But, for me it just gave me a great excuse to play with one of the new Ipod nanos, scope out my next software purchases, and ogle all big screen displays there. The technician was super nice and informative. And my ibook was whisked away.

I missed my ibook more than was probably healthy for an adult to miss his toy. Part of it was I was just barely starting to integrate StickyBrain into my systems when the disc drive went on the fritz. And I was a little worried they would have to wipe the hard drive (although I backed up most of my stuff).

But every step of the repair process was documented in a log on the Apple Care web site (see below), which eased my anxiety. And as you can see from the log, the turnaround was remarkably quick. I dropped it off on a Monday afternoon, and they shipped it out that Thursday morning. And somehow it got to my office the very same morning they shipped it! Plus, I got e-mail status updates, they didn't have to erase anything, I got a brand new optical drive, and it was all covered by the warranty, even though I may have caused the malfunction!

Altogether a customer service experience entirely befitting Apple's reputation.

Repair Status Detail
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Date Case Number Dispatch Number Name Status
09/26/2005 53295068 R5586319 Daniel Sanchez Repair Requested
09/26/2005 53295068 R5586319 Daniel Sanchez Request Acknowledged
09/28/2005 53295068 R5586319 Daniel Sanchez Unit Received
09/28/2005 53295068 R5586319 Daniel Sanchez Begin Repair
09/28/2005 53295068 R5586319 Daniel Sanchez Begin Testing
09/29/2005 53295068 R5586319 Daniel Sanchez Ready to Ship
09/29/2005 53295068 R5586319 Daniel Sanchez Unit Shippped/Completed
09/29/2005 53295068 R5586319 Daniel Sanchez Closed