…and it’s the thought that counts most…

When you have as much time as I do, waiting in line for anything has almost no real impact on life.  Still, I hate lines.  I’m not sure if it is the standing, or the not knowing how long or what, but the one and only thing that raises my blood pressure is lines.  Maybe it’s just my DNA.  Apple knows this so they make it easy for me to not stand in line.  That buys them a lot.

So the little built in camera on my laptop doesn’t seem to work, and I call the 800 number.  Applecare representative comes on right away.  Total time in line:  20 seconds.  The customer service rep can’t fix it over the phone, so he sets up an appointment to go into a store. I go into the store at the appointment time and my name is up on the screen, first in line for the next service person.  Total time in line: 1 minute.  He diagnoses in front of me, and says they’ll have to order parts.  I can take the computer with me.  He’ll call when the part comes in.  Total wait time?  zero or one week, depending on how you look at it.

I paid a lot of money for this laptop.  It is probably no more capable than a PC notebook that costs half the price.  Why can’t they just give me a new one?  I should be mad that it’s going to take a week to get the part.  But I’m not.

Apple proved to me from the beginning that they wouldn’t take any more time than absolutely necessary to fix my problem.  So when they say a week to make things good, I am fine with that.  It’s the thought that counts.