Does Apple Care about the Customer?

The other day, I was completing an after-sales questionnaire for a branch of Best Buy, one of the major electronic retail chains, and one of the questions ran something like: Do you feel that Best Buy cares about the customer? I scratched my head quite a bit and couldn't cone up with an answer. I then entered, "I don't know". Today is different. I actually think that Apple cares about its customers.

I am sitting in the Apple Store at West Edmonton Mall waiting for my iPhone 4 to get fixed. And I thought I should just blog this positive experience and go as far as suggesting that Apple does care about the customer.

It all started this morning when my son, Pete, picked up my phone as he usually does. Then unfortunately for my phone, as I carried him to the dinning table for breakfast, he sighted something else he liked: cookies. Then Pete lets the phone go crashing to the floor. And it smashes against the metal bar of his dinning chair and the back glass was totaled.

The broken iPhoneMy first reaction was to check the Internet for "Where on earth will I find the back glass of this unit?". The options ranged from a do-it-yourself kit + instructions to special services that charges you $200. Anyway, i called Apple. First the service desk tells me it would cost $220; at which I said, "Hey! It's just the back glass, not the entire thing!"; at which she said, "Oh! OK. Give me your serial number. Wait a moment. Sorry about that. OK. It will cost $29.99. I was ecstatic. I got an appointment for someday.

Now, a few minutes ago, I arrived the Genius Bar and this smart guy Greg comes says, "What can I do for you?". And I say, "Hey men, it looks like I smashed my iPhone", pointing at the badly damaged phone on the table. And he says, "It sure looks like you did!", as he pushes a few more buttons and announces, "Ok. You've not requested service since you bought the phone so, we will just cover this damage. That means that I got a $0.00 invoice. I was even more ecstatic. It may be just $29.99 or $299.99. Whatever! It just leaves me feeling very cared about right now. Totally!

Update: About a month after the first post, I also smashed my front glass. This time, it was supposed to cost $230 ... cost of replacing the whole phone. I understand that Apple doesn't change the front glass in repair shops because it is fused into the touch circuitry. They just replace the phone, that's what the $230 is for. Well, after telling me that physical damage is not normally covered, they said they were giving me another one-time complimentary replacement. They took my shattered phone and gave me a new phone. Finish. Cost: $0.00. I went home, synced in an image of my phone from the computer and moved on like nothing happened. This is beyond overwhelming! Thank you, Apple.