Saturday
Nov172007
Score Another One for Apple!
I'll keep this one short and sweet, as I need to head to G4 for the live Heroes: Post Show taping. The other day, the right speaker on my iPhone earbuds gave notice. A fierce wag of the headphone cord near the connector managed to breath intermittent life into said bud, but even that ceased to work shortly thereafter. Great, as if the eliptical wasn't sad enough (I can't lift any weights thanks to a nasty neck injury), but now I get to listen to RadioLab in MONO!
Life had lost all meaning. I contemplated running the car in the garage with a Ralph's bag over my head, but the "door" to the garage is actually more of fence, and I switched to paper bags only a while back. Didn't think that one through. So, enter plan "B": head to the Apple store and get a replacement pair of earbuds.
After walking into the Third-Street-Mac-Mecca, I approached the Genius Bar and the cold-sweats set in. My heart began racing. A lump began visibly pulsing against the lining of my neck, attempting to beat its' way out and onto the store's freshly polished floor. I looked at the large plasma monitors flashing customer names for their chance at service. This was going to be an ordeal. I turned around, acquiescing to defeat in a way that would make Pai Mei want to stab me in the throat with a set of steal chopsticks. And that's when a store employee asked me if I needed any assistance...
I pulled a tangled wad of white earbuds from my pocket and dangled it in front of my face. "Earbud... shot... uhm, right speaker... just... went out... uhm..." is a gross approximation of the sentence I half-heartedly strung together. The kind lady plucked the earbud-ball from my hand and walked behind the 'bar of genius'. Seconds later, she emerged from a thick layer of smoke and laser lights, and had magically Chris Angel'ed my shorted cans into a shiny-new pearly-white set of techno-bliss.
"We're totally swamped today. Normally we'd diagnose the issue, make sure the headphones are actually shot. But there's no need to make you wait forever. Enjoy." I could barely hear her over the fluttering of her angelic wings. I took the headphones, felt unnecessarily guilty, muttered a "I assure you they're broken. And thank you so much!" and floated out of the store.
This exchange might have cost Apple anywhere from fifteen cents to dollar-fifty, I'm not sure, and far too lazy to Google a cost-breakdown of mass-produced earbuds; but the word of mouth praise and loyalty this happening has earned them is, these days, simply priceless.
Thank you Apple. And thank you, Apple Store Genius Bar Angel-lady-person.
Time to watch the 1up show in stereo, the way the good podcasting lords intended!
Life had lost all meaning. I contemplated running the car in the garage with a Ralph's bag over my head, but the "door" to the garage is actually more of fence, and I switched to paper bags only a while back. Didn't think that one through. So, enter plan "B": head to the Apple store and get a replacement pair of earbuds.
After walking into the Third-Street-Mac-Mecca, I approached the Genius Bar and the cold-sweats set in. My heart began racing. A lump began visibly pulsing against the lining of my neck, attempting to beat its' way out and onto the store's freshly polished floor. I looked at the large plasma monitors flashing customer names for their chance at service. This was going to be an ordeal. I turned around, acquiescing to defeat in a way that would make Pai Mei want to stab me in the throat with a set of steal chopsticks. And that's when a store employee asked me if I needed any assistance...
I pulled a tangled wad of white earbuds from my pocket and dangled it in front of my face. "Earbud... shot... uhm, right speaker... just... went out... uhm..." is a gross approximation of the sentence I half-heartedly strung together. The kind lady plucked the earbud-ball from my hand and walked behind the 'bar of genius'. Seconds later, she emerged from a thick layer of smoke and laser lights, and had magically Chris Angel'ed my shorted cans into a shiny-new pearly-white set of techno-bliss.
"We're totally swamped today. Normally we'd diagnose the issue, make sure the headphones are actually shot. But there's no need to make you wait forever. Enjoy." I could barely hear her over the fluttering of her angelic wings. I took the headphones, felt unnecessarily guilty, muttered a "I assure you they're broken. And thank you so much!" and floated out of the store.
This exchange might have cost Apple anywhere from fifteen cents to dollar-fifty, I'm not sure, and far too lazy to Google a cost-breakdown of mass-produced earbuds; but the word of mouth praise and loyalty this happening has earned them is, these days, simply priceless.
Thank you Apple. And thank you, Apple Store Genius Bar Angel-lady-person.
Time to watch the 1up show in stereo, the way the good podcasting lords intended!
Nov 17, 2007
Reader Comments (3)
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As long as you bought the iPhone within a year or the Apple Care coverage is active the USB charging cable & headphones are covered. I mean no questions asked, to the point that one ear bud was hanging by one cable. In fact I have done this exchange multiple times with each iPhone I have owned, six to be exact. Whenever approaching a "genius" the least you say the better.