My iPod Classic died a few months ago after our trip to Kauai, I did send it in for repair but Apple refused to repair it due to water damage (I swear to God that I’ve never dropped it, pour water onto it, but that was what they said). Until yesterday, I made up my mind that I need to repair this iPod (it was a gift from my wife with special engravings), so I went to Apple website, reserved a spot with the Genius Bar at Apple Store in downtown San Francisco. I came in the store 10 minutes earlier than the appointment time, I was greeted with a friendly Apple employee and he asked me to wait for a few minutes and someone will help me. Ten minutes later, I got help from an Apple Genius, he told me that the iPod was water damaged and the chip inside the headphone jack showing red (the chip was designed to become red if the iPod being submerged in water).
My beloved-water-damaged iPod Classic.
I had 2 options, first I can swap for a new iPod Classic with a fee of $120 with no engravings. Secondly, I will have to do a mail-in for swapping and engraving my new iPod for $120. After asking my wife on which option I should choose, she said the first is fine if I want the iPod now, and of course I want it now. So we decided to go with the first option with no engraving, but I told her “you could use a permanent marker and write on the iPod, and it would be much better and much more personal to me”– she likes the idea.
I was asked to sign the terms of service on his iPad that I agree with the fee of $120 for swapping my iPod. After signing everything, I pull out my credit card and waited for saying goodbye to my $120. System halted. Maintenance. Something went wrong with Apple system. He came to me and said “Now I am being really transparent to you” and pull out a piece of paper, I thought “Okay! So now we had to do the paper route and write my credit card numbers on it” – I was wrong. He said:
“Our system is down and I cannot charge you and I wouldn’t ask you to stay here and wait until the system back online. So, I will offer you this iPod for free!” – I was shocked and thought that he was just joking around with us. But no, he was serious, very serious. I fill in my information on the paper he gave me and my hand was shaking, I still couldn’t believe that this was real.
Leaving Apple Store, we felt so great, it was like receiving the best gift ever from someone you barely know. I’ve heard about Apple Genius offer stuff for free before and I had doubt about it but this time it happened to me. Yes, Apple Genius Bar is the Best!
My new+free iPod Classic.
