This story is about the lethal equation that a newborn baby, a Mountain Dew, and a MacBook can make. The original article can be found here: Newborn + Mountain Dew + MacBook
After his wife was in labor for 3 days and finally had to have an emergency delivery, Mark was rocking his newborn daughter in his arms and knocked over his open Mountain Dew onto his open MacBook. Imagine waiting through 9 long months of pregnancy, your wife goes into labor and stays that way for 3 grueling days, and you’re finally able to hold something in your arms that is an absolute miracle. There is no way to express the joy and elation that you are experiencing.
Now imagine having a sticky, green liquid poured all over your precious MacBook. Kind of a buzz killer, right
He called Apple, not expecting them to do anything, and described his first adventure in parenting. They said that they would be able to help him if he had Applecare, which is their warranty program. Mark didn’t have it, but they offered to sell it to him and they would take care of him then. Liquid damage is not covered, but they were willing to make an exception. During my 7+ years with a major electronic retailer, this was unheard of. We would sell a warranty for only 30 days from the date of purchase, but the product must be brought into the store and inspected. Apple sold him this plan over the phone. He ran into a small hiccup when taking the MacBook to the store to get fixed because of the liquid damage. One more phone call to Apple and the situation was explained to the store’s manager. One week later Mark was home with his repaired MacBook and newborn daughter. And they all lived happily ever after. I made up that last part, but if I were in that situation, I’d be a happy and loyal Apple customer for life.
In my opinion, this type of service is amazing. Very rarely these days will companies go outside of their policies to take care of a customer in such a unique situation as Mark’s was. The Customer Service Agent was able to put himself in the customer’s shoes and find a solution that would benefit Mark in the short term and would benefit Apple in the long term. Sadly, some companies treat their policies as a rock solid, immovable wall in order to protect their profits. It’s good to see a company as large as App
le will still take care of the little guy.
What amazing customer service experiences have you had?
Submitted for MKTG 2000 Customer Service assignment
Cody Kise
2 Responses
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Lynn Smaagaard Says:
Most students know I am a big Trader Joe’s fan. These are two stories that illustrate how you can achieve great customer service by just being genuine. I was making my usual trip to Trader Joe’s and a friend asked me to pick up some “regular” pretzels. I made my way to the snack section at Trader Joe’s and knew I wasn’t going to find typical pretzels. There were peanut butter filled pretzels and honey whole wheat, but no “regular” pretzels. Soon a Trader Joe’s employee asked if I needed help. When I told him I was looking for “regular” pretzels, it was his reply that sums up Trader Joes, he said, “Well, Trader Joe’s really doesn’t do anything “regular.” I knew what he meant, it is like going into an Apple Store and asking for a regular phone. As it always happens in Trader Joe’s, he asked me if I wanted to sample any of the pretzels. I should have said the peanut butter filled just because they seem interesting but instead I purchased the honey wheat ,which I am certain my friend’s kid loved, and walked out smiling as usual. Seriously, if you don’t like any product you purchase at Trader Joe’s you can return it with no questions asked. Of course this rarely happens, but I like that they stand behind everything that they offer to their customers. I like this company because they just try to do everything right. The product quality is superior. They treat their employees very well. It is a fun and cheerful environment. They listen to their customers and continuously strive to be better. They are authentic and consistent. I think the best compliant I ever heard about Trader Joe’s was a manager once told me that a customer complained that they were just a little too happy in his store. Now that is my kind of complaint!
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stephenmkelly Says:
Apple certainly is working hard to offer the best customer service in the computer/tech industry. With the dominance of the PC they need to make sure they’re doing something better that is visible, because as we all know, whether a PC or a Mac represents the better computer is a strict matter of opinion.
Stories like this are great, Cody! I’m not a Mac owner, but I’ve heard from people who do own them that Apples online, live-chat customer service is top notch. I’m not sure if they’ve done it already, but if not, in the very near future they’re company won’t even be corresponding with customers via telephone anymore.
The only problem I foresee with this model, however, is what happens when your Mac computer breaks entirely and you have no computer left to communicate with them? Uhhh….
