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| - There's many reasons people buy Apple products. First, they're well made, look cool and work as advertised. Secondly, they're supported by a network of some of the finest retail stores and employees around.
I'll quickly relate my experience at this particular store:
My sister's Macbook got hung up on a software update one evening - she needed it for a presentation at school the next day. She made a Genius Bar appointment online for the same night - just before the store was scheduled to close. (The Genius Bar is the live customer support area in each store - you make an appointment in store or online and the Geniuses will help you out with whatever ails your Apple product.)
We went in at the appointed time and were greeted with a smile by a dedicated greeter. Then, greeted again by an attentive random employee halfway through the store. And then, greeted again at the Genius Bar by a happy-to-be-there Apple Genius.
Within exactly 15 seconds of asking logical, intelligent questions, the Genius identified the problem with my sister's laptop, pulled out a dedicated hard drive from behind the counter, connected it and began the fix process. Within exactly 20 minutes, my sister's computer was back up and running. Not bad, right? I'd like to see any other PC manufacturer do nearly as well. Ain't gonna happen, folks.
THEN things got even better. I'd brought my Macbook Pro, whose battery wasn't lasting as long as it should, a year and a half after buying it. The Genius checked to see whether my laptop was in warranty or under AppleCare (their extended warranty) - and even though batteries are not technically covered under warranty, she went over to the shelf and gave me a brand-new battery at no charge, rightly recognizing that an ecstatic customer likely to buy from them again was worth the 80 bucks the battery probably cost Apple.
I left the store in tears of joy and with a big, dumb smile on my face, as if I'd won the lottery.
THIS IS WHY PEOPLE BUY APPLE PRODUCTS. Why do so few companies get it right - and how does Apple get it right so effortlessly?
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