An "A" for Customer Service at Apple

Inexplicably, the "A" key on my laptop left its comfy housing yesterday and stayed stuck to my finger for a split second before falling onto the numbers row of my keyboard.  Although my Space bar had stopped working on a previous Mac, this is the first time I had anything like a key dislodging itself happen to me.  My keyboard was a perfect surface with a gaping hole, a baseball field with an open grave between first and second.  It was disconcerting.

Further, it was impossible to replace the piece because it looked as if some tiny plastic latches had broken off. All that was in the open square was a tiny, and rather pleasant feeling, rubber nub that I had to press to make an "A."

I went to the Apple store yesterday filled with uncertainty.  I was sure I was going to get taken to the cleaners.  When my aforementioned Space bar gave up its ghost, I had to buy a whole new keyboard and my imagination was thinking how much worse this would be for a laptop.

It had been over a year since I had been to the store and I was surprised to find that now there is a concierge/matre d at the door and what seemed to be the same number of staff as the rest of the entire mall combined working there.  A beehive serving its fruit queen by zooming to get people's questions answered quickly.  It was a very cool experience and brought a tear to the eye of this been kicked around by poor service customer.

Still, I was wary.  The guy who looked at the keyboard went in the back room and came back a few minutes later.  He said he couldn't find the piece, but he'd make me an appointment for later.  I went back to the store at my appointment time and was called within 4 minutes by a tech who sincerely apologized for making me wait and literally zoomed to find an "A." (more tears) She found one and replaced it.  As I held my breath, she informed me that it was free of charge.

Not only was I happy with the price, I was completely comforted in the thought that I had staked a winner.  Not just that I had trusted this company for a long time for my computer needs, but that it rose to the occasion for the service part as well.  When I talk to my parents about "the old days" they get nostalgic about the way stores used to SERVE customers and make them feel wanted.  As I walked away, I couldn't have agreed more.