27' iMac

As part of my student loan, I upgraded from my aging g5 tower to the above iMac: 27″ (i7 model). I got it two weeks ago. It is enormous, pretty and blazing fast. It also has an odd screen flicker.

I tried troubleshooting it on my own–but when all the recommended cures failed to work, I called Apple.

I was on hold for a total of five minutes. By the end of my call, was directed to a specialist. Let’s call him Special K. He walked me through a few exercises and gave me a list of options:

1) Send it in, have it fixed
2) Get a new one
3) Try to bring it to a Genius at the Apple Store
4) Troubleshoot on my own a bit longer.

I went with 4. Special K thought that was a keen idea. After a few days of testing–wherein I determined that the longer the Mac was on, the more frequent the flickering became–I emailed Special K and told him what was the deal.

He called me back, on all my numbers, more than once. He also emailed me. Hell, the guy recognized my phone number when I called him back.

He gave me two options: Ship it back for repairs or get a new one. I opted for the latter. Before I knew It, I had an email with a shipping label and more directions on how the process works. When FedEx scans the old Mac, Apple ships the new one. It’s as simple as that.

This is how every customer service experience should be. It was painless. It was easy. Apple recognized that there was an issue and they are fixing it. I will be out of a Mac for about four days. I can use that time to write, read or just get to bed early. Hell, I can even check out the Java podcasts I need for my next class.

As shitty as it is to lose a computer, at least Apple is softening the blow by doing the right thing.