Customer service at Apple: the paragon of reason and excellence

My two oldest sons have the same birthday but two years apart. We like to have fun with this lovely coincidence of nature, with which we did not tamper. For instance, we have marble cake sometimes, or mix up ice cream, or get the same gift for each boy differentiated by color or something like that.

This year we got two iPod Nanos: one in silver and one in blue. I placed the order and opted for 2 day shipping. In my mind, 2 day shipping simply means that I get it in 2 days, plus maybe a day to get the package out of the warehouse. So, I figured if I placed the order on a Wednesday, it would be en route Thursday or Friday, and be at my house at the latest on Saturday.

I got the tracking notice from FedEx. It showed an order date and an arrival date, but they were 4 days apart. The order date was one day after the day I placed the order at Apple. That is the one day I figured it took them to get FedEx to come get the package from Apple. So, doing a bit of meager math, the whole transaction took 5 days.

I called Apple and got to talk to their version of a customer support HAL. But it was the nicest computer I ever talked to. After about 2 minutes of going over the order, Apple HAL decided I needed to talk to a person. I was talking to “Christian” about 15 seconds later. Christian explained that shipping was 2 to 3 days, despite what the FedEx tracking said, and that it didn’t include weekends. He explained how it could be as late at 5 days total, but was likely to be 4, which was still more than the 3 I thought it was going to be. At this point, I was resigned to just thank him for the courteous and friendly explanation.

But then Christian did something unexpected. He said, in paraphrase, “I can see how you’d be confused by that, and I admit it’s not very clear. Since you paid extra for 2 day shipping, I’m going to refund your shipping fees. You’ll see that in your account in 3-5 business days.” I didn’t know what to say. I fumbled for a sec and blurted out a pronounced “Thanks!”

This was a reasonable thing to do. First to treat a customer like this makes them happy. I know I’m happy to get a few bucks back for simply asking a legitimate question. Second, Apple’s policy here clearly isn’t focused on just me. Apple is thinking about the next 10 people in the queue. If they can get me off the phone that much quicker without quibbling, and do it for cheap so they can get to the next person, why not do it? It makes all the customers happy. Apple knows that attended-to customers are happy. Why not make everyone elated by moving the line as fast as possible and maximize individual customer happiness along the way?

Apple’s customer service just went up a few notches higher in my book, though they were already stellar. I had gotten 2 new Mighty Mice with nary a whimper in each case. I had a fried motherboard on a G5 iMac repaired in less than 24 hours through the Apple store. So where I had been inclined to “sell” Apple to friends and family before, I’m doubly-resolved again.

With customer service like Apple’s, who needs traditional advertising? I’ll sell Apple products for free.