I won an iPod (30GB third generation) at a raffle held last September at our Tucson “TMUG” Mac User Group. Display contrast was irregular, so our local Apple Store replaced it with an identical model that worked perfectly until this past Tuesday morning. My wonderful iPod wouldn’t hold a charge, and I dropped it off on my way home from work, for a technical assessment .
Wednesday lunchtime I asked Brenda at the Genius Bar if she had any news for me. No, she said, but don’t come back to the store before I receive a phone call at home with the report.
Wednesday at 6:00 I called, spoke with the manager, and learned my iPod failed its test and would be replaced. I ate a quick dinner and dashed to the store, arriving at 7:00 as the doors were being locked for the evening. The manager let me in, and Steve, on-duty Genius, handed me a “new” refurbished iPod after completing all necessary paperwork.
This iPod (my third, if you are keeping score) would not charge at all, and appeared to be dead on arrival. I was disappointed. Thursday morning I was first phone caller to Apple’s iPod tech support call center in eastern Canada. Serge walked me through some basic troubleshooting, and told me to take this DOAPod back to the store for a working unit.
Last night I was at the store from 5:30 – 7:00, because two other customers were ahead of me getting Steve’s help with their iBooks. He apologized for giving me a BumPod the previous night, and criticized Apple for sending out the DOAPod.
We both made sure my next, fourth, iPod was charging before I headed home. I charged it up, and called Karen early this morning at the iPod call center to get the FinalPod linked to my AppleCare service contract.
This weekend I’ll reload my songs onto FinalPod, and resume listening to all 1,478 of them during drives around Tucson to and from my tutorial clients’ homes and offices. Hearing news on the car radio while being Podless reminded me of why I went on a self-imposed news sabbatical two years and one month ago, and how the iPod experience has become essential to my well-being.
Karen the phone tech said most iPods work perfectly most of the time, and very few are LemonPods. I have owned three of them in seven months!
I’m glad I purchased Apple Care for my iPod(s), and even more pleased we have an official retail store here in Tucson. Long live Apple, iPod, Geniuses, phone techies, TMUGgers, and MyMac.com’s blog readers.
[Nemo]
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