Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Bad Ipod = :-( , Awesome service = :-)

My Ipod was officially declared FUBAR on Sunday :-/. It turns on and acts like it wants to play music but then decides to pretend its a CD player with a scratched disc in it... skip skip skip... :) I've traced the problem to faulty flash storage thanks to Linux reporting I/O errors reading/writing to the Ipod when I try to mount it and copy new music to it via GtkPod.

Anyways, being only 4-5 months old my Ipod is STILL under warranty so a quick visit to Apple's website confirmed a free replacement. Two web forms, a serial number entry page and a service agreement click-through later I have an e-mail from Apple telling me to patiently wait for a free shipping container in which to send my Ipod. It arrived in less than 48 hours!!! I received a small simple box that contained some foam, some strips of packing tape and an instruction sheet. The sheet advises the user to place the Ipod between the pieces of foam, close and seal the box and drop off at the nearest DHL shipping center. It could not be simpler!! No searching for packing materials, no "You must have sure to pack the unit around all sides with no less than 2" of foam/packing peanuts else lose your warranty!!". Best of all, I *THINK* the mailer they sent is prepaid :) How cool would that be??

I'll be sure to post the rest of the experience as soon as I get my Ipod back. I'm going to drop it off
tomorrow at DHL , so lets see how long it takes to get it back. :)

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