The Apple Doesn’t Fall Too Far

My daughter broke her iPad. It was one of those happenstance incidences, one of those once-in-ninety-nine-times incidences. And I saw it happen in slow motion, as if the iPad were swimming through water. The screen cracked, sending spiderweb lines nearly to the top of the device, and the panel was dented at the bottom. I looked at it. Then I looked at my daughter who had dropped it mere moments before, and her mouth had formed this perfect ‘O’ of surprise that quickly turned to consternation. But that was just the beginning of the saga.

You see, I never realized how dealing with Apple would be an exercise in circular logic. They create these wonderfully innovative products that foster the assumption that the products they sell are easy to maintain. And I guess they have been for this household for a while now. We have three iPods, an iPhone, and the two iPads in our home, and never once had we experienced a problem we had to turn to Apple to for assistance, until now.

First, I called the Apple store out in Syracuse, which is no little trek for me, being 45 minutes away from where I work. The man on the phone said I could schedule an appointment with a “genius” (irony there?) in order to give me a replacement iPad, and all I had to do was pay $245.00 for that privilege. Considering I paid $300.00 for the iPad in the first place, the cost of replacing it because of a cracked screen and a small dent at the bottom seemed pretty steep. So then I contacted Apple on-line, and they said it might be covered under the year’s worth of warranty. I could send them the iPad, they would look it over, I could cross my fingers, and they would let me know.

Well, of course they sent me an email saying it wasn’t covered and it would cost $253.00 + tax to repair the iPad. To REPAIR the iPad, not even to send me a new one. You read that right. It would cost more to repair something that was broken than to just get me a brand new replacement. They gave me the option to have them repair it (and give them my credit card number to take care of what was going to end up being upwards of $270.00), to have them send it back unrepaired (in the exact same condition I sent it to them in), or to say they could recycle it. Now, I like recycling efforts as much as anyone, but a cracked screen and a small dent at the bottom is not grounds to send it to the scrap heap. At least I don’t think so.

So, you know what I did, even though I hated doing it. I made an appointment at the ultra-ironic “genius bar” in the Syracuse Apple store to give over $245.00 in order to get a new iPad. And, believe me, this time I’m going to get whatever full service protection plans they offer with it. And an Otterbox too. You know just in case.

Sam