Another reason to love Apple

[vr_trakowski]

I bought an iPod in June 2005--60 gigs, photo.  Nice device; I love it.  But recently, the battery has not been holding a charge as well as it used to. 

I expected this; things wear out, after all.  I considered getting a new one, but even the lighter version of the one I want is expensive.  So I looked up battery replacement on the Apple site. 

Out-of-warranty replacement is between $60 and $70; high, but much cheaper than buying a new one, and I have something I want to save my money for at the moment.  But I checked, and it appeared that my iPod was still covered by the Extended Care warranty I'd purchased when I bought it.  I'm not sure why I did at the time, because usually I ignore such offers.  Maybe because the device was so expensive (for me, anyway). 

The site was a little confusing, so I called Apple, and the nice gentleman who answered checked my iPod's serial number (a misnomer; more letters than numbers) again and confirmed that it was covered.  He told me I could send it in, or take it to an Apple store so they could check the charge themselves. 

I made an appointment and went in today.  I expected to leave the thing there for a few days while they checked and decided.  But within ten minutes the Genius (that's what they call 'em) was back out with a couple of papers.  I was signing the receipt before I realized that it wasn't my iPod on the counter. 

It was a new 60 gig color display photo iPod.  Despite the fact that Apple stopped offering them when the video iPods came out. 

The Genius told me easily that mine was so old that it was simpler just to give me a fresh one...in part, he implied, because my extended care plan would be running out in a few months. 

So I got a brand new iPod, unscratched, unscathed, with a new battery.  For no charge, bar the $59 I paid almost two years ago.  For less than it would have cost to replace the battery without a warranty, and certainly much faster. 

Yeah, I guess the extended care plan was worth it. 

Wow. 

Comments

[anamin.livejournal.com]

That's interesting. All the bad things you hear about apple. I have mine on my desk looking at me, all sparkly-30 gig U2 version. I was just reading up on batteries on the ipod community. I'm glad you got a new one.

I never get extended warrenty on anything except when I did it was for the used Saturn I bought which was good because the engine needed to be reseated 6 months after I bought it.

Hopefully my battery will last, but if not? I think I'll probably be in the market for a new one by then.

[vr-trakowski.livejournal.com]

Yes, you probably will want a new one by then. If I didn't have something coming up I need to save for, I'd probably have just bought a video one myself. However, since I can't quite get enthused about watching a show on such a small screen, I'm happy to hang onto mine for a while longer too.

[anamin.livejournal.com]

Ya know it's funny. Once I started uploading movies I can't really stop. And it's just sooo cute! Hopefully, I won't have to whip out my entire laptop when I next go on the plane, and all I need is my iPod :)