The Vagabond Chronicles

Typically, I do not write about customer service calls, but I was tired of the Genius Bar scheduling and wait times and decided to use the 800 number for Apple Support. Within 24 hours, my issue was resolved and without spending a long time on the phone.

Backstory: my 2+ year old MacBook Pro had its battery recalled and replaced in October of last year. The last couple of weeks, my battery life went from 3+ hours (if i was careful and wise) to 30-40 minutes. The battery was draining so quickly, that often, the warning dialog wouldn’t appear and the machine would just shutdown. I save my work frequently to minimize the impact of sudden death battery life. At $129 a battery, I was having a hard time justifying a new purchase, but being tethered to a power cord was dragging me down. Its a notebook. It should be portable. Right?

At noon-ish yesterday, I called Apple Support. Mainly because I couldn’t walk into an Apple store and get the problem resolved without signing up for an appointment and waiting and waiting…. I also couldn’t remember when the battery was replaced. After a few automated questions and a minimal wait time, even after being told that I would experience longer than normal wait times due to a high volume of calls - thanks iPhone; I was talking to a real live human being.

I explained the issue. He checked the records. The battery is a wear item and isn’t covered under warranty (like tires on a car)… He took my info and pleaded my case to his superior for authorization. three minutes later, the CS Rep was back on the phone with me and I was getting a replacement sent in 7-10 days. Ugh.

Fast forward. Trip to the Apple Store SF to see the chaos. No shopping today. Email arrives. Its the shipping notification with tracking! What? Cool! Rite on. Disco. Party on. Wait, what? next day? Shiny disco balls and all that.

Arrived to work this morning to find the package waiting for me. Read the replacement battery instructions - kidding… repackaged and sent the defective battery back to Apple in the prepaid return shipping box. Rad.

Now back to mobile computing with a fresh battery.