Sure I love their products and their savvy design. I like how it works just as they inteded it to because it doesn’t rely on one company making the OS and a completely different company making the hardware. But the real reason I love them is that I feel like I’m cared about as a customer. Here’s why.

I bought Katie a 13″ Macbook for our anniversary at the end of September. On October 14th the new Macbook came out and replaced the upper end 13″ MB’s and the lower end ones dropped in price. When I bought my iPhone the prices soon came down and Apple let me know I was eligable for a refund covering the difference. That was awesome. When they released the new iPhone users who had recently purchased one were able to swap it out for the newer model. Very cool.

I went to our new local Apple store here in Ridgeland, MS and inquired about my options. I had bought it 3 almost 4 weeks ago. Their usual replacement/refund policy covers products bought 2 weeks before the new versions come out. He asked if I had bought the higher end model or lower end model. If I had bought the lower end model – they hadn’t been replaced, just gone down in price. I could just get a refund of the difference. Seeing as the upper model had been entirely replaced he said he would allow me to trade it for the new model.

This manager didn’t know me. He didn’t know that since I bought my iPhone I’ve purchased several thousand dollars of Apple products (Laptops, software, iPhone…). I didn’t beg for an upgrade – he said “does she want the new model?” This was genuine customer care at it’s finest. He saw I had just bought one, loved the replacement, and went out of his way to see that I could trade mine in for it. I’d just like to say thanks to the guys at the Ridgeland, MS store and props to Apple for putting emphasis on keeping customers happy. The best form of advertising is word of mouth…nothing can convince you to buy something like your friends and family. It’s definately a story of good public relations that I’ll continue to tell people about.