My three-year old iPhone decided to die earlier this week, which was pretty inconvenient. I’ve spent the last couple of days running around to different service and sales providers to figure out what to do. Here’s basically how that went.
Best Buy
Repair Person: Hey man, what’s up?
Me: My phone isn’t turning on.
Repair Person: Okay, let me look at it. <Fiddles with it for 1 minute.> Yep, it’s dead.
Me: So….
Repair Person: Guess you are going to need a new phone. <Turns away to talk to his co-worker about lunch.>
T-Mobile
T-Mobile Staffer: Hey man, what’s up?
Me: My phone isn’t turning on.
T-Mobile Staffer: Okay, let me look at it. <Fiddles with it for 1 minute.> Yeah, it’s dead.
Me: So….
T-Mobile Staffer: So here’s your options. <Explains how I can upgrade to the latest iPhone for a ridiculous amount of money for the next two years.>
Apple Store
Apple Store Aaron: Hi Rik, I’m Aaron, I’m going to be helping you today. What seems to be the problem?
Me: My phone isn’t turning on.
Aaron: I’m so sorry, that must be frustrating. Let me take a look. <Fiddles with phone for 10 minutes, explaining everything that he is attempting in incredible detail.> Yeah, it’s dead.
Me: So….
Aaron: So can I replace your phone right now with the identical model. It will cost you $300. How does that sound?
Me: I guess that is my cheapest option?
Aaron: I’m afraid so.
Me: Let’s do it.
Okay, it was totally annoying to have my phone die on me suddenly, without warning. But it’s a complicated piece of machinery that has gotten a lot of use from me over the past three years. So not unexpected it would fail at some point.
What is interesting is how different these three interactions were. The Best Buy repair person basically wasn’t interesting in or able to provide me with any options. The T-Mobile person just wanted to loop me into a long-term layaway plan to get a new phone with them. And the Apple Genius just wanted to get me out the door with the same phone I walked in with.
Not once did the Apple Genius try and upsell me on their latest phone, or even a newer model, or anything else they carried. In fact, when I asked about it, he suggested the iPhone 7, which is like two generations away from the current model.
That is such a counter-intuitive business practice, but one I appreciated. I had to press him to review for me what upgrading to the latest model would run me, which he had to look up and didn’t seem enthusiastic about.
I do wonder if the Apple Geniuses are trained to sense when a customer wants to just pay the absolute minimum or when they want to be wooed into buying the latest gadget? Or if there stuff is just so awesome that they don’t have to promote it at all?
Anyway, I’m home now with my new / old phone, and I’m pretty satisfied.