An open (love letter) to an Apple Store

Yes, my priority is independent, brick and mortar businesses, but balance is part of the deal too. While in Seattle yesterday, I had a laptop meltdown of astronomical proportions, which required a visit to the Apple Store in University Village. Being a BIG believer that when someone does something nice, they should be openly praised, I’m sharing a copy of my note to Apple, sent this afternoon in response to their Genius Bar follow up survey:

Phillip was an absolute Godsend in the middle of a raging disaster.

As a professional speaker, I was in Seattle, traveling from one engagement to the next when my hard drive failed. With only a few hours between the realization there was a problem and my flight out of SEA, my hopes of being able to provide the client with their presentation that evening were pretty much shot to pieces.

Phillip, however, quickly diagnosed the (horrific) problem, explained it to me in perfect detail (including, sadly, the fact very little of the data on my original drive was salvagable), and found a solution that had a new drive installed—with a replacement copy of iWork—so I could rebuild the Keynote while 30,000 feet in the air.

Today, Chapter Two was added.

Upon my return to the office in Minneapolis, I found that Time Machine, which I’ve had running non-stop for several months, stopped creating backups on January 29th. I was able to restore from what was there, but….the last eight weeks of my professional life were gone. Between Dropbox and Moblie Me, I was able to salvage scraps, but the two most important items (Mail and MacJournal) were gone, taking all my new client notes along with them.

I called the store and spoke to Justine. After hearing my plight, and that losing two months of critical data could make or break my business, she found a way to get the old drive back from the warehouse, in hopes they might be able to scrape those two items off in tact.

While we don’t know the outcome yet, my fingers are crossed (so tightly that blood flow is now a concern). The fact this store’s staff is willing to go the extra mile to save someone’s business located half way across the country is nothing short of extraordinary…

…and confirmation, yet again, that a decision I made 25 years ago was correct. I bought my first Mac then, and have never, ever, ever looked back. You guys are my heroes for life.

With deepest appreciation,

Cinda Baxter

Kudos to Phillip, Justine, and everyone else at the University Village Apple Store—not only for your positive determination and quick response, but the fact you didn’t flinch when my eyes filled with tears upon hearing the words “It’s pretty much unsalvagable, Cinda. How soon is your flight?” If not for your cool heads and firm focus on making something…anything…work, I would have crumbled then and there.

Instead, you saved the day. With a smile, no less. Thank you.

Note:
Sure, I could have whined about what a [fill in the blank with your favorite explative] awful day I’ve had, but why? Feels better to praise someone for helping out than focus on what’s out the door. So there. Now…off to find a reeeeeeally nice glass of much deserved wine……