Well yesterday morning it finally happened. My trusty iPod fell out of my coat pocket right smack dab on the street. The poor guy did not look worse for the wear, but of course my music was slightly skippy and static filled after the fall.
I never pay for extended warranties or the like because I do not feel they are worth the money. However, since I just spent $399 + tax on this contraption I let the Best Buy sales lady talk me into a replacement plan. Or so I thought. The nice lady told me how it was easier for them (i.e. Best Buy) to just give me a new iPod instead of sending it in for a replacement battery. Same thing went for a busted iPod. It sounded too good to be true, but I guess I was drunk on iPod happiness at the time, so I forked over another $40 for the replacement plan.
Last night I took my iPod into Best Buy and the repair guy informed me that they would ship my iPod off for repairs. When I questioned him “Why? I thought I would get a replacement.” I was told that I actually had a Product Service Plan (PSP) not a Product Replacement Plan (PRP).
Of course my reaction was “What the hell? That was not what I was told at the time of purchase.” I told the guy the sales pitch I received and he said something like “Show me who and I will kick them.” I told him to go kick the person that showed up on the receipt since the register number and clerk were on the print-out. He did not think that was very clever.
Anyway, long story short, at one time Best Buy did PRPs for MP3 players, but I guess they got smart and realized that was not such a good idea for them. So now my iPod is on a trip to the official Apple iPod repair place, in parts unknown, and is not scheduled to show back up until February 3rd.
Sucks for me. The life lesson of the story is to not drop your iPod on the street. And you figured I was going to give some “moral of the story” spill about reading the fine print on product service/replacement plans.
<sarcasm>
Best Buy has the most well-informed and knowledgeable sales force in the country
</sarcasm>
Seriously, I have yet to get one of those gadgets – I’ll probably wait until the prices come down a bit more.
How old is the iPod?
Would it have been covered under the original Apple warranty?
I just use my Amex, which doubles most warranties.
The extended warranties are a way for stores to pad their profit margins.
Oh and there are cheaper digital audio players than the iPod. In fact, there are $99 and $149 iPods now using flash memory and not having screens.
Greg – the iPod G4 40 is worth every penny. Expensive, yes, but very worth the money.
wco81 – that was the point of the life lesson. I made a mistake. I was completely distracted by the new iPod and *thought* I was getting a "replacement" plan, not a service plan.
I have *never* purchased one of these replacement/service things before – and will not again anytime soon. Like you, I usually use my AMEX to get extra warranty info.
I picked up the iPod in Sep 2004 – so I am sure it is under warranty, but maybe not for hitting the street!
Best Buy tried to pull the same shit with me, and I got their General Manager (who happened to be in the store) to come over and change their mind. You should not have walked out of the store until they replaced it then and there and raised a shit fit.
They told me the exact same thing when I purchased my iPod: if ANYTHING happens they will replace it on the spot. Then they tried to pull the bait-and-switch by saying, "oh we don’t do that anymore."
Well, I said too fucking bad. You will honor the agreement we had at the time I bought it and you will replace my iPod on the spot. Eventually after persuading the GM to come over, they changed their mind pretty quickly.