First off, I prefer Naked Conversations, so when there's a customer support group, called "Genius Bar," who requires I make an appointment, even in an emergency, I get bristly and suspicious. That being said, I am a new Apple customer, and have had good support from the Palo Alto Apple Store. If the people behind the counter were geniuses, they wouldn't be behind the counter, but that has to do with marketing, not support.
Dave Winer tells a story today, that I have heard twice before. He experience a hard disk crash and went to see his local geniuses. They quote him a disk replacement price of about double what you would pay elsewhere. He says what-the-hell, signs a sheet and the repair is done. But when the computer is returned Apple keeps the old hard disk. He asks for it and they inform him that he just signed an agreement to let them keep the disk.
Now this sucks on lots of counts. First, most f us have confidential information on our hard disks. I had a crash and took the disk, knowing that if I really needed something I could pay one arm and two legs to a group in Petaluma who can pull the data off a crashed disk. I did it at the only othe Mac repair place I know--also in Palo Alto. My new hard disk was twice the size Dave paid for precisely the same price.
But that's not the point. We all own our own data. We have the right to keep or destroy our own data. What is Apple doing with it? Why is Apple getting customers to sign in such a squirrelly fashion? I can think of no customer benefit derived from Apple's policy and behavior.
Which brings me back to my first point. May the Geniuses are doing something that benefits Apple more than it benefits Apple customers. Of course, if they had a company blog, they could explain. We could have an open conversation. Perhaps they have good reason for their policy. Perhaps they should listen to their customers.
Like Dave Winer, I own Apple stock. Policies like this make me nervous as an investor.
