A few days after handing over my Apple Cinema display to the local Apple Genius bar, I received a call from the engineer working on my case.  He just wanted to give me an update, which immediately made my neck hair stand up.  Nobody rings with an update unless something is wrong.

Whether it’s the local garage changing your car battery, the bicycle shop fixing your flat tire or the local computer repair shop; these calls normally involve a “hello sir, we are progressing well with the repairs, but eh, we’ve discovered problems with other parts and it’ll cost you XX dollars!”.

So, when I picked up the call and spoke to the engineer, the writing was on the wall.  It was just a question about how much.

The good news was, replacing the logic board fixed the display and it was now fully recognised by the computer.  The bad news was that it only worked with sound and the screen itself did not display anything at all.

In order to fix the display it had to be replaced, which would cost a whopping $800.  Please note, a new replacement Apple Cinema display costs $1000.  Either way you look at it, I could not afford to pay that amount of money.

The worst thin is that the monitor is from April 2011, so I’m about 6 months outside the normal one year warranty – typical!

My biggest concern, beside the fact that the engineer was trying to fleece me for $800, was that this is actually poor quality by Apple.  A monitor should not die after just 18 months usage, so I decided to escalate the case.

I called Apple customer relations and my case was dealt with by a very friendly dude.  I’m certain that he was wearing an Apple T-shirt, conducting the entire conversations on an iPhone 5 and recording all the details on his 15″ MacBoook Pro Retina model.

To be clear, I was not upset and did not raise my voice a single time.  I merely expressed my concerns about Apple’s poor quality and that such an expensive display should not stop working – unless of course I had dropped it or placed a hammer through the display.

The friendly customer service guy placed me on hold for a number of minutes, while looking into various options for.  It always sounds ominous when you are placed on hold, but hopefully the dude would pull out some miracle.  I was prepared to pay a few hundred dollars for the replacement or even half the cost of a new display, but that was it.

Suddenly the silence was broken by the dude and he was about to outline is offer.

He started off the usual customer service way.  “Sir, I’ve looked into different options to help you.  I totally understand your frustration”.  Damn, get to the point I thought.

“Apple will cover all the parts and labour, and you will not have to pay a penny”.

Did I hear right?  Was Apple actually going to pay all the repairs?

I asked him to clearly state what Apple was intending to do and he confirmed that they would pick up all the costs.

Wow, that was way more than I had hoped for.  I was utterly amazed by the guy’s ability to provide me with a solution that was well beyond my expectations.  I thanked him profoundly and completed a survey where I obviously gave him full marks.

Can’t wait to get my fully repaired display back home.