My experience with Verizon last week was brought into even sharper relief by a forray later that same evening into the world of computer memory.
Buying a new computer quickly comes down to a question of how much memory for how much?
I like to work with a lot of windows open on my laptop. It mirrors the way my brain works. Overlapping possibilities. One idea feeding another. At this precise moment, I have 36 different windows open. A preference my two and a half year old Mac Book is having a hard time keeping up with. Though if I flipped it over, I’m sure I could fry an egg on the underside.
I came across a site that analyzed in extraordinary detail the pros and cons of the various configurations of laptops Apple sells today. One of the links was to a site sponsor. OWC.
I’m leery of buying third party memory for a brand new Mac. Partly for quality reasons. Partly because I once killed a hard drive adding new memory. Some things you only have to do once to leave an indelible scar. Like adding sulfuric acid to a go-cart battery. Another story. For another day.
I followed the link to the OWC website, and quickly realized here were two questions I needed answered if this was to be an option. Still feeling the after-effects of my Verizon customer service representative text chat, I hovered tentatively over the ‘Live Support? Request Help Now.’ button.
A couple of clients have asked me recently to explain our fees. Generally, I conclude with a variation of ‘We’ve paid, so you don’t have to.’
We’ve learned a lot in the last fifteen years about owning a business. And that knowledge took a significant amount of time and money to acquire. One of our skills is to extract from all of the pieces that are crucial to a specific situation.
When it comes to bad customer service, I was pretty convinced after my Verizon experience that I knew all I needed to know. Another bad tech chat was not how I wanted to end my evening.
In the end, curiosity, my insatiable friend, won again and I clicked the button. Firmly. If one can interact firmly with a piece of binary code.
What followed lasted ninety seconds. It will take you ten. And if you have another minute to spare after that, follow the link. As a lesson in customer service, it will take some beating.
But I hope you’ll try.
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Charles: I'm interested in buying RAM for a new MacBook Pro
You are now speaking with Morgan Gray of Technical Support 7AM-10PM CST.
Morgan Gray: Hi Charles
Charles: Hi Morgan. If I buy the MBP with 4GB Ram and buy the 8GB upgrade kit from you, do I invalidate my Apple warranty?
Morgan Gray: No, upgrading the ram with 3rd party memory that matches all of Apple's specifications does not void the AppleCare warranty
Charles: And yours does match their specs, right?
Charles: Is it hard to install?
Morgan Gray: It meets all of Apple's specs.
Morgan Gray: It's relatively easy
Morgan Gray: We have installation videos available here: http://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/
Charles: Ok. Great. Thanks. One last question. If you were not using it for big media files, or rendering etc: but wanted a really fast computer, would you buy it with this 500GB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200 rpm or the SSD drive for $700 more?
Morgan Gray: I would buy it with the most basic hard drive Apple offers and then upgrade it to something larger myself
Morgan Gray: Also a relatively easy install
Charles: Ok. Thank you. You've been incredibly helpful. I'll buy the Mac and then come back to you and buy the memory.
