Gossip

Shock, horror, ethical supplier behaviour online! - keyboard replaced

Apple has been heading for a PR disaster for a long time with the iPod "warranty" scandal, and today's Guardian expose pins the company nicely to the exhibit board. So it's nice to be able to flag someone who works the other way, and cares about their product reputation.

The nub of the story is a simple keyboard. OK, it was an 89 quid keyboard, so a bit out of the ordinary el-cheapo rubbish. It was supplied from Canadian online vendor and keyboard (and iPod addon) specialist Matias. And two years later, much to the irritation of the customer (a Hunkymouse reader) all the letters had worn off the keys.

"I mailed them on the 22nd, and asked if there was anything that could be done," reports this reader, "expecting 'bugger off, it's two years old' - but no! - they came back next day, said there was an early batch with faulty dye."

Our reader was told to provide proof of purchase "and we'll send you a new one." Proof of purchase? would  an e-mail of despatch from supplier be ok?

New keyboard arrived yesterday. By courier.

Contrast that with Apple's disgraceful attitude to its products; specifically, to the reliability of its 40G iPod.

For me, the cynical pointy-haired approach [right] went beyond cynical. It went into plain sharp practice when one customer claimed a warranty replacement inside the pitiful "one year maximum" period, and Apple sent a brand new replacement.

To quote the Guardian: "His £300 iPod broke inside the warranty period and was replaced. But the second machine broke within four months. To his surprise, it didn't come with its own one-year warranty and he was asked for £160 for repairs instead."

In any ethical business, providing a dud as a warranty replacement would be cause for instant castigation, if not dismissal, for the executive who did it. To find a company like Apple not only doing it, but justifying it, tells you something about what Apple itself thinks the quality of an iPod really is.

Matias shows how a company behaves when it actually cares about its reputation.

  Tags: iPod warranty, Apple