UPDATE 18th Dec 2009:

Today I picked up my brand new 27″ iMac with its i7 processor and 16GB of memory. I would like to personally thank the guys at the Apple Store in Kinston Upon Thames who worked this out for me; read the story below for the full details; but to offer an exchange for a computer over a month old for a brand new one without any questions was and amazing feat of customer service – something we rarely see in the commercial world now days.

I of course will have no problems singing the praise of Apple, their stores and especially their staff for going that little bit extra to to make this Christmas very special to me.

You may have seen my tweets that I had purchased my new iMac in late September, I was well chuffed with it, 24″ screen, aluminium chassis, 3.06GHz CPU and 8GB RAM – storming! It was a match made in heaven; but then on the 20th October my heart hit the floor, Apple announced their new iMac range including the new 27″ 16:9 quad core model - gutted! As you can imagine it wasn’t a great day.

Much love

I was in the Apple today, trying out all the new toys; no sign of the new “Magic Mouse” when I was approached by a friendly specialist – he asked if he could help and I mentioned that I was unhappy about the release of the new iMac so soon after the purchase of my current iMac. I expected an “Oh sorry, but there is nothing we can do about that…” but he said to my surprise; “I’ll see what I can do for you…”

He disappeared off and after a couple of minutes he took me over to see the “Returns Specialist”. He searched, and found my purchase in September from the Apple Store in Bluewater, and very much to my surprise he told me he could exchange the iMac for a new one if I wanted. At the time the new Quad Core iMac are not available; not a problem – he told me to give him a ring in a couple of weeks.

I would seem that Apple are a lot more understanding than other retailers I’ve had the misfortune to deal with.

Exchange Criteria

It would seem that there is a 1 month return/exchange policy on Apple goods, but there is additional criteria that you may not be aware of. I would suggest you visit a Apple store and discuss your plight with one of the guys there especially if your purchase falls within the points below;

• Price has changed on the item that you have purchased
• The specifications of the device you have purchased

I have to say, that you should talk with the specialists in the store – they really wanted to help.

So BIG THANKS to the Apple Store, they really made my weekend.

Its something in human nature, we like to browse – looking in windows at all the shinny stuff. Of course we all love a bargain and feel really pleased with ourselves when we get something cheap, but there its always something else nagging in the back of our minds; that little voice saying “but I want it now!”

But hey! we can help you out with at least one of those little voices; check out this great little iPhone app that will scrape the net for the best prices.

RedLaser; scanning the safe way

I was testing out a new application for the iPhone called “RedLaser” (£1.19 from the iTunes App Store).

The developer says “The RedLaser app lets you search for online prices using Google product search. You can also keep a list of products and send them to yourself or a friend (because sometimes you just need to check things out on a bigger screen.)”

With this little app you can scan a barcode for a album, DVD, camera or a book and moments later results from Amazon (in your country) and a Google search showing the best prices.

In HMV (a well known music store in the UK) I decided to perform some price checks using the new app. The first image shows the shop price, second the barcode snapped from the application, the third shows the results and in this case the fourth shows the cost of the album from iTunes. Check out the screen shots below; Read the rest of this entry »