At the end of 2010, I pulled my iPhone 4 out of my back pocket and dropped it onto my ceramic-tiled kitchen floor. Very sad iPhone.
The camera lens is a separate, inset piece of glass and didn’t shatter, so the phone was 100% functional. It’s just that its functions now included drawing blood if you got any tiny shards embedded in your hand (which hurts a lot more than any cut that small has any right to).
A quick Google search revealed that it could be replaced while-you-wait at an Apple Store, which would be great if I didn’t live a 1000 km (an 11-hour drive) from the nearest Apple Store, in Montréal, Québec.
Last week, when I was visiting friends in Deep Cove, BC, I made a side-trip into the Apple Store in downtown Vancouver. For 2 pm on a Monday, when the Pacific Coast mall was not busy, the Apple Store was.
Despite the line-up at the Genius Bar, someone looked after me right away. They found out what I needed and brought me to someone who scheduled my repair. “Have a seat over there,” he gestured. “Someone will be with you in 8 minutes.” Uh, okay. 8 minutes? Yeah, right.
About 10 minutes later, a blue-shirted Apple employee came out and apologized profusely for keeping me waiting. “This will cost about $30. Fill these out”, he said, handing me forms that said I understood there was a chance the data would get wiped from my phone. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Sure enough, he came back with the repaired iPhone, but when he looked at it he noticed a hair trapped behind the glass. “Hey, this thing has looked like a spider-web for weeks; I don’t care about a hair!”, I said. “Yeah, but it’s over the camera lens…” He held it up to the light and turned on the camera. Sure enough, there was a large halo around the hair. “I’ll be right back” he said.
2 minutes later, he comes out with the iPhone again, takes my forms and says “I’ve taken up enough of your time today. There’s no charge. Get out of here!”
All in all, a pretty damn good experience at the Apple Store in Vancouver. No wonder it’s so busy in there.