Thanks, Apple!

Older son's iPod quit working.  Well, it didn't really quit working.  Just one tiny part of the iPod quit working--the sleep/wake button.

He got it for Christmas last year.  He's had it for less than a year.  We bought it from amazon.com.  We bought it less than a year ago.

So we opened up a service ticket with Apple.  That part was great.  It was really slick...really smooth.  All I had to do was take the iPod to a UPS store and they packed it up and shipped it overnight to the Apple Inc. facility in Sacramento.

Side note:  The iPod went from Orem, Utah to Salt Lake City, to the Sacramento airport, to the Ontario, California airport (what the??), back to the Sacramento airport, and then to the Apple facility.  Quite the well-traveled iPod!  It still arrived the next day.

Then I received an email from Apple stating  the following:

Your IPOD TOUCH (4TH GENERATION) has been inspected by Apple technicians, who have determined that it has been subjected to accidental damage or misuse, which is not covered by the warranty, the AppleCare Protection Plan, or other Apple repair program. Therefore your original product is being returned to you unrepaired. You should expect to receive it within two business days along with a letter that gives details of this assessment.

What?? Older son is extremely careful with his electronics.  He takes very VERY good care of them.  He always ALWAYS had it in his Speck CandyShell case.  It wasn't misused.  It wasn't accidentally damaged.  Seriously.

So I called Apple.  They could tell me NOTHING.  However, they said that there would be an enclosure with the returned iPod explaining what the problem was.  The Apple tech even explained that often they even include pictures of the damage.

On Monday, we had a door tag from FedEx.  Nobody was home when they tried to deliver the iPod.  I stopped by home on my way (which was absolutely NOT on the way) to class, grabbed the door tag and picked up the well-traveled iPod.

I opened it up, and the note inside said this:

Dear Apple Customer,

Thank you for choosing AppleCare Service.  To ensure the highest level of quality and reliability, all work has been performed in an Apple-approved screening facility.

Enclosed you will find your original iPod.  We regret we were unable to complete the service you requested due to one of the following conditions:

[ ] A diagnostic evaluation has determined that your iPod requires service because of an external cause such as accidental damage.

[ ] A diagnostic evaluation has determined that the iPod has internal damage related to a liquid spill or submersion, evident by the pink/red color of the liquid contact indicator (LCI).  The LCI is located inside the headphone jack.  Please refer to Apple online documentation (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3302) for more information regarding the LCI in your iPod.

...Blah Blah Blah stuff about out-of-warranty service Blah Blah Blah...

Sincerely

AppleCare Service

Notice that neither option was checked!  And no other information was provided.  No photos.  No written information.  NOTHING.

We looked up the LCI information in the Apple Knowledge Base, and there was no pink or red color in the headphone jack or in the dock connector.  So we were back to square 1.  We still had absolutely NO information about what was actually wrong with this particular iPod.

I set up an appointment for the next day to have an Apple tech give me a call.  After holding and waiting for a while for the tech to find the photos of the repair, the tech decided that the website/tool that he uses to view repairs isn't working because it wasn't bringing up any photos.  He took my number and said he would call me back when he got the tool to work and he would email photos of the repair.

An hour later, I finally got a call back.  They never could find any pictures of the repair, so they're going to repair/replace Older Son's iPod.  Hooray!

Thanks, Apple!