Denrael

A few weeks ago I posted about a bad experience with the Apple Store in Cherry Creek. It’s only fair that when I have a positive experience, I post about it as well.

Last night, going through the Atlanta airport security, my iPhone 3Gs got fried. Going into the TSA scanner all was good, coming out, a message indicating that a restore was required atop the USB logo that we all know a new iPhone displays was on my screen. Ok, annoying, but not earth shattering. I had about 2 hours before my flight, so I went to the Sky Club, and fired up the laptop.  Since this is my work laptop it didn’t have iTunes on it. So, step one, download iTunes.  On the network there, that took about 20 minutes. I installed iTunes, dug up a cable and plugged in the phone.

iTunes immediately recognized that there was a phone plugged in, and told me because the phone had a passcode, it could not mount the phone until I entered the passcode. Obviously given the  state the phone was in, this was impossible. About this time, the phone chose to tease me, by overlaying an alarm message showing me that somewhere deep inside the phone, things were still running.

Ok, next step, google up anything I can find on the passcode issue. I learned how to force the phone into restore mode, (turn it off, plug it in, hold down the home key, turn the phone on. When the USB image appears, release the home key) did that, and sure enough, iTunes acknowledged that the phone had to be restored and gave me that option. Next step, download the iPhone firmware restore package, about another 30 minutes. I used this time to call National, and see if they had found the jacket I left in the back of the rental (they had, and were having it shipped to me).

Once I had the firmware downloaded, I clicked Ok to start the restore. Joy and yummies, I received an error 23 indicating that no restore was possible. Back to google to learn that this means the phone has no IMEI code anymore.  At this point, I’m starting to get concerned, but it’s time to head to the gate.

Arriving at gate A12 in Atlanta, I check the upgrade status board to see that my platinum status has me #7 in line to get an upgrade to the 0 seats that are available. I boarded back to my seat in row 36 and settled in to contemplate next steps. The plane was due to land  in MSP at 8:28. Once we were airborne, gogo was offering a free trial of inflight wifi, so I got out the laptop, took advantage of the trial and checked the closing time for the Apple Store at the Mall of America: 9:30. Woot! A plan! Now, if I could get off from the back of the plane fast enough to get there before closing. We landed in MSP just a few minutes after 8, and I was indeed off the plane by 8:20.  I made a mad dash for the light rail, hopped a train to Mall of America and was walking into the Apple Store by 8:55.

I headed back to the genius bar, and saw that they had no more appointments left for today. WIth a bit of dread in my stomach given my last experience, I caught the attention of one of someone that had just finished up with another customer. Quickly I explained my problem to him, and he took the phone to try and restore it on their system. While doing this, he also solved a battery issue for his next appointment. The error quickly showed up on their system as well. He finished up with his regular appointment, in the background indicated to someone that he was off at 9 (it was 9:20 by now), and turned back to my problem. Looking up the error, he confirmed that the hardware was toast, and quickly set me up with a new phone. He got it registered, activated and had me on my way by 9:30PM.  Thank you Eugene of the Mall of America Apple Store for going out of your way to help me.

So I’m traveling and the battery on my MacBook Pro went toes up. Since I was in Denver and near an Apple Store I figured I’d just stop in and exchange it under AppleCare. I went in and spoke to a concierge. Before I could describe the problem I was asked if I had an appointment. I replied no, I was traveling. At that time I was told they were too busy and without an appointment no one could talk to me. I tried again to indicate I only needed to replace a battery and was again cut off and told I needed to make an appointment for another day. Needless to say I walked out annoyed partly at the non-resolution but more at the rather rude non-caring way in which it was handled.

Deciding I needed a beer I went to Hooters down the street. Sitting at the bar I noticed they had wifi so I asked the bartender if there was a place I could plug in. She had me move to the end of the bar and took my power cord over the counter. I booted up looked up the Apple support number and called. I was placed in touch with Luke after a brief 2 minute wait. I explained the issue to him. He asked me if I was Internet connected then asked me to mail him the system profile. After glancing at it he confirmed I did indeed have a bad battery and arranged to have one shipped right out.

Apple Store: FAIL Apple Phone Support: PASS with honors.

<rant>

Airline wars continue. Each year, airlines spend millions on loyalty programs. Their goal being simple; convince those of us that fly that they deserve our loyalty. When you think about it, they all offer essentially the same crappy service and cramped seats that make a greyhound bus seem like luxury. Give that, it comes down to hub cities, willingness to endure pain, and other intangibles.

My airline of choice is (was) NWA. I’ve had my problems with them, but overall, for me they offered one of the best loyalty programs in the business and their WorldClubs are the best domestic airline club in the business.

As everyone knows, Delta acquired NWA to become my new “Global Premier Airline”. Needless to say, I am not thrilled, and I’ve slowly watched them try to repackage poorer perks and convince me it’s an improvement. That being said, I have enough miles built up that I need to give Delta a chance. To be fair, I have had a few good experiences so far this year so the jury is still out. On in particular was in Fort Lauderdale yesterday where the ticket agent was friendly, efficient, and sympathetic of my cancelled flight woes. That’s all it took. He did his job well, offered me a smile and an understanding of my day.

This week, I was at Washington-Regan, standing in line for TSA. Every frequent flyer knows that fight crews are given preferential treatment for getting through TSA as well as the number of bags they are allowed to carry. In this case, the rudest flight crew (4 people) I’ve seen in a very long time, came through the line.

The line was about 20 minutes long, but of course the flight crew can move right to the front. At that point, they all reached in, and started taking bins. That wasn’t close enough however, there were still 3 people already putting items on the conveyer belt ahead of them. So, after budding in to get the bins, they moved up to right in front of the scanner, and started loading up their bins. Each were carrying between 3-5 bags, and still wearing jackets, etc. So, the entire line waited while they got organized, and sent their stuff through. On the other side, they took their items, leaving the bins on the conveyer backing things up further until the TSA person could get over and stack them so the belt could move. At no time did I hear an “excuse me”, “thank you” or the like. Rather it was an entitlement.

I understand that they live in airports. So do I. On average I travel 125,000 domestic miles a year and in excess of 120 flight segments. Can anyone name one other industry that expects to succeed by having employees flaunt that they are more important than their paying customers?

Oh, the crew in question? Delta.

</rant>

In his book Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain commented that one of the things to avoid in life is the Sunday Brunch. In his words, the restaurants A-Team are on Saturday night, and Sunday brunch is the time to clean out the walk-ins.

The problem is that with my travel schedule Sunday brunch is an ideal time to catch up with friends and family. So, with that in mind, I took my mom last weekend to 20-21, Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. She wanted to go there, and what better place to spend a Sunday than relaxing at the Walker.

I should note here that spending $30 per head on brunch doesn’t scare me. Hell, I’ve spent over $200 just dining alone at dinner. But, in Minneapolis, $30 per head is nearing the market’s top end for brunch. Given that, I expect a very good experience.

The space at the walker, is clean and contemporary. With a long bar and a semi-open kitchen, it’s a fun place to go. Overall, the staff is friendly.

Sunday Brunch at 20-21 is buffet style with the traditional steam table line. As I’ve gotten older, I find myself less and less attracted to this style of brunch, preferring being served family style at the table. Brunch should be a time to relax, not stand in lines reminiscent of school cafeterias. Reading the little signs as I walked down the line, however, there appeared to be some nice selections: poached egg on prosciutto cake, a duck stir-fry and a scallop curry all sounded interesting.

The poached egg was very nicely done with the egg tasting better than I would have thought possible coming out of a steamer. I can’t comment on the duck as both that tray and the roasted potatoes were empty. There was enough of the curried scallops left for my mom to get a taste and she said it was wonderful with just the right amount of heat.

For desert, I chose the fresh fruit. The pineapple and strawberries were some of the best I’ve had all season. All in all however, I have to say I am disappointed with the brunch at 20-21 and will probably not be returning.  Here are a few of the reasons why:

• If a restaurant is going to take the steam table approach to brunch, the steamers should never be empty. It’s the responsibility of the restaurant to make sure when I go through the line that I have a complete and attractive selection of items.
• Certain of the items were just plain bad choices for a steam table (i.e. Belgien Waffles and  Banana Stuffed French Toast). Even if they are standards, a restaurant like 20-21 should know better than to present them in a steam table where they can’t help but get soggy. As I looked at the French Toast, I couldn’t help but think about what Tom would say if that was presented on Top Chef.
• My mom had to ask for more coffee multiple times. This was with the dining room half empty.
• Table clearing was inconsistent. When we were enjoying our after  brunch coffee, the table was cleared except for one empty orange juice glass and one dessert plate. They seem to have been “forgotten.”

Were any of these things terrible? No, of course not. That’s not the point. I go to a restaurant expecting a good experience. There are many choices in today’s world for consumers to choose between in deciding how to spend their dining dollars. Any restaurant can’t afford to become sloppy in their presentation, even less so when you expect to receive top dollar and flaunt a celebrity chef’s name.

One of my favorite restaurants in the country is Mesa Grill. I have been there well over 2 dozen times, and never had a bad experience. Service is impeccable, and the dining experience always a pleasure. I suggest that Chef Puck visit Mesa Grill to see how wonderful a brunch can be.

I think my mom summed it up best when as we were leaving she said next time, could we go to Fat Nat’s (a local and amazing diner) instead?

Only two things in life are inevitible, death and taxes. Personally the jury is still out on death, but so far I’ve not been able to avoid taxes. This weekend I am spending enjoying the govenment’s version of S&M, doing one’s taxes. I defy any Dom to come up with a more torturous session than being forced to dig through arcane tax laws.

At one point in my life, I thought about having my taxes done. My father had passed away and my mom had sold the family home and moved to a new state. What better time to have the professionals jump in and help out. After having her taxes expertly prepared, then having them reviewed by a “tax expert” in her new state, I decided to review them. With little effort, I found several errors and ended up spending far more time going back, getting them fixed than I would have if I had stated myself. From that day on, I’ve religiously done them myself.

That being said, I, like many people use tax preperation software. In my case, the product of choice is TurboTax which I have used for a number of years. If I stay away from the super mega deluxe versions, it’s not too bloated and it seems to do a good job of preparing the forms. Of course I still review everything myself, but just the administrivia of having the forms filled in and printed makes this a bit less like what I imagine the sensation of someone dripping hot wax on freshly whipped skin. (Yes, I really hate doing taxes).

This year, I was rapidly moving thru the first set of taxes and hit a snag. I got to the state tax part, and TurboTax refused to go on. I had already downloaded my state, but TurboTax seemed intent on making me download it again before I could continue. If I agreed and let it try to download it, the program would warn me it was there already. If I overrode it, it would quit. No matter what I tried, I could not move forward into state taxes.

So, saying to myself: “self, maybe there is something worse than taxes, it’s needing to deal with support while doign taxes.” Reluctantly I hit the help key in TurboTax, seeing what my support options were. First I tried community. Maybe this has happened to someone else. I did find my exact symptom that someone else had experienced, but no solution listed. Failing that, I looked at my next two options. Contact by chat (10 minutes), or voice (45 minutes). Ok, I figured I’d try chat first.

Miracle Begins Here

I selected their chat option, entered my name, email and problem description. Within 1 minute, I was connected to Angelica, my personal heroine. She read the problem description I had entered, asked me 3 intelligent questions, isolated the fix, gave me a download and waited while I installed and tested it. Total elapsed time: under 10 minutes. All this while maintaining a sense of humor and making me feel like she was genuinely concerned about making sure I was happy and working.

End of Miracle

Those that know me, know that I am passionate about customer service. The old adage that it is 5 times more expensive to gain a new customer than to retain an existing one is only half the story. The other half is what happens when your service level is so outstanding that you can move customers to raving fans. It wasn’t anything magical, not really, it was a very talented professional, doing her job to the best of her ability.

Thank you Angelica and Thank you TurboTax for making my “session” a bit less painful.