MacBook Sidenote

I should mention that I'm actually not posting this from my brand new MacBook. I'm using a loaner. Let me explain....but wait, first of all consider this a warning: this is a super long post and has absolutely nothing to do with food!!

Since we found ourselves completely computerless we decided to take it as a bit of blessing. We had a clean slate, which really allowed us to consider ALL options. After much discussion we kept coming back to this:

1. Neither of us have ever heard anyone say "I wish I had never purchased/switched to a Mac"
2. The only negative comments we've heard about the Mac are from people who have never owned one.

So on Saturday morning we took advantage of the beautiful weather and strolled down to Queen Street for some breakfast and a visit to the BeachMac store (which we'd never been in). After a yummy breakfast at the Beacher we back tracked to browse MacBooks.

Its a small store and we were lucky to have it to ourselves. We were shown everything from the littlest MacBook right up to the 27" iMac (which Clutterbuck is considering). We explained our situation and every question was answered fully and with the patience that is required for Mac virgins. There wasn't even any snickering or eye rolling when Clutterbuck cut them off mid iMac pitch to ask if they sell equipment to lock the computers up.

Anyway, after learning all the options we sauntered to Starbucks with our Apple brochures to weigh the options. We decided to go with the MacBook Pro 15". Excited we finished our coffees and power walked back to BeachMac.

Myles (the owner) greeted us at the door and when we told him our choice he hesitated for a moment and then broke the news. He didn't have one in stock...sigh...but....he had one at his other location and he would happily pick it up and deliver it to us after the store closed that evening. woo hoo! We happily agreed. We made the purchase and Myles threw in a laptop lock with it (Thanks to Clutterbuck for his contribution as my birthday present).

So as we're waiting for Myles to confirm timing etc. I see his face fall while he is on the phone with the other store. Sure enough the last remaining MacBook was JUST sold. Before he even hung up the phone I knew what was coming, Easter Sunday and Monday were the following days and Tuesday (today) was the next business day. Clutterbuck says my face looked like my baby had just died. Poor Myles was so apologetic and gave us the option to back out of the purchase, but we had come this far already. He offered to console us saying "Can I buy you an ice cream? You've been threw so much already." We laughed and politely declined and returned home to try to enjoy the rest of the weekend without thinking about our new family member.

Fast forward to today. I started my new job today, but who effing cares about that? More importantly today was MacBook day!!! I had a bit of a sobering moment when I told a very knowledgeable Mac enthusiast colleague about my new purchase and he immediately told me I was a fool to buy when I did because Apple was about to update their lines of computers and if we had only waited a few weeks we could have got more computer for our money....blah blah blah....but still it made me think we might have made a mistake.

Like a good government employee I left the building at 4:30 on the dot and drove right to BeachMac to pick up my new MacBook...woop woop!!!

I arrived at 5ish and walked in trying to contain my excitement. Myles was helping a customer and when he looked up I proudly announced "I'm here to pick up my new MacBook." He actually excused himself from the customer and came over to deal with me. He brought a MacBook box up from behind the counter, but something wasn't right...it was open....I tried to contain the hysteria that was rising up inside of me.

Myles explained that not only was he not able to find the MacBook at his other store but he wasn't able to find them anywhere. "The channels have dried up" he said. I stood speechless unable to find any words. Apparently this is a clear sign that Apple is in fact prepping to release their updated line and because they are a public company they don't tell their retailers anything until they announce it to the public, they simply stop stocking their product until the new one is released. OK, but what did this mean for me??

Myles said he was very sorry and he knew I was anxious to start computing so he would happily lend me the floor model until the new MacBook is released, free of charge. He also guaranteed that even though the new laptop would most likely mean an increase in price he would honour the price we paid. I was relieved and eagerly agreed. Not only did it allow me to familiarize myself with a Mac but it satisfied the fear that we bought an outdated version right before a new one was released.

So whats the reason for this long blog about the whole experience? Because I feel compelled to talk about the good customer service and highly satisfactory experience both Clutterbuck and I had at BeachMac. Both of us will happily go to Myles for all our computing needs in the future, and would encourage you to visit him for any Mac needs as well.

Here's Ben enjoying the loaner 10 seconds after I got it out of the box...not sure if he approves or wants to show it who's boss.