Thoughts for Company

“Your start-up disk is almost full” - the ominous, oft-repeated mantra of my ailing Mac.

Oh, how many times I’d heard this pitiful lament…

…until, by some combination of most excellent fortune and exemplary effort on my part, I willed the timely solution.

A couple of weeks ago, in what could well have been my Mac’s darkest hour, I came across Vancouver blog royalty Miss604.com’s latest contest, aptly titled, “Mac Tune Up Giveaway“.

The prize was almost too good to be true: “Two hour spa treatment for your Mac, with some tutoring on getting the most from your setup – (valued at $190). An Apple-certified Macinhome consultant will visit your home to basically perform a tune up on your Mac, doing the computer equivalent of an oil change & tire rotation.”

What a novel idea!  I love reading up on successful businesses built on fascinating ideas and exceptional customer service, so you can imagine my delight upon learning of the company and the range of services it offers to everyone from technopeasants (myself included) to corporate clients.

But back to the contest.

I rubbed my eyes vigorously in disbelief.  Was I reading the post correctly?  Was this the glorious and merciful answer to my deepest, darkest prayers?

Surely, my mind would not play a cruel trick on me… not so soon after the last one, anyway (I was still recovering, after all).

The sole obstacle standing in my way: those “other” contest entries.  How could I compete?  What would it take to get an edge?  My cunning wit and frugal bribes would be no good here - or would they?

Turns out they wouldn’t.  But neither did I need them.

Alas, I actually won something!  Finally, after the years of turmoil, I was a real winner!  (Well, there was the time I won tickets to an event I didn’t want to attend, but I was really just being respectful.  How should I have known not to obediently call the radio station when the DJ commanded so, without knowing the prize?)

I was immediately impressed with Macinhome.  After being contacted directly by the company’s Principal (email being the medium of choice here, naturally), the Team Lead Consultant followed up to arrange an appointment.  When the daily grind rendered me unable to immediately return the calls/emails, the Macinhome team was relentless in pursuing my case - a wonderful surprise, considering the circumstances in which I would be receiving their highly sought after services.

Then, the afternoon before Spa Day, my very own Apple-certified consultant (or, as I like to call them, Mac Doctors) gave me a quick ring to discuss the symptoms and treatment options.  It was an appropriate and much appreciated level of contact one would expect from professionals affiliated with the Apple brand.

There is something refreshingly different about how Macinhome interacts with its clients - and something simultaneously familiar in that you actually speak to a human being in a reasonable amount of time.  Even the automated hold message is honest and unpretentious.  And it doesn’t hurt that they name drop the iPhone, informing callers that consultants have been alerted of my call via their shiny little gadgets.

Stay with me here as I fast forward to the day after the session, when the Principal of Macinhome personally sent me a short email requesting my feedback on the experience.  He explicitly stated that they’re “keen to hear feedback - good and bad.  :)” It’s not every day that the head of a company will use a smiley face in an email, and I certainly appreciated being treated as an actual person and not just a number (especially one that won free services).

So it turns out the Consultant who was originally scheduled to help me was held up in a tragic event of some sort, or so I was told by his replacement (jokingly, I think).  But it was hard to tell, as I initially wasn’t quite sure how to read the one who showed up.

In short, I was surprised.

Not in a bad way at all, but… it was just unexpected, although in hindsight, I’m not quite sure what I was expecting.

The Consultant, who we’ll call Agent A, rang my doorbell about ten minutes after our scheduled appointment time - but I can hardly complain about this, as it seems customary for companies to make grand promises of house visits “some time between 9 am and 5 pm”.  Fortunately, this was not the case with Macinhome.

At first glance, I wasn’t sure if he was indeed my Macinhome saviour. With his blue jeans, red checkered short-sleeve dress shirt over a white T-shirt, curly locks, and requisite laptop backpack, he wouldn’t have looked out of place in a second-year Science class. He was very friendly, though somewhat tentative in his mannerisms - at least until I buttered him up with juice and roasted nuts!  The more time we spent together, the more confident I was that he probably spends a good number of hours playing World of Warcraft and reading comic books.

But this is what you’d want in your computer technician, no?

I have to admit, I questioned whether he would actually spend the full two hours with me (a free contest winner, after all) - but he did!

I was also concerned about what he might dig up on my computer… nothing scandalous (I’m fairly square, you know) but embarrassing nonetheless.  (Fine, I read gossip sites!)  I even asked him if he finds questionable material on his clients’ computers, which he was not at liberty to divulge - but the look on his face suggested that he had indeed serviced some interesting units.

But to the root of my problem: in response to my computer’s pathetic white flag, manifested most spectacularly in repeated failed attempts to import sizable clips for my video blog, Agent A quickly pointed out that my “movies” were selfishly consuming prime real estate on my hard drive, particularly since Time Machine backs up the files on an external hard drive.  So he moved that third of my space onto the external drive as well (I like my backups to have backups, don’t you?), at the same time using analogies to illustrate in layman’s terms how computers work, and the problem was solved.

He spent the rest of the time scolding me for hanging onto things I’ll never need (not my fault - no one told me that you don’t need to keep installers once you’ve used them!), giving me some insider tips on the wonderfully fantastic features of all Macs (even antiques like mine, purchased almost two years ago), upselling me on Apple Care and Snow Leopard (though in fairness, both are probably a good idea anyway), transferring gorgeous, high resolution desktop images and setting them to an hourly rotation…

I now use Safari instead of Firefox (simply for its fancy Top Sites page), my Macintosh HD logo is so fresh and so clean, and I’ve even created another user for my dear mother (who should not, in any circumstances, be granted administrative access on any type of technological device).

And there’s so much more we accomplished that I can’t even remember (surprise!).

Agent A was very knowledgeable and understanding of my technological deficiencies.  Not once, despite my stupid questions, did he seem judgmental or pretentious.  He fixed the problem, in far less time than was allotted, and proceeded to deliver outstanding service.  His demeanour was the perfect balance of technical professional and friendly neighbour.  I did not feel uncomfortable having this stranger in my home (I left the room several times but returned to find everything still in its rightful place).  And perhaps most importantly, he was honest when he didn’t have all the answers (he could have easily told me that the world is flat and I would have believed him in a second).

Let me say here that I can’t imagine the life of an in-home computer consultant to be an easy one.  After my session, Agent A was off to his next, c’est-la-vie-ing the absence of a lunch break.  I almost felt guilty that I was about to enjoy one of my usual midday feasts.  So I sent him off with a granola bar along with my many thanks.

I would highly recommend Macinhome and will likely turn to the company to assist with an “erase install” of Snow Leopard when the time is right.  The $95/hour rate is steep but seems to be worth the investment solely for the piece of mind (and ability to blame any problems on someone else).

The Principal asked me to rate my experience on a scale of 1 to 10.  I’d give it a 9 - one point short of top marks only because Agent A had to take a couple phone calls during our session.  But again, I suppose this could have been expected considering the nature of the service…

Macinhome, on behalf of my personal (also reluctant and exhausted) Mac troubleshooting and technical support team, I thank you for the countless hours and headaches you’ve spared us all.

One final note: when I let them know that I would be blogging about my positive experience with their company and services, the response I received almost immediately was “Hurrah! Awesome, thank you!  :)”, which pretty much sums it up!