Checkout this story from MacCast listener Adam:
This story is so amazing, I hope you believe it. But honest to God, it’s 100% true.
So I bought a Nano for my uncle as a gift when they first came out. About a month ago, I get a phone message from someone at Apple. They say the Houston Police have contacted them and that they (the Houston Police) have my Nano and to please contact officer Richards and they leave me her phone number.
As I live in NJ, I thought it was some type of phone scam, plus, I don’t have a Nano! 3 days go by and I get 3 more messages from Apple with the same message. So I break down and call Apple to see if they have any record of these calls they’ve made to me. They put me through to Apple – fraud or “loss prevention” I think it’s called. And yup, sure enough, they’ve got my info and had been contacted by the Houston police.
Now I am really curious, what is going on. So I call Officer Richards and she picks up on the 1st ring! She tells me that they had recovered a Nano from someone and knew it was “hot” or stolen merchandise, called Apple, gave Apple the serial # and traced it back to me. Wow. She asks me if it’s mine and I say, “no, I don’t even have a Nano” totally forgetting that I had purchased one for my uncle and hang up. Story over? Not yet.
I call Andy, a friend of mine and my uncle’s and I tell him this wild story because he loves this type of thing and he says that my uncle had told him that he had lost his nano on an airplane from JFK to Houston!
So I have my uncle call the officer, he has to describe what songs are on the nano, and about 3 weeks later, ta-da, he gets his nano back.
Moral of the story: The police in Houston aren’t that busy and Apple rocks.
hehe wonderfull, happy ending :)
Good to see someone taking advantage of serial numbers! Nice save and a great story.
Wow, that’s just great! I wish we heard this kind of story more often. Congratulations.
Wow.
I think the Houston police deserve some credit here too. I’ve tried dealing with other police departments in the past, and even in small towns where they really don’t have anything to do, they’d rather write tickets than be helpful. In a city the size of Houston, the help you received was impressive, and they deserve credit.
hahaha…. Great story, that’s awesome!
That’s great, but I am offended by the slam against HPD, the Houston Police Department.
Adam ought to be far more complimentary of our police department who were so diligent in finding the rightful owner of the nano. In fact, I would suggest that you write a letter to the editor of The Houston Chronicle thanking the HPD for their good work. You could also write to Dr. Mac, Bob LeVitus, (who is syndicated in the Chronicle) and tell him this story. He could probably turn it into a column.
Please don’t make snide remarks about our men and women in blue when they do the right thing. When they Taser you for giggles, then let ’em have it!
Yeah, that was such a cool story and a blessing (quite frankly) that the Nano was recovered. I was a bit let down when you kinda dissed the Houston Police Department though. It wasn’t quite appreciative.
The story would have been an even better testimony if you gave credit to both the HPD and Apple.
Thank the poilice and apple
I’m sure the police here in NYC wouldn’t have done that
and do you think another company might have even bothered to call let alone let you call back
My reaction too, what a great story tainted by the unappreciative remarks about the amazing service provided by the HPD. As an ex Public Service employee I am only too well aware that whichever way you provide the service there will always be crticism from members of the public. Come on Adam, go public, give credit where it’s due.
LOL – if “the Houston police aren’t that busy” is a slam… then all ya’ll live in someplace nicer than me! Gimme a break. The dudes happy – there was no sour note – except for all these whining posts.
Too many times we’ve seen brutality at the hands of officers – so ya know, I’m sure for all the nice/good/awesome things done, due to all of us being human, there’s been some pretty dumb/bad/abusive actions committed by “the men in blue” also.
He Forgot he gave a Nano to his Uncle? One has to ask how many Nanos were in Santas sack and how do I get on his gift list?
Good idea to bigup the police, you never know when you might need the help of that fine, overworked and underpaid, body of men and women.
I saw a great demo of opening applications on the Intel iMac in Apple Store Soho, NYC. After a one-handed key configuration by a customer, ALL applications in the Dock opened up, seemingly all at once withOUT hardly a bounce in each icon. I mean, it was lightning fast! Without a hitch EVERYTHING opened up, it’s hard to explain how fast this was. The G5 was never EVER this quick. And another key config press and all applications were quitting, again too fast to be believed!!
Will be purchasing one next month :)
Well, this is one of the “few” good police stories. And I’ve heard a lot of Apple’s good customer service. That’s what makes them a successful company despite the recession. Apple has cool products and friendly, effective customer service.