One of the interesting parts of my job is that I’m expected to “think ahead”. One of my favorite things to ask myself in this role is, “What could go wrong?” Not surprisingly, my education helps frame this examination–a broad understanding of issues makes it easier for one to understand the actors at play. And of course, even those with strong academic backgrounds in a subject still make stupid mistakes. But one really bad mistake was recently written about in the Washington Post.

Call me crazy on this one, but there are some big corporate names included as victims of this one–doesn’t anybody think about the implications of their actions? Haven’t we all gotten E-mails that have “do not reply” addresses or E-mails where somebody hits “reply all” by mistake? Put them together and you have this! This has got to be one of the best tactical-media-projects-that-should-have-been of all time!

I feel it’s a mainstay of any modern person’s holiday experience: returns. You asked for a medium, but need a small, or got a 38″ belt, but need the 34″. At least, that’s my story. As somebody interested in processes and corporate interactions (and making them better), I found two really obvious needs at two separate retailers this holiday season.

Problem one: American Apparel. They have nice products; they are well made, in America with supposedly sweat-shop free labor. “It’s consumption you can feel good about.” I asked for a blue velour top of theirs for Christmas. I got it, but it was a little too big. I decided to take it back to the local A.A. retail store that is ~1 mile from my home to get a small instead.

When I went in (with the receipt, by the way), the clerk told me they could not accept returns of products ordered through the website. “We’re two separate companies. We don’t take returns from the online store. They have to be sent back to the online store returns department.” Are you kidding? “Two separate companies?” WTF? But it gets better…

Today, I get an E-mail that my return has been received by the returns processing center. Rad. The disposition of my return? Backordered. The replacement item is backordered!?!? So let me get this straight: customers can’t return products ordered from the online store to the local retail store (even though every other store allows this), *and* they want me to waste my time, money and fuel sending something back to California (when they are probably going to send another back to my local store eventually to restock), *and* they are going to waste fuel, money and time of theirs sending me something (from California) I could have picked up less than one mile from my home? Wow. That’s a lot of inefficiencies–and it frustrates customers. Seems like a no-win on everybody’s part. The fix is really easy, too.

Problem two: maybe not really a problem, but it could be improved. The story is that I received a 38″ belt from Urban Outfitters for Christmas. I really needed the 34″ belt. I went to the local store and, unlike American Apparel, they accepted the return (without a receipt), and issued me a gift card. Fair enough. I then, conveniently, used this card online to order a replacement in the right size. So far my experience was great, except when I got the belt, it looked sort of “dead”.

Physically, it was in good shape–but it looked “manufactured” and untouched by any human. Intellectually, I think we all know the items we buy are not made just for us–but we like to think so. I think we all yearn for the sense that a product is perfect for (just) us and somehow “special”. That “necessary illusion” is broken when you receive merchandise with tracking barcodes and protective plastic wrappers still on them. When a company like Urban Outfitters tries so hard to make shopping an “experience” (in their retail stores), why do they break the experience this way? I guess the alternative is to remove the wrappers and risk damage during shipping, but how about tissue paper? Or branded wrapping? Isn’t consumption supposed to feel *good*?

Well, I answered my own question: Apple *does not* learn. The update: Apple sent out my machine for repair to address the screen issue and to repair some cosmetic damage for free, in exchange for my time and trouble with the machine thus far.

Today, I tracked the status of my repair with Apple’s repair status page, and noticed my machine was delivered at ~10 AM to the Apple Store. I went there at ~1:30 PM, and asked if I could pick it up. The person at the Apple store said they hadn’t unpacked it yet, and that they would call me when it’s ready. “Probably today, maybe tomorrow”. I told them it had to be today.

I went home, and just as I was walking up the stairs, I get a call. The machine is ready. I could have waited in the store if I had known they would be that quick, but I dutifully went back to pick it up–I want my computer back!

When I finally got it back, (to my horror) I found they replaced the logic board. For the second time. No joke. And, to top it off, they didn’t repair any of the cosmetic damage, as John and I agreed. WTF Apple?

Apple has now agreed to give me a new machine. But seriously, did it have to be this painful? What’s going on at Apple? Will they learn from *this* experience? Maybe the price of the new laptop will open their ears… I doubt it.

This past holiday, I’ve been computer-less: my (first generation) MacBook Pro has been in for repair at Apple, making this repair #5 for the machine. My experience this time around started at the “genius bar”, and that experience left much to be desired. After being passed around a few times, the staff finally took in my machine only to call me two days later asking if they could send it out for repair. This delay, along with the holiday, created a situation where my machine was out of my hands for about a full week. But that’s not all…

When I finally received the machine back, I found that only the “logic board” was replaced–even though my screen (or its cabling) was the defective component. I thought they knew what they were doing, and proceeded to use the machine hoping never to see the screen problem crop up again. Well, sure enough–it came back. Exactly as before.

I took the machine back to the Apple Store, and they said the same thing the first two “geniuses” did: it was probably a display cabling issue. “Why wasn’t the display cable replaced, then?” I asked. They couldn’t be sure; the repairs are done in Texas at the “depot”.

My machine has been anything but reliable, with multiple independent components failing. Obviously, the machine (and the plant it was made in) has quality problems–especially with ribbon cables. I asked what they could do for me to ensure this was one of the last times I showed up here for repairs. They told me, until my machine kept coming in for the same issue, nothing; I’d be sent out for repair this time (free of charge, “of course”), but no new machine for me. The “genius” even had the audacity to tell me, “this type of thing is to be expected with first generation products”. Gee, thanks. I didn’t know the “geniuses” served as gatekeepers for Apple repair service. I thought they were my advocate? I did pay for AppleCare, right?

I balked, and asked to speak to John, the manager at Apple Store Shadyside. He was really understanding, and listened to me politely, and then agreed to fix some cosmetic damage on my machine free of charge (a $500 value) in exchange for my time and trouble. By now I’ve literally gotten a new machine piece by piece, but why Apple couldn’t just cut their losses, and please me as a customer the first time, by replacing the defective machine, I’m not sure.

I think the real mark of a good organization, however, is to find out if they “learn”. Standards that indicate a “learning organization” come in many forms: the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) from CMU, ISO’s 9000 series standards and others. Essentially I want to know, if somebody comes in with the same issue as me, will Apple take what they found out from my machine and apply it to that case?

If somebody comes in with a machine that turns off randomly, will they check the battery cable instead of making the customer come back multiple times for diagnosis (as they did with me)? Will Apple change their store policies to ensure machines don’t stay in the store for two days to be “rediagnosed”, only to eventually be sent out for a non-relevant repair? Is it typical for Apple to replace non-relevant parts? Are these repairs even tracked?

I’m not sure if Apple has any internal knowledge sharing system or analysis procedures, but if there are any Apple techs reading this, please chime in with some answers. Is Apple a “learning organization?”

Last week, Alex and I went to the Alternative Transportation Festival at the Southside Works. We saw representatives from GASP, BikePGH and the Port Authority of Allegheny County (PAT). PAT was there to highlight their new Hybrid Gillig Busses, and they sent the director of the West Mifflin garage, Dennis Parish, to share the story. Alex and I spoke to Dennis for quite awhile at the festival and he, probably sensing our interest, invited us back to the garage for a tour! We, of course, took him up on the offer.

We found Dennis’ office after entering a side door (we didn’t know where to go in!), and Dennis was really gracious to drop his work, grab a two-way radio, and walk with us around the facility. We saw the scheduling area, the “pick” (bid) board, the break room, the dispatch desk, the holding area for busses, the bus wash, the maintenance facilities (paint shop, body shop, engine shop, A/C shop) and the parking lot outside.

He highlighted some of PAT’s environmental initiatives, including recycling bus wash water, using rainwater (in part) for the bus wash, and recycling oil and other engine fluids. They also, more expectedly, save money and “recycle” by retreading tires, re-milling brake drums (a maximum of 8 times), and rebuilding many of the bus’ engine components (most of this work is done at the PAT facility in Manchester, however). Dennis runs a tight ship, and everything is rather neat inside the building, though dirty with grease and oil.

Dennis has a great relationship with his employees–they all wave to him, and him to them. He said his policy was to pretty much leave people alone to do their work. That implies a lot of confidence and respect for him by his employees, and vice-versa.

Believe it or not, the bus garage is pretty empty during the day–many of his workers come in at night to clean the busses, he said. Maintenance is done during the day, but the facility is in operation almost 24 hours a day. Some operators, he said, even end up sleeping at the garage! Dennis said his scheduling rule of thumb was “to have my people here when the busses are here–no sense in paying them to sit around waiting for a bus”. Can’t argue with that.

Alex and I were both amazed at the level of autonomy Dennis reported–he has his own budget, orders his own supplies/parts, and is responsible for having enough busses to cover his routes. If they are short, he “asks the foreman to fix more busses”. No borrowing from other garages!

We couldn’t take pictures without the approval of media relations, which we didn’t seek (yet), so no pictures to share on this one, and it’s hard to remember all the things we saw and spoke about–Dennis was really kind in sharing his time and extensive knowledge with us, and we both appreciate his generosity. For a governmental organization, PAT is really great–they seem really community-focused, responsive and they appear to be making a genuine effort to serve their constituents. Next time you complain about the fair increases, remember this: it really costs PAT ~$13 dollars for your $2.25 ride!