Expectations exceeded

Missions Statements and corporate intent posters are forever blathering on about "exceeding customer expectations," or sometimes it's "over-delivering on". Not something I take much notice of, as usually none of these companies bother to find out what their customers expect, anyway.

Recently, however, I really have had my expectations exceeded, and, boy, does it feel good! A classic example of how a company can right wrongs and then some.

Back in November, Apple recalled its first generation iPod nano, due to a potential flaw in the battery. Annoyingly, this is probably the only gadget in the field of consumer electronics where I've ever been an early adopter in my life - I've had the thing for about 6 years.

I dutifully dug it out and went through Apple's complicated recall policy instructions. OK, the instructions were not so complicated, but it was all a bit of a faff. The packaging didn't turn up when it was meant to, all emails were of the "no reply" variety, a visit to the Apple Store scored a zero on the helpful scale - I began to think I was dealing with PayPal.

But...the arrival this week of a sparkly new clip-on iPod Touch with a massive 8 GB (the old thing was 2 GB, I think), which was immediately grabbed hold of and pronounced as "coo-el" by my 11-year-old more than made up for all that.

Apple, you have exceeded this customer's expectations. Thanks!