Mood: Pretty good
Listening to: Requiem Mass - Mozart
Reading: The Times

I thought I'd just share my victory with all my good DeviantART buddies.

Ok, so, I'll try and keep this brief.

March 2005, Dad goes to Dubai. I ask him to bring me back some Gold bullion since it's dirt cheap over there, but he refuses, so I request he gets me a (at that time) top of the range iPod.

He comes back with a 4th Gen 40GB iPod (Top of the range at that time). I'm D

June 2005, after nothing that could be regarded as exceptionally heavy use, the iPod breaks. I sort of figure out it's an issue with the HDD inside, because all you can hear is this awful whirring noise as it tries to spin. Anyway, I get into contact with my local authorised Apple dealer, and get (what I believe to be) a brand new iPod sent to me.

October 2005, iPod breaks again. This time it's not a disk issue, but a battery issue. I'm lucky if I get more than 10 minutes play out of it. Now, this wasn't a problem that slowly creeped up like others describe - this happened overnight. One day, I get a good 6 hours play out of it, the next, Oh no, 10 minutes. (Yes, it was charged before anyone suggests I just had a broken charger or something like that) Also, I had the nice folder icon that other people may have had. Oh, and the apple support site was a load of help! (N.B. Sarcasm).

[link]

Anyway, get in contact with the Apple dealer again, and get sent another brand new iPod.

January 2006, iPod once more breaks. This time, it just refuses to turn on at all. Not for 10 minutes, not only to hear a whirling clinking sound, and then give me the sad iPod face, not for a second. I send back, and get sent another new one.

April 2006 (N.B. just out of warranty), iPod is again, broken. I get the lovely Sad iPod face this time. To start with it was intermittent between turning on and giving me the face, but now it's just the face. I phone Apple and they promptly say "Sorry Sir, but there's nothing we can do. It's out of warranty". Anyway. I get pissy, send an email, and decide to phone again - this time with a well structured argument.

Long story short, after an hour long rant, they agreed to replace my 40GB 4th Gen B&W iPod with a brand new 60GB Colour iPod.

At first, I wasn't satisfied. I wanted a refund so I could take my Dad's money, and get a decent iPod. Then, I looked on eBay, and saw that 60GB's are selling for about £250, which is £10 more than was paid for the original iPod.

Chuffed