You're absolutely right about the pawn-the-customer-off-on-the-vendor aspect of retail. Further, not only is the Apple store the final stop in the responsibili

You're absolutely right about the pawn-the-customer-off-on-the-vendor aspect of retail. Further, not only is the Apple store the final stop in the responsibility train, Apple does a fantastic job of handling this. I've recently had to deal with a QC issue with my macbook. I travel full time, around the world. I bought the macbook on one continent, took it into an Apple store in another to get it repaired, they examined it and had it back to me in 30 minutes. They replaced one of the parts, but told me that another needed to be replaced as well. Due to visa issues I couldn't leave it with them (as they didn't have the part in at the moment) and left. Months later on a completely different continent, I walked into an Apple store, and handed them my computer. They were aware of everything that happened at the other store, and did the repair at that location. Not only did I not have to wait for my computer to be sent off somewhere to be repaired by some questionable vendor (which is the norm with a lot of Apple's competitors), but they did it on the spot, even though I'd bought the computer in a different country! The Apple store is not only the best support experience going, its also global and homogenous. If I got to tokyo, I know I won't have have any problems because I'm from the US and my computer was bought in europe.