I’ve been in a strange mood all weekend. Then it hit me. i don’t think i’ve ever had a totally satisfying customer service experience in an emergency until last Friday.

It’s common. Those Iphone  screens crack or shatter with regularlity. As yet another profit center the Apple stores recently started fixing them for $199 on a walk in basis. that means it’s easy, but at that rate you’re almost getting a new phone.

I thought i’d try to avoid a trip to the Promenade and see if i could get it cheaper. I had a similar experience to the NYC blogger. I found kits  for under $30 but the howto video required a suction cup, double sided tape, a heat gun(?) \ and a razor blade, not to mention ordering this kit by mail. Would have quickly been more than  $199 in phone replacement.

There are also tons of  mail off places and i’m sure they ‘re fine, but i wasn’t sending it off  and riskiign it all to save $40 or soemthing.  Last attempt was a local search.

It uncovered  Ifixnow.com. if I’d been ready then he would have had me over.  800 number. Takes appointments, Says repairs take 20 minutes. Took under 20 minutes. Phone returned fixed , cleaned and with one of those peel off protectors that made it feel like a virgin, though obviously still ATT.

 So if it happens to you in LA–particularly on the west side  or near LAX– definitely try out this service reachable online or toll free at 888-998-0777. It’s a one-man show out of a perfectly fine apartment in MarVista

i literally can’t remember ever feeling the urge to write a review like this but it had promise, delivery,  service and professionalism, value, and speed in the comfortable living room –which as advertised let me "Enjoy FREE refreshments and internet while we repair your iPod Touch or iPhone".

He — and i wish i could remember his name — was even conscious even the perception of  privacy making sure i had the Sim card out when i went to take a walk. 90 day guarantee. A nicely designed business card with  20% offer for a friend or next time.

Why can’t the cable, dishwasher, plumbing, gardening, car repair, doctors, vets, and everyone else figure this out. Set clear expectations that are  desireable, live up to them. Charge a fair price that rewards them without leaving the customer feeling like an idiot.

i’m not use to feeling limerant about a customber service thing . ( Actually not so limerant about much in a while but to be expected and make this all the better.)

i see now he takes mail in’s as well. I nixed that idea out of obvious concerns. While i can’t vouch for the man,having known him fewer than 20 minutes, my feeling onthe whole thing was if you can’t easily get it done near you , arrange to send it to him through the site for overnight.

After the guy who re-did the shower and another who hauled away the junk, Craigslist served up the recent-immigrant entrepreneur whose team cleaned and shampooed the rugs. He doesn’t know where that list came from or who this Craig is, but "I don’t waste my money on the other places anymore. I stopped every one." Not a single ad in newspapers, yellow pages, penny savers, or Yahoo Local like he used to. He gets more calls, almost all from the better-off with more computers. And that’s fine by him. As is the cost. He doesn’t think much of the prospects for newspapers going forward. Does a good job too.

And finally, a business-travel lifehack that’s made my life better…Since about a year ago, if I am in a city for more than a few days with work to do, first thing I buy a used CRT monitor off Craigslist. I send off 3-5 emails when i hit town and usually get a quick response. The longest took 5-6 hours. They’re about 1/10th the cost asked by retail rental services, and these monitors are conveniently all over town rather than in a single store. Here’s the rss feed for monitors under $100 in NY.

I acquired one after a late flight, when it was hard to get a cab but a seller responded in minutes. I was back at my hotel, set up, and revising notes for a morning meeting within 20 minutes. There’s always a choice of 17" and 19" models, ranging from "come and get them" to "$35". And I’ve been lucky to find always find them blocks or a quick cab from my where i’m staying. Most laptops support extended desktop mode, so even a 15" doubles your work area. Twice, I got a full size keyboard thrown in when i asked if they had one for sale. (You can also get them new for under $10 in discount stores.). And when i leave….
Then I just abandon them. I just check out. I leave them in the room. **
It feels wrong. I’ve offered a last gasp of life to those beasts that will never be allowed on my desk at home again. Hotels won’t hold them for others because they really are big and ugly. The maids don’t want them, nor could they get a 1000 pound monitor out without some management rule kicking in. I’ve offered them back to sellers saying I’d leave the monitor for pick up at the front desk. But even with assurances that i’m not looking for a refund, they admit they don’t ever want to see the things again.

I even tried to ignite an entrepreneurial flame in one seller, promising i’d rent one every time if he’d deliver and pickup. And i assured him there were clearly others like me. He wasn’t having it. Maybe someone else out there can make that work. Othewise, I’ll keep doing this until they’re gone.
**ASIDE (Tip): I have learned to leave a note taped to the screen so you don’t get off the plane to messages on every number you have from the concierge, proudly assuring you that your precious equipment is safe and will be shipped off and billed to your credit card. I did head that off.

cc attribution license pics. By Flickr members: southernpixel, endlisnis, and akubba

…with full audience participation.

…and it’s not as bad as that sounds.

• An overview of BarCampLA in David Markland’s video log from blogging.la

Like the blogosphere, simple tools that work, ostensibly polite people with an obsession or three to share, conversations with faster comments, real asides and trackbacks, blog stalkers, climbers and celebs.
Posts, or presentations, ranged from 1st grade art class (pic: Cody Simms, kid’s allright) to seriously alpha-geek visions for things i hadn’t considered. Also a young guy’s fleshed out plan for a tv network, the launch of a new non-profit, Bloggingforgood, (not too late to join), and Jason Calacanis‘ critique of 10 overblown digital entities in 15 minutes, with the audience as his geek chorus yelling “Bullshit”.

• Tons of Flickr pics

And to round up: the content was better than you’d expect, if not as varied as the blogosphere. A lawyer and a Microsoft evangelist business blogged, a Scottish dude in kilt podcasted through, a Franklin Covey-hating dominatrix (and certified hypnotist/life coach ) prostelytized for the cult of Getting Things Done, Belkin came thorugh with a pile of free powerstrips…and somehow, though it seems impossible, I didn’t hear a single reference to the Oscar’s all day.

Thanks for organizing, Ian.

Am thinking about my share. If anyone wants to collaborate, drop me a comment or some mail. michaeljgoff (#at#) gmail