With the meaty heel of a palm resounding against the center of your forehead with a leathery slap, this might strike many of you as particularly astounding advice, but we think it needs to be said: please, please do not mail your $400 iPod to some random Internet stranger proclaiming himself to be an iPod Mechanic. Especially if there isn’t even a phone number on the website.

We’re just reminding you, because reader Scott S. did just that when his 60GB iPod Photo broke and Apple refused to fix it. He picked iPod Mechanic as his go-to guys, happily shipping them his iPod and trusting them to fix it. He also gave them his money. A month later, no fixed iPod: just the dead voice of an automated email messaging service have responded to his concerns that, you know, he might be fucked.

Scott wants to know what he can do. Scott, we can’t find a phone number, so our immediate suggestion would be to call your credit card company, explain the situation and ask them if they have a contact number. If not, hopefully a commenter has some insight. Otherwise, we think you’re probably boned. They’ve gotten a lot of good reviews on the Net, so they aren’t totally fly-by-night, but without any way to contact them, there’s no way to escalate this outside of getting a contact number, waiting it out or bringing it to the attention of the police. We hope you insured that UPS package!

Can any of you guys give some better advice? Scott’s email after the jump.

UPDATE: Sweet sweet resolution! Jump!

I’ve had a nightmare of a time trying to get the screen on my 60GB iPod Photo fixed. Ever since the screen developed a large black spot on it (despite being in a Speck Toughskin case from day one and suffering no particular trauma), I’ve been beating my head against the wall here.

First Apple refused to honor my Applecare agreement even though I was given an RMA number, told in simple terms the unit would be fixed, and sent a shipping box by their CSR. They sent the unit back to me unfixed. Then, when I called to express my surprise at receiving exactly what I’d sent back, the first CSR I talked to said Apple *would* fix the unit under warranty and transferred me. The second CSR said Apple *might* be able to fix the unit under warranty, then transferred me. I held for thirty minutes or more. The “shop” person said “It’s not covered.” So I explained to them that Apple had seen its last dollar from me, ever, and hung up.

Next resort: paying to get the thing fixed. I did some research and found a bunch of third-party repair houses that promise 24-to-48 hour turnaround on screen replacements. Everyone was basically the same price- $149 for my particular iPod- and so I went with iPodmechanic.com because it had good reviews and included two-day UPS shipping in its price. I know that a web-based business with a street address but no phone number and only one email address might seem suspicious, but I noticed that pretty much all of the other third-party shops were in the same boat. And since Apple would have charged considerably more to fix the screen themselves (and I was intending to follow through on my solemn promise), I decided to go for it. So I bought the repair and waited for my shipping label. It took them three days and a reminder email, but I got my label, boxed the unit up, and sent it off.

A couple of days later, just as I was told they would, iPodmechanic sent me an automated email that said they’d received the iPod. Great. So I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

About five or six days after sending the unit, I decided to send an email to the info@ipodmechanic.com address, since it was the only one given anywhere on the site. I had tried to be patient because I was mailing the iPod in over a holiday weekend and figured it might take a bit longer. So I sent a message, and got back the auto-response:

—
Thank you for contacting iPodMechanic.com

Due to an overwhelming response to some of our new services and extra attention in a magazine article, iPod Mechanic is swamped!!!

We’re working as fast as possible to service your needs. We appologize any inconvenience.

Best regards,
iPodMechanic.com Team
—

“Okay, fine,” I said. I’d backed up the iPod’s contents before sending it and I was getting by at the moment, so I decided to wait a little while longer since this business was probably being run by one or two people. I didn’t want to cramp anyone’s style with yuppie-level self-centeredness, after all.

Another week went by. Another email, another auto-response. Wash, rinse, repeat. I piled up several auto-responses in my Gmail thread.

So, now almost a month after sending in the iPod, I went to their website feedback form (which had been the only mechanism by which I’d ever gotten a non-auto response from them, back when my shipping label was late) and threatened to send this story to the Consumerist. Just minutes later, I received a response:

—
Thank you for contacting iPodMechanic.com

Due to an overwhelming response to some of our new services and extra attention in a magazine article, iPod Mechanic is swamped!!!

We’re working as fast as possible to service your needs. We appologize any inconvenience.

Best regards,
iPodMechanic.com Team
—

What next? Have robots or zombies overrun 832 Weaver Ave. in Kalamazoo, Michigan? Whither my brick-weight iPod? My credit card, naturally, was charged several weeks ago.

Thank you for any help or advice you or your readers might be able to offer.

Scott

FOLLOWUP:

Consumerist,

I’m not sure if it was the chargeback threats or the post on the Consumerist that did it, but this morning (6/22) I miraculously received an email indicating that my iPod was being shipped back to me and scheduled to arrive Wednesday the 28th.

We’ll see if I get a brick or just that familiar ol’ brick-weighted chrome block. But I’m glad I haven’t had to get all gumshoe with this impressive reader-gleaned information.

I was prepared to believe that the business is/was an overwhelmed one-man band, but whether you’re Microsoft or Micro-soft, it’s not professional to ignore customers’ sole source of contact with you for a month when you’re simultaneously advertising a 24-hour turnaround.

I consider my lesson learned. I was perhaps a little hasty in trying to seek a “quick fix” for my fallen dream machine after the three-week wild goose chase inflicted on me by Apple.

So, thanks again.

Scott S.