tl;dr: Zagg.com just offered to replace an iPad Mini keyboard that was not clamping on as well as it should have been. Even though the warranty had recently expired, a Zagg tech support person wrote me a detailed email walking me carefully through the process. Now, if the website had been better designed, that email would have been unnecessary, but the help was still welcome.

A little over a year ago, I purchased what Zagg.com calls an “iPad Mini Keyboard Cover & Stand,” which is not really a “Cover” but a cool little add-on keyboard with a hinge clamp that turns my iPad Mini into a tiny laptop.

The keyboard is large enough that I can touch-type on it just fine. Over the past year, the hinge has loosened, and the adhesive that’s supposed to stick what looks like black felt inside the clamp has turned sticky. In order to prevent the tablet from slipping out, I have to keep squeezing the gummed-up felt back inside the clamp, and I get what feels like rubber cement on my fingers.

Zagg does offer a one-year warranty, but when I finally got around to contacting Zagg, I realized I had missed the one-year mark by about a week. That was frustrating, but I thought I’d see whether maybe Zagg would tell me that under the black felt was a screw I could tighten, and then maybe they could recommend some different glue to make the felt stick back into place.

So I called the 1-800 tech support number. The recording urged me to try the website instead. The website provided an email address, so I emailed my woes, and moved onto the next task. The next day I received a helpful response from “Danielle F,” who suggested I request a replacement on the website. I sent a follow-up email, describing where I got stuck on the website, and told myself, “Well, so much for getting a replacement keyboard.”

Not too long after that I got a very detailed email from “Steve N.,” who not only offered to honor the warranty (even though I had missed the deadline by about a week), but wrote seven paragraphs that carefully described every step of the process. Now, maybe those paragraphs were boilerplate that had been written for previous customers, but they were just what I needed. Someone at Zagg worked hard to make sure that I had all the information I needed in order to request a free replacement.

This was after the warranty had expired, mind you. Since I have in the past blogged about bad customer service experiences (all connected to Verizon), it seems only fair to post when I have a good experience.

Thank you, Zagg.