My Flip Saga comes to a close

Earlier this year, I was so excited about my Flip Ultra camcorder. It records up to 60 minutes of video, and has a USB that pops out for instant uploading to any computer or website. I loved it so much, I took it with me on my cruise to Bermuda in August.

Since we'd already planned to go snorkeling on that trip, I also purchased the Flip Underwater case. It was designed to keep the camcorder safe and dry.

Well, you can guess what happened next: it didn't work, and within seconds, my beautiful Flip--and all of the footage I'd taken thus far on my trip--was waterlogged and ruined.

When I got back home, I wrote to the company, Pure Digital Technologies, telling them about what happened. Their response was swift and surprising: they apologized immediately, and asked me to send them both the camera and case to see if they could retrieve the footage and repair the items.

Unfortunately, they weren't able to recover any of the data from the camcorder, but they did replace it with a brand new one. They also promised to send me a new underwater case, but that item has since been discontinued by the company. (I'm guessing it failed once too often!)

Today, I received a check representing a full refund the purchase price of the underwater case, along with a "token of appreciation for your continued patience in waiting for your refund": a mini-tripod for the Flip!

I've certainly had my share of bad customer service experiences in the past, but this was one company that really did right by the customer. If only more companies conducted business the way they do, we might see more consumer confidence these days!