A few weeks before the trip to Thailand, I realised it was time to address the ailing battery in my 3G iPod. It was lasting around an hour on a full charge, clearly not long enough to keep me entertained on the 12-hour flight.

Apple charge £69 plus shipping to replace the battery, which seemed a little steep, but nevertheless I had the iPod picked up from the office, and waited.

Two weeks later, I still hadn’t heard a thing. The holiday was drawing uncomfortably close. And then the phone call.

“Mr Price. We’ve diagnosed your iPod, and found that there’s a fault with the hard drive. That’ll be an extra £169 plus VAT if you want us to continue with the repair.

That puts the total bill at about £250, whereas a brand new 30Gb iPod Video costs less than £200. Not an attractive deal.

I argue, for what seems like weeks, that the hard drive was working perfectly when it was picked up by the courier, and that surely any damage must be down to either the courier or Apple’s techs. No joy.

With less than a week remaining until my flight, I bite the bullet. I tell Apple that I won’t be paying for the repair, and log onto Amazon to buy a new iPod. I plump for the 60Gb iPod Video in the end, and it arrives just in the nick of time – 3 days before I fly.

It’s a fantastic bit of kit, and the video quality is surprisingly good. Displaying the album artwork is a nice touch, although like an idiot I spend hours manually retrieving the artwork for my albums when free software exists to automate the process.

Then on the morning of the flight, I get an email out of the blue from Apple:

Your IPOD (40 GB WITH DOCK CONNECTOR) passed our diagnostic tests and we have installed any appropriate software or firmware updates. Because it is working as expected, we will return it to you rather than sending you a replacement.

But… But they said it needed a new hard drive! And I know it needed a new battery! What on earth is going on?

About two hours before I left from the airport, a courier arrived with a package from Apple. Having already spent £285 on an iPod Video, I knew that there could be nothing in the box that would please me. A broken iPod would annoy me, a repaired iPod would annoy me, the wrong iPod would annoy me, and an empty box would certainly annoy me (although I wouldn’t be entirely surprised). I leave the box sealed, to be dealt with when I return.

Five days into the holiday, my new iPod Video freezes up half-way through playing a song. I try to reboot it with no joy. I wait for the battery to discharge, and get nothing but a black screen with the Apple logo. Seems almost as if the hard drive’s come unattached (or seized up). My trawling of various official and unofficial websites suggest that it’s broken. Brilliant.

I get back to the UK with my dead iPod Video, and package it up to be returned to Amazon (fortunately we’re within 30 days of purchase) for a full refund while I investigate the original iPod, still sealed in the courier’s box.

I open it up, and it’s working perfectly. Except the battery still only lasts an hour or so. The hard drive, incidentally, is working perfectly.

I search eBay for “ipod battery” and buy a 50% more powerful replacement battery for £8.50, which I then fit myself (takes about 10 minutes).

Moral: don’t trust Apple’s service department further than you can comfortably spit them.

I will eventually upgrade to an iPod Video. When I do, I think I’ll sign up for AppleCare. Until then though, my old faithful 3G unit (with its awesome 18-hour uber-battery) will do just fine for now…