A 'hidden cost' of being a pro Locked

I didn't expect this transistion to be as much a pain has it has turned out to be. Hence my post. You just never know what you may run into sometimes.
I have no idea where there is an apple store - none in my county and haven't seen any in a mall (been to 6 in the area, 2 of them an hour away). So they may be out there someplace...
PC? Been using them since 1983, DOS 1.1. Know them well, have sold them, built them in the past. It was a hobby in the 90s and before.
Knowing a few things can save one a ton of time and money. Be that on computers or home repair or car repair. I can do a brake job on my car in less time that it takes you to even get to a repair location. and for 10% of the cost.
I quit building PCs because it wasn't worth it - it's better in many ways to buy a machine ready to go.
I called ZT, had a person within perhaps 5 minutes. 20 minutes on the phone and he identified it as likely a bad Mobo - but authorizing that was above his paygrade. Within an hour I had been called back. It was 5:15 pm...I wanted to go home even if the tech guy said he could have warranty call me before 6. They called today at 10:30 and the MoBo was to ship today.
Really can't ask for better response than that. I also have free lifetime tech support. And I never had to leave my office, burn my gas, wait in line at a store the week before christmas trying to get waited on by someone that isn't temp help for the holidays!

--
Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success. -Henry Ford