apple store experience
 

So my little brother wanted to buy an iMac, one of the new G5 ones. He ended up going to the local apple store because he wanted to purchase it half with cash and the other half with credit and I guess the apple store said to him over the phone that would be no problem. Where as ordering it online you can't do that, or its hard to do that. Either way...

I get a phone call on my cell while he is up there talking to the sales rep. I answer and he tells me he is getting ready to buy the imac now but wants my opinion on a few things first. I said, okay no problem. He said that the sales rep told him he could no surf the internet unless he purchased iworks. I was baffled and thought my brother had probably just misheard the sales rep. I am the only "tech" person in my immediate family so I get to support them and help them on everything, including hooking up cable TV:rolleyes:

So, I was like are you sure he said that? He puts me on hold and asks the sales rep again. He comes back and says yeah thats what he said. I was shocked and told him iworks was just basically keynote and pages. It has nothing to do with surfing the internet. I then told my brother to just get a quote and I will go up there with him to purchase it.

So, I have been to this apple store like twice, never bought anything just looked around and played with all the cool ipod accessories they had up there. We get a different sales rep this time and he tells my brother that he will not be able to open up certain internet documents without iworks. What in the heck is up with them trying to upsell iworks I was wondering. I also checked out their genius bar (me being apple certified and have been support macs professionally for over 6 years now, and non professionally before that) and listen in on what was going on. There was a lady and a man behind the genius bar, both just plain old mac users and they had to google most of their questions, which I thought were somewhat simple.

so cut this short, I ended up negotiating with the sales rep myself and told him I did not want to make, open, view, or otherwise deal with any kind of presentation software. My brother wants basically three things: Internet, email, and itunes. So the imac out of the box is perfect for what he needs. emac takes up too much space so we ruled that out early on.

Needless to say, I am totally unimpressed with any apple store employee, and I will probably never shop there unless they have some sort of super deal going on.

BTW, I have never really used keynote, but don't most presentations export into like a quick time file? Or at least have that ability? And is there not a keynote reader, like MS has player software so if you don't own MS office you can at least view the files?

Anyone else have an apple store horror story?

I've heard from 2 people that the Apple store tried pushing .Mac as being required for virus protection, I guess because it comes with free Virex, or something. :confused:

.Mac dropped Virex a while ago, didn't they? That would be sad if Apple were herding people to .Mac only for them to find out that there is no virus protection in it.

I have been totally unimpressed with the local Apple Store. I go there to purchase things, but always tell the sales person hawking me to leave me the hell alone. I count myself as lucky I actually have a clue about Macs, as one could really get gouged there. AFAIK, the employees are pushed to push their sales for crap like .Mac and iWorks. I don't think they have much choice.. it's the retail equivalent of "Publish or Perish".

Don't get me started on the "Genius Bar". Apparently my definition and Apple's definition of the word "Genius" do not co-incide. At all. Nor are they even close.

But I still must shop there. It's simply faster for me to get it locally, as opposed to having to order it online. And other places that carry Apple stuff (CompUSA) are much to far away..

I never, ever trust salesman. I do my own research and buy accordingly. I am the go-to guy for most tech equipment. Trying to upsell iWorks as needed to do "X" is illegal and should be reported to management. If management told the salesman to say that, he should be reported to Apple. If it was Apple's idea, they better reverse that in a hurry, otherwise, there could be reprocutions.

BTW, I have never really used keynote, but don't most presentations export into like a quick time file? Or at least have that ability? And is there not a keynote reader, like MS has player software so if you don't own MS office you can at least view the files?

Yes, both PowerPoint and Keynote export to Quicktime; they also export as jpg, png and other image types if one wants to make a web slideshow (PowerPoint will do it all for you). No web Keynote viewer that I know of; I don't even think there's anything for PowerPoint any more -- could be wrong on that one.

I loath the hawking salesperson too. My response to "can I help you find anything?" is "No thanks, I enjoy the challenge".

There are no Apple Stores in Maine yet, so I have to go to the North Shore/Peabody store in Massachusetts to get a hands on look at anything. I too do my research before I buy anything... LOTS of research. I walked into the Apple Store and was confronted by 4 sales people - at once. I immediately felt the "salesperson overwhelm", but I decided that it would be difficult to blow off four of 'em at once and that I should just declare my intentions. I told them that I was looking for a case for my iPod which was already in one of those clear hard cases. "A case for a case?! There's no such thing!" replied the cockiest one. "... Yes, there is." I replied. I went over to the iPod aisle and pointed out three, one of which I had already looked into, and turned out to work perfectly. Needless to say, it was quite awkward from that point forward... especially because he was "stationed" on the iPod aisle and didn't politely back off.

Not only that, but while I was browsing, I overheard many of the other interactions the sales people were having with other customers; most of the questions had to be referred to the "One Who Knows More". That poor girl, she had to walk across the room a dozen times for only a few customers!

I think I've mentioned that I sold Macs at one point, but I wasn't in a Mac store (I was in a college book store), nor did I work on commission. Though I did almost get fired once for telling someone they could get a better deal somewhere else on a PC laptop (it was a little old lady, what was my boss expecting?)

I feel sorry for these mac sales people if they a) don't know what they're selling and b)have to do it for commission. I know that 'a' there sounds odd, but you have to understand, not everyone has the time to learn every nock and cranny of every last little apple product in the store. I spent half of my time saying "no idea, but here are some websites you could find out the answer on."

In correlation to that, always ALWAYS do your research before you go in. And, make sure you find the "one who knows more" and only ask them questions. If anyone else approaches you, ask for knowledgeable one. I've found that having the smart employee with me tends to fend off all the...um...less informed.

I couldn't even get to touch a mac at the Apple store in Birmingham! Let alone talk to anyone..... I went in 6 months after it originally opened and it was full of kids (with they very humorus birmingham accent) touching up the iPod nanaos, Mac Mini's and G5's. From the outside it looked like they were doing a Guiness book of records attempt to see how many kids they could squeeze in an Apple store.

I went to the Apple shop in Regent's St., when I visited the UK mid-year and the overall experience was OK.

The Genius bird wasn't much of a Genius but the bloke I got a week later was quite good and even prepared to discuss the logic board issue of the then new PBs, even though it was clearly corporate policy to deny it.

Don't ask about books. Clueless is an understatement.

All the show machines were occupied by people checking their email for free, so it was quite tough to demo a machine if you were one of the few people actually there to buy.

Everyone wearing a black top and iPod Shuffle was a tad clonish and the sales manager was London-Rude because my credit card wasn't issued in the UK. But the experience was still quite good. Maybe I was overwhelmed by all that Apple stuff in front of me but the sales bods were not very pushy, quite knowledgeable and reasonably courteous.

The seminar-like presentations in the auditorium were good but basic, even for a newbie like me - trying to convert Windows users was my impression but helpful nonetheless.

Gavin

The Apple Store in Boston, MA is like a museam. Most people go in to oogle the Apple products.

Visiting the Tokyo Apple store is exactly the opposite salesman experience. All salesmen here have "English-allergy", even the ones in the back street markets. The white guys don't have more money than anyone else, and it takes 5 times as long, so just ignore them....
When I do want to talk to someone, I practically have to corner them with commando-style moves. Service? Too much, not too little. I once needed a foot for an iBook: "Please bring your machine in and we will be happy to replace it for you, this is a free Apple Store Service."
'Scuse me guys: a) Ginza is a long way from the office b) it's a snap-in rubber foot, not a CPU c) I've already waited half an hour to be told 'no' and d) I'm quite happy to pay $1 for the $.02 plastic foot as it costs $8 to get here. After 20 minutes of torturing them with bad japanese negotiating I left with the small bump of plastic. iMac clock battery? No way, no how, not in this lifetime. $7 plus $110 service charge. Available at all other Mac parts stores in Tokyo in a baggie.

However, the one westerner at the genius bar does know his stuff.

Wow, I guess we're lucky. There are two stores in the Phoenix area, and we love going to them because it's always a very positive experience. While they may not know everything, the sales people don't push anything and provide good guidance.

I do have to say that the Genius bar experience is a little disappointing, but I only go in to discuss very difficult issues. They do try though. And on the specialty video side, I've received a lot of excellent help with Final Cut Studio Pro.

Our local mall store is full of kids on Friday evenings and Saturdays; it's become a bit of a social hangout. I don't see that as much of a bad thing.

New apple store in birmingham is brilliant. Went in on opening day and the staff are brilliant.

As one staff member said "I'm not here to sell the products - they sell themselves."

Spent 3.5 hours in there talking to the staff mainly (The Genius's were very impressed with my idea of writing on my powerbook with a pencil instead of using a sticky!) And have to go back this friday to pick my powerbook up from repair (Reed switch has failed)

I think I know where I want to spend most of my time these days now :)

30" Screens rock! (Until you look at the price!)

I guess Apple stores should have a "results may vary" disclaimer.

Okay, I'll bite.
What do you mean by "writing on my powerbook with a pencil"???

Yeah what does that mean?

I took it to mean that he writes notes on the metal in pencil then he can erase it when he doesn't need it. I do this too. works well. great for just jotting down things.

Yeah, that freaks people out.

Today I told someone that the computer would read it and turn it into a Word document. He bought it.

In 1994, Sun Microsystems made a video prototype called "Starfire" of what they thought computer systems might look like in 2004.
One feature was automatic scanning of items put against the screen (which sloped down to have a horizontal desk-like portion). The video shows one sequence where the user accidentally scans the sandwich that she had put on the desk.
You can download this (230 MB, 14 minute) video via the link on the Starfire page:
http://www.asktog.com/starfire/starfireHome.html

Which ones? I know of the Biltmore.....but thats the only one i know of. (I live in Peoria btw)

Chandler Mall, which is at the intersection of the 101 and Chandler Blvd. Pretty much the other side of the planet from you.

I used to drive 45 minutes to the Apple store in Austin, TX to just hang out and socialize with the rest of the Apple crowd. It's cool the way the store is almost like a social club. People are mellow and just hang out. Most of the employees are faily knowledgable about the products. Probably because most are comp sci majors at the Univ. of TX.

I was happy when I heard San Antonio, TX (my town) was getting an Apple store - 3x the size of the Austin - Barton Creek store, but the atmosphere is totally different. The employees are either too eager or too laissez faire, laissez passer, so when I do have a question I either can't find someone or I find someone with an attitude.

The crowd is the biggest difference. The San Antonio store is located in a very up-scale shopping center. Most of the clientele on the weekends are wealthy people from Mexico who caravan up to the states to drop serious money on the most riduculous things.

So now, even though I've got a huge Apple store in my own city, I'm still driving up to Austin to hang out with the real Mac enthusiasts.

I think that's somewhat like I've found at our local stores. The Biltmore Centre is a yuppie idiot-fest, and the store there isn't as interesting as the one in Chandler, where normal people live.

You can valet park at the Biltmore store; that should be warning enough.

hmm

maybe apple markets their stores differently according to location.

My local store is in the plaza, where the rich yuppies of KC dwell. Expensive department stores and high class resturaunts. The apple store is smack down in the middle and it sucks.

I wonder if Yellow's is the same? I wonder if all the sucky apple stores are because of they have to deal with yuppie rich idiots and maybe you have to treat them differently?

The Emeryville, CA, store is fairly high pressure. I've been in there several times with clients, and no matter what we get they want us to buy MORE! And they take their time explaining exactly why we should get more. If we say we don't want more of this then they say what about more of that. It's rare to get out of there in less than an hour.

The best experience was one day when a client and I were in a hurry. The store wasn't busy so we got a sales person right away. I said, "We'd like a 15 inch Powerbook to go, no mustard, no mayo." The sales person understood exactly what I meant, went back and got a base model Powerbook 15" and rang it up. No fuss, no muss, no extra sales pitches. We were out of there with the Powerbook in well under 1/2 hour. The client was both amused at what I said and amazed at how well it worked.

Yikes.

I've had the complete opposite experience at my local Apple Store, in the Palisades Mall in NY.

It's just very relaxed in there, people usually don't bother you unless you are staring at an iPod like you don't know it's supposed to play music.

I've tried to get a job there for the past two summers, but sadly they didn't even call me back.

As far as knowledge goes, I haven't had much experience with the Apple Geniuses, but the salespeople there are kind of lacking. I remember how appalled i was when i went in there the day after the switch to Intel was announced, and one salesman had no idea the announcement -- or the keynote -- had even occurred the previous day.

Wow, thats nuts. At least I have a good enough connection with some local computer stores where I can call them up, in advance, have them put whatever item on hold, then I can just go pay for it at their will call. No fuss, no hassle, no sales rep

I just had a great experience at the Apple Store, with one exception that's irritating me.

I brought my wife's iMac in for what turned out to be a bad power supply and subsequently damaged mother board. We routinely leave them on 24/7 and on New Year's Eve we came home in the early afternoon to find her system off. She started it with no problem, but a few minutes later noticed a funny smell. I called Apple and they said it was out of warranty. I had bought it for her for Christmas last year, so it's just a few weeks past warranty, and it wasn't one of those covered under the extended coverage plan that Apple has for some early iMacs.

When I brought it to the store, I waited my turn and the guy who examined the machine informed me that the repair would be covered under warranty even though it had expired! It's going to take nearly a week, but I'm happy.

So what's the one exception? I had to wait about half an hour for service. That wouldn't be bad at all, except that the guy in line ahead of me was there with an iPod that he said "wouldn't connect" with his PC! When I left, they were still working on this guy's system. They started off by connecting the iPod to a Mac, which of course, recognized it. What that tells me is: the iPod works and the PC doesn't, so go get your PC fixed, SOMEWHERE ELSE. Did they tell him that? No. They set about trying to fix his PC. They had made good progress by the time I left too. They had found the conflicting software, were transferring songs to the iPod, and were going to do more tests on his PC.

Now, I know what you're thinking. They were providing good service, and you're right. The thing is though, that I, and others were there with Macs that needed service and the place was very busy. I just don't think a PC guy should get more PC service at the Apple Store than he can get from the place he bought the PC. That's especially true when there are Mac users who need help.

Plus, I just knew it was going to be the PC's problem as soon as I saw the laptop. :D

He he, good point cwtnospam. What I wonder is how much they charged him. Obviously the PC is not covered under AppleCare in the least...

Ouch! That bytes! ;)

My Apple Store is in the Galleria Mall in Houston, TX which is definitely a yuppie rich idiot store. So far, I haven't had any problems with them either way. It's certainly not a place to hang out, but it's not pushy either. It's more or less middle of the road.

Usually, when I go there, I know exactly what I'm going to get so there's really no need for me to ask any questions. I just tell them that I want this or that, and they get it for me. I have asked a few basic questions which they've been able to answer easily enough. When I bought my PowerBook, I knew I wanted the 15" and before I could tell them I wanted to add extra memory, the salesrep told me of the option of the 15" with the extra memory and larger hard drive. Sold. That was easy.

I have used the Genius Bar once, but, again, it was for a very simple issue. I kept blowing my iPod earphones and kept buying more. After blowing through 4 sets and having 2 replaced (just because that's what I had on me when I bought my G5), I decided to stop using the Apple earphones and get the Shure E5c's which have served me very well (I bought those online, not at the Apple Store). The Apple Store did take back some other earphones I had purchased through Apple online which was passed the 10-day return period, but I think they felt obligated to do so since I was dropping some big bucks at the time for my G5 and accessories. Otherwise, I don't know if they would have been so accommodating.

I have, at times, asked the salesreps if they can think of anything I might need that I've forgotten, but they never can think of anything so I usually just get whatever I came for. No pushing of extra products. The only thing they try to push is the extended warranty, but they take my "no thanks" pretty easily enough.

Basically, I find the Apple Store to be just like the online Apple Store, but faster. I know what I want, walk in, get it, and walk out happy. :)

I love the Apple store in Rockaway NJ its right in the mall and opened to anyone. All the items are one display so you can try them out and mess with them. But I went down there on a couple days after christmas. I had a question about my white iBook G3. I walked up to the counter and the employee asked " Can I help you." I asked him a couple questions about the Airport and some other networking questions, every time I asked him a question he had to go ask someone else that was working there. What this leads up to is that I think all the Apple Store employees that work at there should at least know a good amount of knowledge about the computers

Every time I go into the Apple store I generally know exactly what I want, so my experience with the employees has been pretty minimal. I went to the Genius Bar once last year to get a replacement foot for my iBook, which happened to be right on the battery. Since they were out of feet for my iBook they just gave me an entirely new battery, which was definitely cool after one year of use.

My complaint isn't really about the Apple store, it's about their policy of replacing out of warranty parts. Two examples. The power supply in my Quicksilver had a dying fan. Since the Quicksilver was long out of warranty (I never buy warranties for desktops), they would not even sell me a new power supply without looking at the machine first. Secondly, they would not let me install the power supply myself, and insisted on charging an installation fee. I forget the exact figure (this was about a year ago), but the price was outrageous (above $200 easily). The solution was to go to a local Mac reseller and buy the part from them, then give them the old PSU. The whole fiasco took a few days to be resolved.

The situation was similar for a CPU fan. However I didn't even bother calling the Apple store this time. I placed an order for the replacement at the local reseller and then hacked together a 'good enough' replacement with a similar fan from CompUSA (it had 3 wires -- one to control the speed instead of the Quicksilver's two; I had to splice the old connector on) while I waited for it to arrive.

The thing is, if I owned a vanilla PC these would have been insanely minor issues. That's the only thing I hate about being a Mac user. As for the iBook I'm using now, its 3 years of Applecare expires this summer, and you best believe I'll be selling it before then, since I know I will be raped for any out of warranty replacements.

Hopefully that will change when it all goes x86. I used to work for an AASP and I had so many similiar clients as you. If you were competent enough to install your own out of warranty parts I didn't care. I would do a direct parts order from apple, and then cross ship it to my client. They paid me, I made money (from mark up) off the part and everyone was happy. However, I do see some clients that I would not sell parts direct too, just because they would probably srew it up themselves and then it would all fall back on me. However, for the most part I would always order the part for the client.

Unfortunately, it's not easy to tell who can and who cannot do their own repair work. I run into this frequently when I try to buy computers or computer parts. They see a middle aged, stay-at-home Mom type of person, and they think I must not know a damn thing about computers when, in truth, I generally know more about them than they do.

It gets even more frustrating when I'm trying to get something simple for a Mac (like a fan) and I'm in a computer parts store, and they have the ignorance to tell me "they don't carry Macintosh fans." Ugh! As IF Macs use some kind of strange electricity? I try my best to not mention that I'm buying something for a Mac unless the part is Mac specific.

Back when I was working for IBM and had to run PCs for programming, I wanted to either spec out my PC or build my own so I could ensure that the parts inside were what I wanted. But when I went into my favorite geek store, the guy who ran up to me to help me, instantly directed me to the slowest and cheapest components possible, thinking I wouldn't know the difference, wouldn't know what to do with any of it, and/or wouldn't have a desire/need for anything better. Needless to say, he did not get my business.

If the judgment is done after speaking with the person to determine their level of knowledge, then that's okay (I have a habit of asking questions that I already know the answer to just to determine if the other person has a clue or not). Unfortunately, I find all too often people judge only by whether you look like their pre-conceived mold or not.

Vicki,

I can usually tell if a person is competent enough right off the bat. It is just how they talk to me. There are key things that set it off, like when they ask, "Okay how do I install this?" or "Do think that could be the only problem?" If someone has troublehsooted their problem down to a defective part they usually tell me their troubleshooting steps. On certain systems like imacs and emacs are not as easy and apple laptops are probably the hardest laptops to work on over all other laptops.

I understand your frustration, but you need to realize that when it back fires it comes right back to the person who sold them the part. If someone absolutly persists on me ordering them a part I make sure they realize there are no refunds or returns for any damage they do themselves. Even when i state that people still don't understand and still want to bring it back to me like it was my fault to begin with.

Here is a scenerio I ran into about 2 or so years ago.

Guy brings me in an ibook in a cardboard box. It is in pieces almost completely apart. he wants me to take out the old hard drive and put in a bigger one. He said he was IT for his company and gave me his business card, and stated he did not have time to do the install because of other obligations. I was like, "okay i'll do it but I cannot guarantee it is going to work because you brought me the system in pieces." He agreed and dropped it off. After I looked at it, I noticed that he had taken the whole thing apart up until the point where you have to remove the hidden screw under the little magnent which was under the keyboard. He obviously overlooked it, and was not experienced enough to do the job. Long story short, I get it apart (ibooks require almost complete disassembly to replace a HD, which is dumb IMHO) upgrade the Hd and it all works with one small exception. The powerbutton is kind of sticky. It works but you had to wiggle the power button, something they did on disassembly that made it janky. Long story short I was blamed and he was mad and I told him that is how it goes since he is responsible for the damage. Long story short I ended up calming him down and it was okay. He was IT and was experienced but he was still incapable.

Agreed under that situation, tlarkin. I wasn't thinking in lines of someone handing over their computer for repairs, but someone just asking for a part -- already determined (part number, name, etc.) -- and being unable to find someone to simply get the part due to their own incompetence, not mine.

Having to ask a guy how can a fan tell whether it's in a Mac or PC and watching his face screw up as he contemplates the answer is a bit frustrating. I just wanted the fan. No guarantees involved whatsoever (as long as the fan actually worked when you gave it power).

I think we're talking apples and oranges, though (pardon the pun! :D). You're thinking of a service desk while I'm thinking of a retail store with some kid who thinks just because I'm a woman, I can't possibly know what I'm doing. I certainly don't know it all (as evident with my questions here!), but if I walk in and ask for a part, I should be given equal opportunity to purchase that part as the next person, be they a man or woman.

In the 21 years I have owned computers, both PCs and Macs, I don't remember ever having to drop my computer off at a service desk. I honestly prefer to do the work myself. I might not always know what I'm doing when I start, but I take care in my work and I'm capable of learning. However, I must admit that I may draw the line when it comes to tearing apart my PowerBook should the day come when it needs to be repaired.

I know, no one can know everything vicki, its cool:cool:

Really and in all honesty if you fully understand that I am not responsible for any mess ups and that there is no refund on the part and only a 90 day exchange warranty, then I will order you parts.