My last apple store experience in Indianapolis goes something like this. Was approached by a young person with an ipad inquiring how he might help. I told him I was buying a macbook pro for my wife. He asked us to wait by the macbook pro's (an undescribed, random area of our choosing) until some unidentified person could come assist. By the way, they weren't that busy. After some 10 minutes of waiting I reapproached the young person bearing an ipad as to when we might be helped. I was informed there were 6 people ahead of me and it might be 15 minutes. We decided to go to Best Buy and bought the macbook pro in less than 5 minutes.
Ok, so I just have to say, this bonus, of untold millions should translate to good customer service before it's actually paid. This isn't an isolated experience for me at the Indianapolis store and normally I just buy online. I think they have a problem with their retail strategy and common courtesy. Trust me here and I'm being charitable.
I had a similar experience at the Glendale store. I wanted to buy an iPad Smart Cover and was checking how much it was compared to buying from a store where I live in the UK.
I was approached by a guy in a blue shirt and he asked if I needed help, I told him what I was doing and he just had a blank expression on his face. After looking I decided to get one and he said that they are over in the corner, I asked him if I see him to pay.
He said he would wait and help with the transaction. So I walked all the way to the other side of the store and went back to where he was, but he had disappeared and was talking to the guy who greets you when you walk in, when I went to him he wandered off to another customer at the iPods.
So I went back to the middle of the store and stood to see who was available. I then decided to try the EasyPay on my phone, which I couldn't see how to do it and requested help through my phone to see how long it would take for someone to find me.
After 5mins a guy in a black shirt came to me to help me with the EasyPay, only to find out I had to change my Apple ID location from UK to US. He said it would be quicker for him to do the transaction on his iPhone PoS.
His helpfulness made up for the other guy.
I don't have an official Apple store where I live and after watching the keynotes and hearing how they are the best experience in retail, I wanted to see how it worked.