Anyone else have a really bad Apple store experience?

[jdcrow711]

I have been to three Apple stores in the past week a total of 5-6 times and have had some really bad experiences. As much as I love Apple and their products it seems that some of the current employees are not as well trained in the product line as they used to be.

1. Apple Store employee informed my mother's friend the base Macbook was not a good buy and she should get a higher up the line model because the base model did not have upgradable RAM.
2. Apple Store employee informed me that iPod Touch sold would come with 2.0
3. Apple Store employee told me the Vibrate/Ring rocker switch was for Airplane mode
4. Apple Store employee told me the 3G dock came with an extra USB cable

Yes -- All of those were false. Is this an anomaly or are the employees not quite what they used to be?

 

[Muncher]

Find another nearby Apple store? Maybe that store just has a higher than average percentage of idiots.

 

[26139]

Nope

They've gone downhill. As a long time Apple fan and former retail employee, I can attest that popularity has NOT done Apple all that well.

There are plenty of great employees but far too many bad ones. I do think, that on the whole, it's still much better than any other retail store out there (head and shoulders above other electronic stores).

Good luck. Next time ask for a manager.

 

[cromwell64]

I definitely agree that as Apple's popularity has grown, the overall knowledge and competency of the Apple store staff has waned.

 

[skye12]

I find the apple stores (the seven I've been to) to be a wonderful experience and find the employee's VERY informed.

You won't find another company's employees even half as competent as those
in an Apple store and you know it. Stop whining and being critical of every
mistake someone makes.

I am so tired of this consumer holier than thou attitude. Apple should
just throw certain people out and say go buy someone else's product.

 

[26139]

I find the apple stores (the seven I've been to) to be a wonderful experience and find the employee's VERY informed.

You won't find another company's employees even half as competent as those
in an Apple store and you know it. Stop whining and being critical of every
mistake someone makes.

I am so tired of this consumer holier than thou attitude. Apple should
just throw certain people out and say go buy someone else's product.

They're not ALL competent, but I agree with your idea of tossing some people out. There's a much higher percentage of idiot customers than idiot employees.

 

[cromwell64]

I find the apple stores (the seven I've been to) to be a wonderful experience and find the employee's VERY informed.

You won't find another company's employees even half as competent as those
in an Apple store and you know it. Stop whining and being critical of every
mistake someone makes.

I am so tired of this consumer holier than thou attitude. Apple should
just throw certain people out and say go buy someone else's product.

Really? I'm sorry but this a complete load of bull*****. Sure, Apple's retail store employees tend to be more competent and better informed about their products than any other electronics store, but that does not mean that they are all competent. Many that I have encountered are obviously fans of Apple products but knew very little about the product they were supposed to be selling. This reflects poorly, and seems to be happening more frequently as Apple's popularity grows, which is completely understandable. This idea though of a "consumer holier than thou attitude" that you are sick of is so hilarious because in the very next sentence you show your own holier than thou attitude by saying Apple should just throw out any consumer that they deem not worthy to buy their products. This is exactly why so many people have such a negative attitude toward Apple products and the people who use them. It is attitudes like that that give people like me a bad name.

 

[26139]

yeah....

This idea though of a "consumer holier than thou attitude" that you are sick of is so hilarious because in the very next sentence you show your own holier than thou attitude by saying Apple should just throw out any consumer that they deem not worthy to buy their products. This is exactly why so many people have such a negative attitude toward Apple products and the people who use them. It is attitudes like that that give people like me a bad name.

I love this idea. There's nothing wrong with being elitist. Not everyone is equal, buddy. Lots of people are much more trouble than they are worth.

 

[AppleIntelRock]

So I called two days prior to book my appt. with a genius. i went down to the apple store yesterday- no record of my appointment!!! i got there at 7:10 and didn't leave until 8:30.

 

[26139]

Huh?

So I called two days prior to book my appt. with a genius. i went down to the apple store yesterday- no record of my appointment!!! i got there at 7:10 and didn't leave until 8:30.

Who calls for genius appointments? Aren't they only available online?

 

[AppleIntelRock]

Who calls for genius appointments? Aren't they only available online?

not when your apple store online appt section is down

 

[Hughjass]

I get tired of stepping in dog poop when I go to Pet Smart.

 

[SchneiderMan]

apple employees sucks!

i never ask them for help because they always tell me somthing worng or they will not know..

 

[cromwell64]

I love this idea. There's nothing wrong with being elitist. Not everyone is equal, buddy. Lots of people are much more trouble than they are worth.

There is something wrong with being elitist if it is based purely on the brand identity that you buy into, and then looking down on others as not worthy of the almighty Apple brand.

 

[sahni130]

I have always had a nice experience with apple employees. As a matter of fact, last week when I went to buy my iMac, I was helped by this extremely beautiful girl who was very helpful and her answers were very accurate. In fact, two days later I went to the apple store again to get some software and accessories for my mac just because I love shopping there and the employees are so nice, even though I could have bought the accessories from a store that was closer to my house. Not all apple employees are wrong or unhelpful.

 

[zsft]

apple employees sucks!

i never ask them for help because they always tell me somthing worng or they will not know..

Yeah sorry to say but I agree. I always do my research before hand, and when I go to the store and look around, they would elegantly stroll by and ask if I needed anything...I would just ignore them for the most part but then I would feel sorry and try to get them involved by asking them obvious things...well you guys know where this is going don't you lol. I mean, good lads...but damn son know your products!

In my opinion the most well informed people are third party employees who sell a variety of brands...Best Buy comes to mind but I don't go there enough, they seem to know alot about cameras though. But like individual PC parts store...lots of that here in Asia.

EDIT: Ok I'm just saying from my own experience, I haven't visited ALL apple stores in the world or even in Mass...so I can't judge.

 

[Chundles]

Whilst I agree that the four scenarios given in the initial post are pretty dodgy you all must realise that's it's damned hard work keeping your knowledge up to date in this industry.

I work for an Apple reseller and as such I don't have the luxury of being able to palm all the tricky questions off to a Genius. If we don't know the answer to a question we look stupid and the customer likely won't be back. We spend a good part of the day trawling engadget and gizmodo and Macrumors just to ensure that we are up to date with as much of the minutiae of Mac as we possibly can.

And it's not just the Mac either, it's all the third party products, compatibility, software updates and what has changed, the Mac environment we have to deal with extends well beyond the products with an Apple logo on them and well beyond what we sell in the store. We need to be proficient on Windows too to help the vast majority of the people who have iTunes or iPod problems as well.

Not complaining, this is my job, I just wish people would give us a little bit of slack sometime. There's a hell of a lot of information to digest every morning and we're all human - we can and do make mistakes.

 

[alecgold]

There are two stores in the centre of Rotterdam, one older one tha sits there at least for a decade, the other is new, chain type of store.
I bought my latest mbp 17" hi-res at the chain store, and it was only because it was an EOL and had a very very nice price.
All my other shopping goes to the older store. The people aren't that young, beautifull and flashy, but the tend to know their business.
If they don't know it, however trvial, they insist on looking it up.

They made a mistake ordering a new fan for my old MBP that was getting noisy, so they called me up, told me they messed up ordering the wrong one and told me I could get an other machine while they ordered a new one (i didn't need it, so i thanked them).
My collegua had a MB, wanted to upgrade to 2Gb mem, needed a new battery (within three months it did a sudden death, darn) and the white palm rest needed replacement. He bought it at the chain and got back there for his much needed repairs. Well, he was told that the battery was his fault, the palm rests would take up to three weeks, possible longer and the upgrade would need to be done seperatly. huh?

He called me, angry, I told him he had Apple Care, and needed to go to the other store.
The could most likely do it within two weeks, did the mem upgrade as well, the battery was a simple replacement, just the palmrests needed ordering the parts.
He could get a replacement if he needed, but they would ask something like 5 euro's a day. They where very sorry, but it was to cover the minimal cost.
Thing is, the part was there next day, repairs done the following day and within 4 day's he had his own MB back, al nice and shinny and working.

So the quality from one or another store can differ dramatically. I tend not to go to chain stores when I have specialized equipment or questions.
If you want just a loaf of bread, you can get it anywhere, if you want a really good loaf of fresh abbey bread, you get to a good bakery.

 

[cromwell64]

Yeah sorry to say but I agree. I always do my research before hand, and when I go to the store and look around, they would elegantly stroll by and ask if I needed anything...I would just ignore them for the most part but then I would feel sorry and try to get them involved by asking them obvious things...well you guys know where this is going don't you lol. I mean, good lads...but damn son know your products!

In my opinion the most well informed people are third party employees who sell a variety of brands...Best Buy comes to mind but I don't go there enough, they seem to know alot about cameras though. But like individual PC parts store...lots of that here in Asia.

EDIT: Ok I'm just saying from my own experience, I haven't visited ALL apple stores in the world or even in Mass...so I can't judge.

Whoa there. As I stated earlier I think some Apple store employees are not that knowledgeable, but the Apple stores and Best Buy are in two totally different worlds. I have never, ever had a good experience dealing with a Best Buy employee. The last time I was there an employee started arguing with me over what kind of RAM I should buy. He was insisting that I should buy RAM that wouldn't even work in my system with the bonus that it was twice as expensive as it should be. It only got worse from there.

So while some of the employees at Apple stores could brush up a little on their info instead of just being Apple fans, my experience with Best Buy employees is that they are absolutely clueless, and I mean that in the worst way possible... but hey... the greeters at the door seem friendly.

 

[daneoni]

Yeah majority that i've dealt with have all been airheads and worst part is they think they're smarter even though they have no clue what they're talking about and usually tell me everything i already know

I hate Apple stores now with passion and only go in to try new products. I even avoid buying from brick & mortar stores and just order online so i don't have to deal with staff

Majority are just there for the money and often look uninspired and like they'd rather not be there. Others feel because they work for Apple they're somehow morally superior...bunch of pretentious bastards

But there are some really smart/good ones but they're often the older ones 35-40s or the young geeks. Others are just retarded

 

[dextertangocci]

Whilst I agree that the four scenarios given in the initial post are pretty dodgy you all must realise that's it's damned hard work keeping your knowledge up to date in this industry.

I work for an Apple reseller and as such I don't have the luxury of being able to palm all the tricky questions off to a Genius. If we don't know the answer to a question we look stupid and the customer likely won't be back. We spend a good part of the day trawling engadget and gizmodo and Macrumors just to ensure that we are up to date with as much of the minutiae of Mac as we possibly can.

And it's not just the Mac either, it's all the third party products, compatibility, software updates and what has changed, the Mac environment we have to deal with extends well beyond the products with an Apple logo on them and well beyond what we sell in the store. We need to be proficient on Windows too to help the vast majority of the people who have iTunes or iPod problems as well.

Not complaining, this is my job, I just wish people would give us a little bit of slack sometime. There's a hell of a lot of information to digest every morning and we're all human - we can and do make mistakes.

Thank you! I too work at an Apple Premium Reseller, and while I consider myself to be very knowledgeable, I can't answer every question.

 

[jdcrow711]

Thank you! I too work at an Apple Premium Reseller, and while I consider myself to be very knowledgeable, I can't answer every question.

The 3G dock and the 2.0 upgrade could be honest mistakes --- but the Airplane mode answer on launch day?? That should have been covered by Apple to make sure every customer walked out knowing and loving their new phones

It made me honestly wonder if the employees get a commission when I heard what I would think to be an employee knowingly telling a flat out lie that you can't upgrade RAM on the base Macbook.

 

[muldul]

I have been to many different apple stores and i have found that the ones in the UK (where i live) are very informed and helpful, whereas the ones in US can be very obnoxious and sometimes have no idea what they are on about. I'm not having a go at the US, I'm just saying from my personal experience. But of course neither matchup to the Belgium stores.

 

[jcbandxi]

I would say that employees in the Apple stores are much nicer and more engaging than in most other stores. In fact, the retail experience, in general, has become so poor that I buy as much as I can over the web these days just to avoid the frustration.

But, I did have one funny/sad experience in an Apple store a couple months ago. My Macbook power supply failed after two years of use, so I popped over to buy a replacement. I decided ahead of time to get the Macbook Pro power supply, so that when I buy my new machine later this year (whenever the Montevina based ones are available), I will have a backup power supply for it - usable with either the Macbook or Macbook Pro.

I made the mistake of mentioning this to the sales associate, who actually said "I really can't sell this to you. You will damage your battery by pumping to much power into the Macbook." I simply said, don't worry it will be fine. He actually was going to cancel the sale. I insisted that he sell it to me, that I knew what I was doing as an engineer. He reluctantly agreed. Now, my degrees are in mechanical engineering, but I did take the elementary electrical courses 25 years ago. His notion of electrons gushing out of the power grid was both amusing and sad. I managed to refrain from sarcastically suggesting that he go around and cap all the open wall outlets to conserve the electrons.

 

[zsft]

...but hey... the greeters at the door seem friendly.

Haha that's why I never really ask employees technical questions unless they're from custom build type stores...I don't know if they have that in US besides online. Mainly I just ask them about warranty...namely whether I can get this thing repaired on the other side of the world because I travel alot.

But hey, first impression is always important right?