Apple Retail Employees Vent Frustrations About Stores Becoming Less 'Shopper-Friendly' in Recent Years

[Mildredop]

Finally, someone might do something about the fact it's actually quite hard to walk into an Apple Store and just buy something.

The last time I went into an Apple store was several years ago when I wanted to look at a MacBook Pro. Each one had some kid checking their Facebook/Instagram/something else.

After several minutes I asked a member of staff if there was another one I could look at. They said no.

Then I asked if she expected one of these teenagers to actually buy a £1500 laptop. She smiled and said "I guess not". But I was still unable to try the laptop.

I left and went to John Lewis where the prices are the same, the guarantee is extended for free and the shopping experience is considerably more pleasant.

 

[eddjedi]

Apple Stores have become completely unusable. I don't by Apple products from Apple Stores any more because you have to wait half an hour just to buy a $10 accessory. I buy them from phone shops now because they have dedicated till staff.

 

[iLLUMI]

Finally, someone might do something about the fact it's actually quite hard to walk into an Apple Store and just buy something.

It's the reason I don't buy Apple products from an Apple store.
It's a really bizarre, customer unfriendly environment. Sometimes you can wait up to 30 minutes (personal experience) just to try and buy a product. Meh!
And often you can get Apple products cheaper at other retailers anyway, and spend at least 5 minutes to get what you want and go.

 

[Honumaui]

when best buy has better service apple you know you are in trouble !

 

[Alvi]

I think the experience has dropped significantly if you just shop up at the store BUT, if you make an appointment things are crazy fast!

I've recently had my screen replaced in an hour.

The only disappointment is that in super big cities, same day appointments are not possible and it often takes days until you can visit them, and that sucks if your device is totally dead.

 

[Zxxv]

I have a store I pass a lot. The times I feel like going in something stops me. Didn’t know what it is but reading these posts I guess it’s being passed from person to person and being told to stand somewhere and wait.
I don’t know why apple makes customers stand places, I guess they want to form cues to give the impression they are busy.
It all seems like a huge autistic joke where if everything isn’t in place the whole force freaks out.

(No offence to anyone who suffers from this affliction)

If a disabled person invents a martial arts system in one thousand years everyone is disabled. Who’s in charge of apples stores is creating a mess.

 

[Ifti]

I think the experience has dropped significantly if you just shop up at the store BUT, if you make an appointment things are crazy fast!

Glad things worked out for you. But for me, even with an appointment I end up waiting at least an extra 30-60 minutes after my appointment time to be seen. You are frustrated before even speaking to the so called 'Genius'.
Fortunately I haven't been very often, but every time I have the experience has been terrible. The store is generally in chaos with people walking in all directions confused.
I only ever visit a store to look at a product, which if I want I will later purchase online. I prefer to deal with things online rather then the youngsters in the store who think they know Apple computers inside out but are simply only following a script.

 

[spiffypanda]

Former Genius here. I started in 2011 and left a few months ago. A lot changed over my time. From the passing of Steve Jobs, to Browett taking retail for a few months, to Angela, we were always in a state of flux. After Browett messed everything up we were given "accelerated reviews" with bigger raises. I saw a raise of over $2/hour, which was clearly their way of making up for the loss of hours and nosedive retail endured. We would be told one thing and it would change by the next month. Most of it was easy to deal with, till Angela got in the groove of things. It was easy to tell from early on that she was still fashion-focused, and that doesn't work in tech, even with the launch of a watch.

Angela ruined retail. Everyone who said it is right, she killed training and made everything a mess. When she came on I became a Family Room Specialist, which was the person who would troubleshoot mobile devices. Make no mistake, the job was grueling because of the nonstop barrage of complaints and non-issues. The big grab of trying to work up the chain of being a Genius was, besides better pay, the coveted 3-week trip to Cupertino/Austin/Atlanta. Then that went away. When I was promoted to Genius, my training was less than two weeks of watching training videos in our stockroom. In the old days of training, you'd get to take apart various models of computer in a classroom with other new Geniuses. Nowadays the first computer you touch is an actual person's computer. I was so nervous I broke a connector on the logic board and we had to cover the cost of a depot repair. While that person didn't pay anything more, they didn't have their computer for the better part of a week. I had to try to shadow other Geniuses whenever possible to actually learn how to fix a computer. Most computers, though, they wanted us to send out for repair. There were days we shipped 25 computers and only had 2 to fix in store.

There's no knowledge, and they didn't care. Beyond that, the stores became so unbearably busy. I would get home with pounding headaches and no energy. And, to be honest, I drank...a lot. We were understaffed, overworked, and woefully underpaid for the nonsense we had to put up with.

Some people really like working there. I applaud them. But for most of us it was a living nightmare.

 

[LordVic]

I think the drop in quality of the stores for tech and shopping relates more to the change in direction they attempted (And I'd say failed) to go with the store fronts.

They didn't want them to be "stores" where you walked in, picked up a product, paid and left. They wanted it to be an experience. I don't know if anyones shopped at any high value watch stores. But it's an experience that you get. a guided journey down the different high value products, set out to display in all their shiny glory.

the idea is that if you're shopping, you're getting a hand held experience. You've got time to make decisisions, and place to sit and talk. I think this is what Apple was hoping would happen to their stores. The evidence of this times in almost perfectly when they pushed the Apple Watch as a designer high end piece.

Unfortunately, Apple misjudged the market and the experience that Tech purchasers look for (fast, quick and easy) and believed they could transition from a tech company into a designer company. This failed. And with the volume of people that do come to the stores, the new model of high end designer shopping does not work.

The question is, with new VP of the stores with Andrea gone, what is the direction that Apple decides to take? Going to double down on the "Luxury" style shopping experience, or try to come up with something a little more focused on tech, with capability of handling the higher volume of shoppers that a tech company like Apple should have.

 

[vizon]

In Tim Cook's push for diversity, Apple store staff with all sorts of tattoos, body piercing has started to appear...

What are you talking about? I started working at Apple as a Mac Genius in the fall of 2007 and I worked there as a Mac Genius all the way until July 2016. Apple Store employees have always been able to show their tattoos, piercings, hats, etc. This is absolutely nothing new at all. I've worked in over a dozen Apple Stores across the country, it's the same in every store.

With all that being said, I predicted this response from the public about 6-7 years ago when they first started changing around the dynamic of the Apple Stores. Their decline became evident after Jobs' death. I'm honestly surprised it took this long for this response from the public. The reason I left Apple in 2016 is because they just don't hire good technicians anymore. Also, they value the retail employees FAR LESS than they used to back in 2007.

When you purchase a $3000 premium computer and you have a complete computer newbie doing the repair on it, a lot of times repairs being botched and you not knowing about it, that's a problem. I saw this all the time and was constantly fixing newbies' hardware repair mistakes.

I can guarantee you that there is a high % of Apple computers out there, after having been repaired by APPLE, that were put back together very sloppily (cables sticking out, being pulled on, misalignments, etc). Guaranteed.

Apple needs a visionary. Steve Jobs' passing was absolutely detrimental to Apple as a company. Detrimental. This is not talked about nearly enough.

 

[magbarn]

I think the drop in quality of the stores for tech and shopping relates more to the change in direction they attempted (And I'd say failed) to go with the store fronts.

They didn't want them to be "stores" where you walked in, picked up a product, paid and left. They wanted it to be an experience. I don't know if anyones shopped at any high value watch stores. But it's an experience that you get. a guided journey down the different high value products, set out to display in all their shiny glory.

the idea is that if you're shopping, you're getting a hand held experience. You've got time to make decisisions, and place to sit and talk. I think this is what Apple was hoping would happen to their stores. The evidence of this times in almost perfectly when they pushed the Apple Watch as a designer high end piece.

Unfortunately, Apple misjudged the market and the experience that Tech purchasers look for (fast, quick and easy) and believed they could transition from a tech company into a designer company. This failed. And with the volume of people that do come to the stores, the new model of high end designer shopping does not work.

The question is, with new VP of the stores with Andrea gone, what is the direction that Apple decides to take? Going to double down on the "Luxury" style shopping experience, or try to come up with something a little more focused on tech, with capability of handling the higher volume of shoppers that a tech company like Apple should have.

The high end watch market store model works because those stores are hardly ever crowded. Most people balk at easily spending upwards over $10,000 for a watch these days. South Coast Plaza's Omega/Rolex/jaeger lecoultre stores are almost always empty with several salespeople milling about. As soon as you walk in, you're given the glass slipper treatment. This doesn't work when there's 100+ people milling about and 10 employees on the floor...

I guess that explains Apple's recent fast uptick in their prices... lol

 

[LordVic]

The high end watch market store model works because those stores are hardly ever crowded. Most people balk at easily spending upwards over $10,000 for a watch these days. South Coast Plaza's Omega/Rolex/jaeger lecoultre stores are almost always empty with several salespeople milling about. As soon as you walk in, you're given the glass slipper treatment. This doesn't work when there's 100+ people milling about and 10 employees on the floor...

I guess that explains Apple's recent fast uptick in their prices... lol

that is pretty much IMHO the direction Apple was hoping to go with their pricing and stores. They want to be the coach/burberry/rolex/Omega of "tech". Pricing and image.

the problem is, Tech moves a lot faster and a lot higher volumes overall than designer and luxury goods. People don't spend $5,000 on a rolex to replace it every year or two. Apple wants you to spend the $1000+ luxury price, but do so every year or two, and they want to sell in volumes of the millions of units.

Neither of which works well with the designer stores they were aiming for.

 

[naturalstar]

The one thing I have come to dislike about Apple stores is that I can’t simply walk in and pick up what I want.

Twice I went to buy a band for my S4 Watch. I know where it’s located. I can just go and grab it off the wall. Why do I have to cue up to go to the section to get the band? Why do I need an employee to get it for me? Then if I want to browse the cases which are right next to the bands, I have to get helped again. Look, I see the case. I can get it myself.

Same experience when I went to purchase a Magic Mouse 2. At least the rep who helped me then was pretty funny and I got to nerd out with some of them over the Star Wars trailer, but still...

Oh, let me not forget that I’ve been shopping for a Nike S4 for the husband’s birthday. The people who are manning the Watch station are pretty clueless. They can tell me how nice a Watch looks or how the bands coordinate well with a particular color, but they can’t tell me anything basic about the Watch.

I will say that service appointments have been excellent for every experience we’ve had. The wait was a little long the last time we went, but the Genius took care of husband beyond expectations. Never an issue with support service.

I agree with others that service and retail should separate, but kept in the store, like Best Buy. Also, as much as I am for learning, some of the stores are too small to hold classes, handle service, and conduct retail all at the same time.

 

[Defthand]

It seems like most of the complaints are coming from those who need their device serviced. Maybe they need separate smaller stores for just service.

OR...OR...wait for it...maybe they should let private repair and reclaim shops help with the overwhelming service demands! It wouldn't require an enormous investment like segregating existing stores to accommodate appointments, or building separate repair centers.

People who dismiss Right to Repair are just compromising themselves.
[doublepost=1557327536][/doublepost]

Former Genius here. I started in 2011 and left a few months ago. A lot changed over my time. From the passing of Steve Jobs, to Browett taking retail for a few months, to Angela, we were always in a state of flux. After Browett messed everything up we were given "accelerated reviews" with bigger raises. I saw a raise of over $2/hour, which was clearly their way of making up for the loss of hours and nosedive retail endured. We would be told one thing and it would change by the next month. Most of it was easy to deal with, till Angela got in the groove of things. It was easy to tell from early on that she was still fashion-focused, and that doesn't work in tech, even with the launch of a watch.

Angela ruined retail. Everyone who said it is right, she killed training and made everything a mess. When she came on I became a Family Room Specialist, which was the person who would troubleshoot mobile devices. Make no mistake, the job was grueling because of the nonstop barrage of complaints and non-issues. The big grab of trying to work up the chain of being a Genius was, besides better pay, the coveted 3-week trip to Cupertino/Austin/Atlanta. Then that went away. When I was promoted to Genius, my training was less than two weeks of watching training videos in our stockroom. In the old days of training, you'd get to take apart various models of computer in a classroom with other new Geniuses. Nowadays the first computer you touch is an actual person's computer. I was so nervous I broke a connector on the logic board and we had to cover the cost of a depot repair. While that person didn't pay anything more, they didn't have their computer for the better part of a week. I had to try to shadow other Geniuses whenever possible to actually learn how to fix a computer. Most computers, though, they wanted us to send out for repair. There were days we shipped 25 computers and only had 2 to fix in store.

There's no knowledge, and they didn't care. Beyond that, the stores became so unbearably busy. I would get home with pounding headaches and no energy. And, to be honest, I drank...a lot. We were understaffed, overworked, and woefully underpaid for the nonsense we had to put up with.

Some people really like working there. I applaud them. But for most of us it was a living nightmare.

Jesus Christ. Thanks for sharing. The next time a fanboy proclaims the superiority and quality of Apple's repair service, I'll remember this and similar confessions from other former employees.

Segregating the Genius bar from the retail floor might improve the retail space, but it doesn't look like it will solve the issues with the Genius bar itself.

 

[guzhogi]

Apple Coffee makes you think and feel different though

Does it have LSD in it? (Didn't Steve Jobs dabble in that for a little?)

 

[code-m]

Does it have LSD in it? (Didn't Steve Jobs dabble in that for a little?)

How many pumps would you prefer

 

[Luba]

Ah corporate America, where one executive gets a bonus for changing something and the next executive gets a bonus for changing it back.

But change is often confused with progress in both corporations and forums.

And the bonus/salary is in the millions of dollars!?! Except for Johnson (original Retail Chief) what insights did they offer that was worth their salary? I'm confident hundreds of managers or workers who were already working at Apple Stores would have done as good or better.

 

[magicschoolbus]

I've not noticed it but few (all female) friends don't like visits to the Apple store since it "smells like gym".

Apple needs to spray some Abercrombie in their vent system.

 

[TechFounder]

This is stupid. They should just bring Ron Johnson back. He’s not doing anything. He also would know what Steve would do.

 

[Luba]

Opening more stores is not the solution, Apple should consider fulfillment centres like Amazon that are as local as possible. If same day delivery is possible there is no point to visit the store to purchase or pick-up.

I hope you mean having fulfillment centers in addition to the stores. I think after the Johnson era, Apple lost too much control and the mission of the stores. In the beginning everybody in the stores were knowledgeable and passionate. Apple then said they're going to hire nice friendly sociable people and then just teach/train them. That work it out. Whatever their screen processing is, there are too many store workers who are rude, mean, and angry. I asked one woman worker a question when we were both at the table full of MacBooks and she turned into Dr. Jekyll and bit my head off, saying in essence that she's off the clock. I didn't immediately notice she was in civilian clothes and had taken off her Apple work t-shirt. I just recognized her face as someone who works in the store. It just struck me to this day how bitter and angry she was. She's not the only one to fool Apple's screening process. I avoid this one guy every time I'm in the store so that he's not obligated to help me. He doesn't have a raging anger problem, but he has an attitude problem.

 

[tkermit]

Steve Jobs' passing was absolutely detrimental to Apple as a company. Detrimental. This is not talked about nearly enough.

Not to mention the computer industry as a whole... I'm honestly starting to lose all interest in (modern) tech. Most of it seems pretty dystopian to me.

 

[charlituna]

They need to separate sales and service. Angela needed to go.

If they are going to do that then they need to literally separate them. Give Service literally it’s own space. It can be next door to Sales, even have a doorway to make it easy to move between them. But it should be separate
[doublepost=1557335545][/doublepost]

They really should just let me scan the accessory with my phone and pay right there.

You’ve been able to do that for like 3 years.

 

[Baymowe335]

If they are going to do that then they need to literally separate them. Give Service literally it’s own space. It can be next door to Sales, even have a doorway to make it easy to move between them. But it should be separate
[doublepost=1557335545][/doublepost]

You’ve been able to do that for like 3 years.

That’s what I meant by separate. I want a place called “Apple Care” for service with its own space and walls.

 

[greenmeanie]

They need to check the RI store they had some real winners working there.

 

[code-m]

I hope you mean having fulfillment centers in addition to the stores. I think after the Johnson era, Apple lost too much control and the mission of the stores. In the beginning everybody in the stores were knowledgeable and passionate. Apple then said they're going to hire nice friendly sociable people and then just teach/train them. That work it out. Whatever their screen processing is, there are too many store workers who are rude, mean, and angry. I asked one woman worker a question when we were both at the table full of MacBooks and she turned into Dr. Jekyll and bit my head off, saying in essence that she's off the clock. I didn't immediately notice she was in civilian clothes and had taken off her Apple work t-shirt. I just recognized her face as someone who works in the store. It just struck me to this day how bitter and angry she was. She's not the only one to fool Apple's screening process. I avoid this one guy every time I'm in the store so that he's not obligated to help me. He doesn't have a raging anger problem, but he has an attitude problem.

Indeed in addition to fulfillment centres, yes I have also had the misfortune to deal with some Apple employees with attitude problems, however I bring it up to the store manager right away and guess what either that employee retunes their attitude or the complaint goes higher. I don’t have time for people like this, regardless if I am there for purchase or service. I do understand that people have bad days in their life and for that I provide a chance to change.