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Apple swindles old man

dukebound85 said:
To some extent, yes.

If one doesn't inform himself, he will be taken advantage of 9 times out of 10 in my experience.
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So the swindler takes no responsibility for their actions any more, its the victims fault? Nice.....

Seriously that attitude is seriously messed up.


The old man walked into an apple store and asked the apple genius staff. He deserved the best service possible and to be steered in the right direction. That's exactly what those staff are paid for and he deserved nothing more than the best service, not to be mislead.




However I suspect this is all by the by as it probably never actually happened.
 
As much as I love all things Apple this is actually quite bad, taking advantage of someone else's lack of knowledge on a subject and exploiting it is not the way to go.

I would of waited for the "genius" (I bet he had that genius idea to milk the cash out of the guy) and said I overheard what you said and explained to the guy the 16GB would do wonders and at a lower cost.

You should be able to trust these people.
 
likethesoup2 said:
Caveat emptor.

If you shop unarmed or have no knowledge of what you're shopping for -- it's on you.

I'm not condoning the behavior, but . . .
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Actually no. In plenty of countries around the world (including mine) what was done is not just unethical, but completely illegal.
 
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MacRumorUser said:
So the swindler takes no responsibility for their actions any more, its the victims fault? Nice.....

Seriously that attitude is seriously messed up.
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It is not an attitude, it is the reality of the world we live in.

Nobody keeps others best interest at heart. That is each individuals responsibility ultimately. Is it sad and pathetic on the part of the seller? of course but that doesn't excuse not being prepared.

No one forced the man to buy it..

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rocknblogger said:
A lot of people who are not tech knowledgeable let alone savvy, won't even know what to research. Many people don't even know that smartphones come in different capacities. Its really unfair to expect an elderly person to know any of that. Or that he needs to do research.
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That applies to every industry imaginable.

No one forced the man to buy a phone then and there. People need to do their due deligence

I hope the retail sales guy gets in trouble don't get me wrong.
 
dukebound85 said:
It is not an attitude, it is the reality of the world we live in.

Nobody keeps others best interest at heart. That is each individuals responsibility ultimately. Is it sad and pathetic on the part of the seller? of course but that doesn't excuse not being prepared.

No one forced the man to buy it..
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I'm sure if this was any other company you would be singing a different tone.

Don't lie...you're just riding Apple's jock.

It's ok...I've been browsing this site long enough and am used to it.
 
dukebound85 said:
No one forced the man to buy it..
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Especially as he never actually existed...



Just read some of the threads started by the OP. ;) :eek:

He starts a lot of these type of attention threads or random broken device threads. I particularly like his polka dot camera thread, his wavy screen thread, and his dropping his iPhone into diamonds threads....
 
NC12309 said:
I'm sure if this was any other company you would be singing a different tone.

Don't lie...you're just riding Apple's jock.

It's ok...I've been browsing this site long enough and am used to it.
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LOL I am one of the quickest to criticize apple. Clearly you haven't been around long enough:rolleyes:

All I am saying is people need to take responsibility for their actions and not expect everyone to be looking out for their self interests
 
What goes around comes around. That guy will probably end up getting fired sooner or later for bragging about it to his friend who will surely either be thinking he's an idiot, or will pass it on to other employees which could lead to the manager finding out.

Or it could be a mystery shopper, and in that case, well... :eek:
 
That is disgusting, if I ever saw any of my sales guys doing anything like that they would be sacked in a second.
 
If you regret not saying anything, then you should go back to that Apple store and talk to the management about it because that is just appalling.
 
I'm not sure why the OP is all riled up. Apple makes their living preying on uneducated consumers with too much money and not much sense.:apple:
 
likethesoup2 said:
Caveat emptor.

If you shop unarmed or have no knowledge of what you're shopping for -- it's on you.

I'm not condoning the behavior, but . . .
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likethesoup2 said:
He could've ASKED his grandkids . . . one of his children; hell, asked somebody else at the store.
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dukebound85 said:
To some extent, yes.

If one doesn't inform himself, he will be taken advantage of 9 times out of 10 in my experience.
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I've met my share of Apple employees that didn't know what they were talking about, but they didn't blatantly lie, they just didn't seem to know better. If you're looking to buy something that you don't know too much about, and you're a trusting person (like most people are), the opinion you'll rely on is that of the salesperson or "genius," unless you have a friend or relative with you who knows about those things. Most times, you don't expect to be swindled at big stores like Apple. Chinatown or mechanics (or cash only places), most definitely.

Hopefully someone points it out to the customer later, and he can exchange it for the right model.
 
dukebound85 said:
All I am saying is people need to take responsibility for their actions and not expect everyone to be looking out for their self interests
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Somehow I think this "people need to take responsibility for their actions" seems to be an American thing. Not that people shouldn't, but it is always aimed at _one_ person and _one_ group only. If we believe the story that the threadstarter posted (which I don't really), then there is the customer, a "genius", his colleague, the thread starter, whoever is responsible for employee training at that store, but only one is supposed to take responsibility for their actions.

Doesn't make sense. Wouldn't be more honest to say you think the loser should suck it up?
 
a) Geniuses don't sell stuff.

b) They don't get commission. Makes the point in question pointless.
 
inselstudent said:
then again if Apple retail does give bonuses if employees sell more expensive versions of products, then it is indeed Apple that is the culprit here.
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That's the thing, though. Apple doesn't give their sales employees bonuses, commissions, or spiffs for selling products -- expensive or not. :confused:
 
Welcome to sales, its been going on for centuries and will continue. The old man should learn to research, or taken someone with him that knew whats what. I dont feel bad for him, the sales person wasnt holding a gun to his head. Aside from that this story sounds just a little to convenient.
 
It's like a weekly soap with this guy. Can't wait to see the next episode. Maybe an iPhone saves his girlfriends life as they are being chased by vin diesel and crew
 
Jimmy Guphanti said:
I was at an Apple Store today picking up a Mac that needed fixing. While I was waiting for them to bring it out, I overheard a conversation between an Apple "Genius" and an elderly man who was buying an iPhone for the first time. He said his old phone that he had for 10 years broke, and he wanted to buy an iPhone to do FaceTime with his grandkids. The guy was unsure about most of the features and generally unfamiliar with the iPhone. The genius asked him if he takes any pictures, watches movies, or plays games and he said no. The genius then asked him how many people he plans on calling on it. I wondered why this made a difference so I listened closely while standing nearby to hear the explanation. The old man said about 10 people, and the genius told him that to fit 10 phone numbers he would need to buy the 64 GB. He was hesitant but said ok and the genius walked off smiling. When he came out with the iPhone he whispered to his buddy who laughed, I'm assuming he told him what he did although I couldn't hear. I felt like explaining to the man how he just got swindled while the guy was in the back but I did not want to implicated in the whole thing, but I regret not saying anything now. I am going to question the next Apple purchase I make. This is appalling.
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I think you could blame this partly on the new Apple under that new John Browett and most likely partly why he was fired, his methods are for staff to go after the sale and get the maximum money out of a customer. Walk into any Dixons store for example and the staff will constantly hassle you and give you BS advice.

Perhaps what you should have done is butted in and requested the sales person to explain himself.
Thankfully my purchases in Apple stores has been far better, but I have had worst experiences with the so called technicians.
 
eyespii said:
awful if true, but too much conjecture to draw conclusions.
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What incentive would the guy have to upsell the customer? Yeah, I call BS on OP's story.

likethesoup2 said:
Caveat emptor.
If you shop unarmed or have no knowledge of what you're shopping for -- it's on you. I'm not condoning the behavior, but . . .
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Agree. IF you go to purchase something and you're ignorant regarding the purchase that's IS on you.

macingman said:
Not really. If the salesperson wants to be honest and put the customer first they should give honest and reliable information.
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Yes really. Walking in knowing nothing about what you want to purchase makes you the perfect consumer and sales people love the perfect consumer.

macingman said:
Just the fact that OP cares enough to make a post about it .
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You actually believe OP witnessed this transaction? Jokes on you!
 
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