I wasn't bashing the service in the country per se, I was just mentioning the known "fact" that 9 out of 10 customers leaving both Istanbul Apple Stores are unhappy. That in turn creates a bad image for Apple in the country amongst normal people who do not follow tech related news and rumours closely.
I know that the intentions of Apple is good, I know it is not completely their fault and I know from first hand experience that they have trained the employees well enough, that they know what they're talking about, they're helpful and kind. (On the contrary to every other electronics/tech shop in the country which is a good thing)
Yet what they should do is open more Apple stores or consider the possibility that not every customer service systtem developed in North America might apply to every market and culture in the world. (That goes for aforomentioned turkish people's opportunistic attitude towards Apple's customer service mentality)
Ps. The reason I wrote this reply in English is so people reading can also understand, do not get me wrong please.
Well, mostly to amend (and regretfully support) what you are criticizing on Apple's operations in Turkey:
1) Two stores (and both located in Istanbul) have proved to be totally inadequate: Istanbul, itself needs at least 4-5 stores, and highly populated towns like Ankara & Izmir, at least one and very immediately.
2) The present day fact that they don't service and honour warranties for USA MARKET products is mostly for GSM based products, not for every for-USA gear. But it seems they presently have serious limitations in what they can service: for example take your iPad which is still under warranty and ask to replace a crippled screen or replace a battery. They can't and won't do it as their technical staff or infrastructure are not yet authorised. I don't really know what they can do in the USA for similar cases but Turkey's consumers are still highly "repair it" motivated
rather than "swap it"!
3) To make things worse, these two Istanbul-Turkey based Applestores are now authorised (forced) to serve foreign customers from Greece, Bulgaria, Syria, Lebanon & Iraq. In my opinion, Apple's policy for servicing their products within that "genius system" in this part of the world is practically unworkable. They should open a huge "servicing, repair and regeneratiom/refurbishing" center! (No need to raise an eyebrow: there's a "first" in everything!...)
4) I am a frequent visitor of that Zorlu Applestore
and drop in the place at least twice a week. ( I also live quite nearby, just 15 min driving from the place...) I am one of the priviliged customers who was allowed to buy a OnetoOne without purchasing any Mac hardware from that store due to that Apple hardware collection you can see in my signature. But I'm a 63 year old vintage engineer, still transiting from Windows to Mac! So these sessions are really very useful for me. The trainers I met till recently really taught me a lot but more recently the newbee trainers are pretty much "weak" and I can see some of the more experienced trainers being shifted to other duties! A week ago, I showed my rMBP's screen exhibiting artifacts to the trainer during the 1to1 session, and the chap accepted the "problem" and urged me to take a Genius Bar appointment (that rightfully dreaded issue, but let's face it: there's no other way to service all these people...). My warranty will be expiring in 6-7 months time and he (with the best of intentions) suggested that a free of charge screen replacement should be possible! Luckily (after the session) I met a former trainer I well knew, and he fixed that problem in 20 seconds. Had I taken that laptop to the Genius Bar, I would naturally loose a lot of face!!!
To make the long story short: nothing is perfect and at all times there always will be ups and downs. But we hope Apple should practice solutions maybe in a more Oriental way and with some unorthodox flexibilty, as this particular geography is used to: we all know the saying-- -- "in Rome, do as Romans do"!
