BAD (!) AT&T Experience GREAT Apple Store

[magiclaffs]

Saturday I went over to my local Apple store here in Colorado Springs. The assistant quickly steered me over to an Apple "expert" in my quest to buy the new Iphone- unfortunately they were out. But he said I could order one. Since there is an AT& T store some 50 yards away I said I'll check there, otherwise I'll be back.

So I saunter over to the AT&T store and there was one person other than me in the store and two clerks. One of them asked me if he could help, then turned his back on me and walked away before I could get two words out of my mouth. He was monkeying around behind the counter and I said, "I can wait till your done." He talked over his shoulder and said "What do you want?" I just waited until he finally looked at me...still monkeying around behind the counter. I said, "If I don't have your attention, forget it." He didn't even look at me and continued his work. So I walked out. I've been an AT&T customer for years...so this guy kissed off another 2 year contract through his store, selling a new Iphone 4.

Back to the Apple store. The clerk was great- I told her the story and she was absolutely shocked. We walked through the order in less than 3 minutes and the phone will be sold through their store.

It seems to me with all the bad publicity that AT&T really is losing customers. Now I see why.

 

[Iphone4Mac]

Pics or it didn't happen

 

[Loki666]

Cool story bro

 

[Tom G.]

It is a bad idea to paint all stores with the same broad brush either good or bad.

Stores are made up of employees, mostly good with some not so good. It is wrong to say that all AT&T or Apple store employees are bad because of an experience with one employee.

I took an Econ course once and during that course we learned that if you have a negative experience at a store you will on average tell 6 to 8 people about it. But if you have a positive experience you will only tell 4 to 6 people about it. I work very hard at reversing that in my own personal life. I've not had any negative experiences at any Apple Store or at my local AT&T store (The only one I've been to). I did have several at Verizon when I had there service but it was the person I was dealing with and I learned to wait for another person to work with or simply asked for the manager.

I commend you for not getting physical as one poster on here almost did. That solves nothing.

 

[parth6512]

Apple needs to break exclusive contract with AT&T. This would make lot of us happy

 

[pgtogo84bsxy]

You should complain to the store manager about this employee. The person may have been having a bad day, which is no excuse, but this situation isn't a reflection on all AT&T Store employees. Also, you could save other potential or existing AT&T customers from having to deal with this person.

 

[Cottonsworth]

In terms of customer service, I do think Apple has better training for their employees than AT&T. I try to avoid dealing with AT&T whenever possible.

 

[mcarthon]

I think the op is a little pissy spazz. Get over yourself

 

[heavy2healthy]

att is still got the contract and chances are he is some hourly person. So he doesnt care if you buy it there or not. At the att store by me they tend to have a suck ful attitude also. At the apple store it tends to go the other way and its weird. Like they are moonies or something lol. When I went to pick up my new ipad, the girl congratulating me at the door. Unless your giving it to me for free there is nothing to congratulate me for lol .

 

[magiclaffs]

On Customer Service

If I implied that all AT&T stores are like this, I apologize. We have another store about 5 miles from the one I mentioned and they're great (should have gone to that one).

Seriously, I RARELY have bad customer experiences (read consumerist.com for horror stories if you would). I have had consistently great experiences at Apple stores and it shows. I've been in two apple stores this past week- Nashville, Colorado Springs, and they both are great people there. Been to several in San Francisco and they're great as well.

IMO anytime you are putting out hard earned dollars especially for high end products customer service is number one for me. Products like the Ipad, Iphone are all continuing customer service items with long term profit margins. As such stores cannot afford to dismiss customers as if they didn't exist. People vote with their feet and their wallets.

 

[ucfgrad93]

Saturday I went over to my local Apple store here in Colorado Springs. The assistant quickly steered me over to an Apple "expert" in my quest to buy the new Iphone- unfortunately they were out. But he said I could order one. Since there is an AT& T store some 50 yards away I said I'll check there, otherwise I'll be back.

The store you went to is not an official at&t store. It is a Spring Mobile store which is an authorized at&t retailer. They don't sell the iPhone. While I was standing in line to get my iPhone 4, they were offering to buy older iPhones and giving out store credit.

It still sucks that you got crappy service though.

 

[magiclaffs]

Now that makes sense

The store you went to is not an official at&t store. It is a Spring Mobile store which is an authorized at&t retailer. They don't sell the iPhone. While I was standing in line to get my iPhone 4, they were offering to buy older iPhones and giving out store credit.

It still sucks that you got crappy service though.

Now that makes sense. Why would they be interested in selling a product they're not vested in.

On the other hand, AT&T here in the Springs has great coverage, rarely dropped calls, great Ipad 3G wireless service.

 

[docal97]

Pics or it didn't happen

Seriously, what does your comment mean here and how does it apply to the op's comments?

 

[kr00k322]

Ouch that sucks..yeah most of the AT&T workers I deal with in stores are ******s. That's why I just go to the Apple Store for anything iPhone related. Glad to see it worked out in the end though.

 

[vansouza]

I had the very same experience at a Verizon store and happily jumped ship to ATT when the first iPhone came out; and was glad to pay the $135. to exit my Verizon contract.

People are not born with a sense of what is great customer service; they have to be taught and if ATT or Verizon does not or will not school them in good customer service then you get what you and I got.

 

[eye]

Cool story bro

Post of the year.

 

[gmikesell]

When iphone goes to Verizon, plenty of us WON'T be happy, too

Apple needs to break exclusive contract with AT&T. This would make lot of us happy

I hate Verizon with about as much vehemence as you ATT haters who are disgusted with ATT. My 3 experiences with Verizon is that they are every bit as pompous and "anti-customer" as any ATT employee. Now, after considering how hard it is to get an iPhone, being on just one carrier, imagine that same amount of inventory being shared between two carriers! Never the less, I'll stick with ATT if all they carried was palm pre's before I would ever consider going to a Verizon store. I can definately understand why a lot of people feel strongly against ATT but don't disregard that there are many who prefer ATT. Like the previous poster mentioned, a negative experience will get so much more press than positive ones.

 

[MikePA]

So I saunter over to the AT&T store...

Perhaps this was your problem. You should have pranced, sashayed or skipped.

 

[MikePA]

People are not born with a sense of what is great customer service;

BS. You can't teach people to care about helping others. It's not an education issue, it's a hiring problem.

 

[insidmal]

Saturday I went over to my local Apple store here in Colorado Springs. The assistant quickly steered me over to an Apple "expert" in my quest to buy the new Iphone- unfortunately they were out. But he said I could order one. Since there is an AT& T store some 50 yards away I said I'll check there, otherwise I'll be back.

So I saunter over to the AT&T store and there was one person other than me in the store and two clerks. One of them asked me if he could help, then turned his back on me and walked away before I could get two words out of my mouth. He was monkeying around behind the counter and I said, "I can wait till your done." He talked over his shoulder and said "What do you want?" I just waited until he finally looked at me...still monkeying around behind the counter. I said, "If I don't have your attention, forget it." He didn't even look at me and continued his work. So I walked out. I've been an AT&T customer for years...so this guy kissed off another 2 year contract through his store, selling a new Iphone 4.

Back to the Apple store. The clerk was great- I told her the story and she was absolutely shocked. We walked through the order in less than 3 minutes and the phone will be sold through their store.

It seems to me with all the bad publicity that AT&T really is losing customers. Now I see why.

that at&t rep was a moron, they get paid on commission, why would he do that?

 

[Vertigo50]

Okay, I'm not excusing his lack of attention to you, but I also think what you said to him came off sounding a little confrontational, so he probably wasn't that interested in helping you after that.

That being said, I understand how people expect good service, especially when paying a lot of money for something, but you have to understand a few things.

1. People who work at these jobs get paid very little and have to deal with whiny customers all day long. More often than not, they are people who can't get a better job because they don't have good personalities or what not. Is this an excuse for bad service? No, but if you're getting paid $7 an hour, it's hard to get too worked up about helping people.

2. If people are giving you bad service, go somewhere else. Period. Complaining to the manager usually won't accomplish anything more than making you look like a whiner and embarrassing the employee, and it still won't make you happy. Just go spend your money elsewhere. Repeat, go somewhere else. Places with bad service won't magically provide better service just because you're complaining. It's usually the opposite.

If you have the chance to go to an Apple store, go there. Every time. Their service is always top notch and they do everything they can to take care of their customers.

 

[Mike2128]

1. People who work at these jobs get paid very little and have to deal with whiny customers all day long. More often than not, they are people who can't get a better job because they don't have good personalities or what not. Is this an excuse for bad service? No, but if you're getting paid $7 an hour, it's hard to get too worked up about helping people.

This is laughable. I can't speak for agent pay, but corporate would most likely double that hourly + commission.

 

[Rajani Isa]

It is a bad idea to paint all stores with the same broad brush either good or bad.

Yeah - we had that one poster here who had an apple store "genius" try to trick him into thinking his issue was solved (phone wasn't getting data over 3G, apple tech enabled Wifi... "issue solved").

Okay, I'm not excusing his lack of attention to you, but I also think what you said to him came off sounding a little confrontational, so he probably wasn't that interested in helping you after that.

"After that?" Sorry, if you ask someone "How may I help you?" you do not then immediately turn away from them. Suicidal, especially if your store uses any form of secret shoppers.

Reading the OP's post, he did nothing wrong. The AT&T clerk seemed to be thinking he was working in a fast-food drive through.

 

[magiclaffs]

Yup

Okay, I'm not excusing his lack of attention to you, but I also think what you said to him came off sounding a little confrontational, so he probably wasn't that interested in helping you after that.

I have to agree with you. I regretted it the minute I walked out because it placed me on the same level of rudeness.

 

[xjames]

went to the at&t store today (chapman & main in orange county, CA) with a friend who lost his iphone and wanted a new sim card. I took the opportunity to try and convince an employee to give me the full discount price for the iphone 4 (I still need to wait 6 months for it)..

They checked, brought out the manager, but eventually didn't give it to me... but they were always very nice, very polite.

just sayin'