BAD (!) AT&T Experience GREAT Apple Store

[cocky jeremy]

I get the same thing at one of my 4-5 local AT&T stores. They're all a bunch of clueless jerkoffs anyway. You're better off searching a forum for answers you need than going to an AT&T store.

 

[Vertigo50]

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

No, actually I think the walking out was the best thing you did. Going somewhere else should be people's default response to this kind of treatment.

Americans (and I am one) are often guilty of wanting things to be done their way. If they are getting bad service, most people don't think "I guess I should go somewhere else". Instead, they often think "I'm going to find a manager and MAKE them treat me better". This is seriously flawed thinking and also suggests a lot of entitlement mindset.

No store, employee, or company OWES you good service. But, if they give you bad service, you can vote with your wallet. I'm not saying never complain, but just realize that more often than not it will be ignored, and don't get more upset if they still treat you badly. It's the reality of retail.

 

[insidmal]

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.

1. They get paid commission
2. ABSOLUTELY YES! this is what our country's economic system is based on, people "put up" with too much and just "deal with it" far too often, it breaks the system of people just shrug it off, put your money where your mouth is ALWAYS, people will eventually begin to understand that while they are rude to and ignoring customers they are losing sales and hours.. it's simple common sense, if people can't figure it out then it's a training issue and either way it needs to be addressed, but they won't even know there is a problem if just keep going back anyway.. this why Walmart is such a s#!thole, people "deal with it" and keep coming back even though they have terrible service and even worse products..

as far as complaining to the manager, you are totally right.. when I worked for an underpaid job I wasn't always the nicest to customers but they would complain to my boss, or sometimes my boss' boss, and they would play nice and take side with the customer, as soon as they left they would ask my side and blindly believe whatever I told them, so it was never my fault.. you are much more likely to make an impact by simply not going there again, arguing will get you nothing but maybe a feigned apology and a $5 credit.. the OP did absolutely the right thing by leaving, he gave the clerk more of a chance to make it right than I would have..

bottom line, i totally agree with this post and people need to realize that they can spend their money anywhere they want, if someone or something isn't right, don't support it with your money because the differance between a happy customer and an angry customer is where their dollars land, and if they are both standing in the same line their money goes in the same deposit account, no one even knows you had a problem (at least no one that cares, and trust me, no one at the store level cares!)

 

[insidmal]

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'

that's cool... even though there is totally no way they could, it was (a) smart of your friend to ask and at least try and (b) respectful of them to even use their resources to see if it was possible..

this is how it is SUPPOSED to work

 

[insidmal]

I get the same thing at one of my 4-5 local AT&T stores. They're all a bunch of clueless jerkoffs anyway. You're better off searching a forum for answers you need than going to an AT&T store.

Oh totally, Google is my tech support, they don't train employees on most of your random issues that come up, but it's easy to find online where there's a world of shared information (how cliche) to find other people with similar problems and solutions, I had to call tech support at work one time and the tech guy even told me he was searching for answers to the problem and the advice he was giving me was stuff he was reading off a forum that other people said they tried and worked

No, actually I think the walking out was the best thing you did. Going somewhere else should be people's default response to this kind of treatment.

Americans (and I am one) are often guilty of wanting things to be done their way. If they are getting bad service, most people don't think "I guess I should go somewhere else". Instead, they often think "I'm going to find a manager and MAKE them treat me better". This is seriously flawed thinking and also suggests a lot of entitlement mindset.

No store, employee, or company OWES you good service. But, if they give you bad service, you can vote with your wallet. I'm not saying never complain, but just realize that more often than not it will be ignored, and don't get more upset if they still treat you badly. It's the reality of retail.

YES! You are much more likely to make an impact by not shopping there then complaining, all you do if you complain about it, even though you are probably right, is piss people off and put them on the defensive, nothing is accomplished, show them in sales what a poor job they are doing, it all comes down to money for a company and if they are losing it they will do everything they can to get it back