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My odd unpleasant visit to the Apple Store

D

Dunnie

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 19, 2011
5
0
Got My iPhone 4s from verizon ... went to the Apple Store to exchange because of the rattle mentioned here by other users .. compared to my buddies at work, my rattle was really loud, I also wanted to purchase Applecare plus since the new phones build feels cheap to me ... the Genius told me it was within spec and they absolutely would not do any sort of exchange, he also told me that since I did not purchase Applcare plus when I ordered the phone I was out of luck and could not purchase it now (4 days later) ... based on my prior experiences this seemed like odd behavior.

I went to another Apple store, and they immediately exchanged the phone for me. What gives ? When I got home I called apple to order Applecare Plus ... and they were more than happy to oblige me ... this seems incredibly weird .. anyone have any idea how Apple runs their retail locations ? Do they leave policy up to the retail managers of each store ??

I have spent over 80K on Apple Equipment and this kind of obnoxious behavior really turned me off. I'll probably stick with apple since I am invested ... but man this left a bad taste in my mouth.
 
Eh, it really depends on the Genius you talk to. They're like any other human being. Sometimes you catch one in a good mood, sometimes you catch one who woke up on the wrong side of the bed. What can you do.
 
Dunnie said:
the Genius...told me that since I did not purchase Applcare plus when I ordered the phone I was out of luck and could not purchase it now (4 days later)
Click to expand...
The "genius" gave you false information and should be reported to a manager immediately. AppleCare for pre-orders can be purchased until November 14.
 
Dunnie said:
Got My iPhone 4s from verizon ... went to the Apple Store to exchange because of the rattle mentioned here by other users .. compared to my buddies at work, my rattle was really loud, I also wanted to purchase Applecare plus since the new phones build feels cheap to me ... the Genius told me it was within spec and they absolutely would not do any sort of exchange, he also told me that since I did not purchase Applcare plus when I ordered the phone I was out of luck and could not purchase it now (4 days later) ... based on my prior experiences this seemed like odd behavior.

I went to another Apple store, and they immediately exchanged the phone for me. What gives ? When I got home I called apple to order Applecare Plus ... and they were more than happy to oblige me ... this seems incredibly weird .. anyone have any idea how Apple runs their retail locations ? Do they leave policy up to the retail managers of each store ??

I have spent over 80K on Apple Equipment and this kind of obnoxious behavior really turned me off. I'll probably stick with apple since I am invested ... but man this left a bad taste in my mouth.
Click to expand...

Call Applecare (1-800-MYAPPLE) with your serial number ready, you can still purchase it. You have 30 days from the date you purchased your phone, whether or not you got it from Apple, AT&T, Verizon, Sprint etc...

Trust me, my wife just did it yeasterday. She preordered through AT&T.
 
vincenz said:
Eh, it really depends on the Genius you talk to. They're like any other human being. Sometimes you catch one in a good mood, sometimes you catch one who woke up on the wrong side of the bed. What can you do.
Click to expand...
Complain to their manager that you were given false information. The "Genius" should be reprimanded/fired.
 
I forgot to mention that I did escalate to the manager .. his response was .. well the genius told me this ... so it must be correct. About both issues. weird. ah well. Thanks for the replies .. I guess this post was partially to let off some steam.
 
vincenz said:
Eh, it really depends on the Genius you talk to. They're like any other human being. Sometimes you catch one in a good mood, sometimes you catch one who woke up on the wrong side of the bed. What can you do.
Click to expand...

This. They are not robots and can give misinformation. You did the right thing talking to somebody else and getting your issue resolved.
 
Occasionally, you'll get an employee who thinks they are "standing up for the company" in a misguided fashion. If you read the forums enough about return/exchange/warranty issues there are several posters here who think its cheating to *ever* return a phone or get an exchange/warranty replacement.
 
SGMD1 said:
Complain to their manager that you were given false information. The "Genius" should be reprimanded/fired.
Click to expand...

I'm not sticking up for anybody, but throwing out the calls "FIRE THEM" is cold and ridiculous. Thank God the couple of people that called corporate in the company I work for to have ME fired only to find out THEY were misinformed (and they never apologized) didn't get what THEY wanted when they made that call. :mad: It's someones income that could be putting food in a child's mouth.

I stopped in to the Apple Store in the area by my job yesterday for the washed out yellow screen. Comparing it to her own, she agreed it was washed out and indeed yellow, BUT....it was "in spec" I don't understand what would be considered "in spec" with what could easily be considered a defect, but I know there was a line of people and she appeared to want to expedite. She noted it in the system. You have 200 people working for 1 store, you are bound to get one that follows the rules to the letter, and then you have most that go above and beyond. Thank God the ones that follow the rules as written with no deviation tend to be the exception when it comes to Apple.

On another note, I had purchased Final Cut Express and had been going through lesson after lesson to learn it. 4 months after I bought it, Final Cut Pro X released. I perservered trying to learn Express, a bit frustrated that it wasn't more like iMovie with ease of use....this was now 5 months after I bought Express. He asked me if I still had the box for Final Cut Express, which I did. He told me to hold on and went to the back and got approval, he said to bring in the box, they would give me a full refund in credit on Express so I could purchase Final Cut Pro X, he felt I would have a much better experience. These are the little things that keep me coming back. They may not do that store I went to last night, but those efforts to go above and beyond are what I would NEVER get from a retailer, and certainly not from Microsoft.

I will be going to that store tomorrow, I am pretty confident they will take care of me. I certainly would not let one bad experience dictate my future relationship with Apple because I know it is not the norm. Good thing is, now you know what store to go to.
 
sorry to hear about your problem, but I am glad you got it solved. I had a similar problem. A while ago (when the antennae issue was in the norm) We had to iPhones 4s. We notices one was significantly faster... wait not faster the other was just- slower! We took both iPhones in that were in mint condition (other than a tiny scratch from a number on one of them by the dock connector) and showed the 'genuis' how much faster one was than the other. He denied it and blamed everything you could think of; bad sim card, carrier problems, we are not holding it correctly... At that point I was so fed up I threw HUGE fit and the manager came to see what was wrong.. at that point he gave me a refurbished iPhone 4, and than talked to the 'guinis'
 
I think people need to learn to stand up for themselves. No need to get hostile. Calmly ask for a manager, and explain the situation to them. As humans we are imperfect, and some guys may be having a bad day, failed to read the memo, arrived late at the team meeting where this issues was discussed, etc. If you politely but firmly ask to talk to a manager, hopefully you can get many issues resolved. I think many people are embarrassed of asking for a manager and think they are "causing trouble". You are giving Apple money for a product. They are not gifting it to you. You are perfectly entitled to escalate an issue.
 
DougFNJ said:
It's someones income that could be putting food in a child's mouth.
Click to expand...
Oh I completely disagree with this sentiment. There are tons of people who would love to take his job in an instant. If he doesn't respect his job or his customers and/or and can't do the job properly, there are plenty of other people who can.

No one is entitled to a job just because they have bills to pay.
 
master-ceo said:
Some genius are really idiots. I say report the iDiot to corporate.
Click to expand...

Its not that he is an idiot ... i was simply put off by his dismissive attitude and then the managers stubbornness defending his employee. I do think I am going to write to corporate about this experience ... if only to prevent anyone else from suffering the same treatment.
 
SGMD1 said:
Oh I completely disagree with this sentiment. There are tons of people who would love to take his job in an instant. If he doesn't respect his job or his customers and/or and can't do the job properly, there are plenty of other people who can.

No one is entitled to a job just because they have bills to pay.
Click to expand...

You are right, nobody is ENTITLED to a job because they have bills to pay, they can do what a good percentage of the country does and accept ENTITLEMENTS, but thats an argument for another day.


So if one is doing what they are told to the letter without deviation from the rules which unfortunately leaves one dissatisfied, they should lose their job? I'd hate to be the poor slob that would works for you. The OP never said the Genius was being disrespectful, just that it was "in spec" and gave him the same information we get if you look up Applecare+ guidelines and eligibility. Unfortunately I haven't really seen a lot of clarity on Applecare+ and it sounds like it is really easy to misinterpret. Going to Applecare+ section on the website, it states it must be purchased at the same time the iPhone is purchased. People are saying some Apple reps are allowing them to purchase Applecare+ after the fact, and I read something else that said if you break the phone, they will allow you to purchase it at the time of exchange.

You can't please everyone, this fact does not warrant being fired. Some people do their job as they are told, others go above and beyond. It sounds like the OP got someone that was just doing their job.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

Glad you got it sorted out.

Just like any place, some people do their job well and some not so much.

Seems most people do a good job at Apple Stores compared to other retail stores.
 
DougFNJ said:
Going to Applecare+ section on the website, it states it must be purchased at the same time the iPhone is purchased.
Click to expand...
The website also states that those who buy an iPhone 4S after October 14 can get AppleCare any time until November 14.

There is a reasonable expectation for "Geniuses" to be experts on Apple policy. If they aren't sure, then they shouldn't make up false information and should actually check first.
 
This Genius is partially correct regarding AppleCare+ purchase.

B&M Apple Store can add AppleCare+ only if you pre-ordered from Apple.com/Apple Store.

If you pre-ordered thru Verizon, you have to call 800 APL CARE to get AppleCare+ added.

He mislead you by saying you are out of luck.
 
OP: I have rattle and dead pixels :(

Did you have any issues with the stock of the replacement? I'm scheduled for 4:30 at Genius Bar and I'm wondering if it is even worth going or just contacting Apple.

I really don't want to go out, backup my iPhone, prepare to lose it, etc and then be told "We don't have any left. Come back in X weeks!"
 
Dunnie said:
Got My iPhone 4s from verizon ... went to the Apple Store to exchange because of the rattle mentioned here by other users .. compared to my buddies at work, my rattle was really loud, I also wanted to purchase Applecare plus since the new phones build feels cheap to me ... the Genius told me it was within spec and they absolutely would not do any sort of exchange, he also told me that since I did not purchase Applcare plus when I ordered the phone I was out of luck and could not purchase it now (4 days later) ... based on my prior experiences this seemed like odd behavior.

I went to another Apple store, and they immediately exchanged the phone for me. What gives ? When I got home I called apple to order Applecare Plus ... and they were more than happy to oblige me ... this seems incredibly weird .. anyone have any idea how Apple runs their retail locations ? Do they leave policy up to the retail managers of each store ??

I have spent over 80K on Apple Equipment and this kind of obnoxious behavior really turned me off. I'll probably stick with apple since I am invested ... but man this left a bad taste in my mouth.
Click to expand...

I know what you mean. The problem is that the "geniuses" have too much individual authority on what they can or will do for you. The result...You get one who is having a bad day and you're S.O.L.

I'd go back to that store, ask for the manager and tell him the exact story you told here. And then ask him to explain it to you and give you a reasonable explaination. Apple retail policies and procedures should be consistant across the board. Sometimes it works out good (ie. guy walks in apple with a smashed, out of warranty iphone screen and walks out with a replacement free of charge). But then someone else walks in with the EXACT same problem and it's $199 to replace. It really werid that Apple would have such a loose retail policy. It could only cause problems. I had a friend that actually made 4 different appointments at 2 different Apple stores until he got a free replacement. First 3 said NO, 4th appointment got genius in a good mood, and got a free replacement. But those days are gone. Apple no longer will do any 1 time courtesy replacement. But the point is that it was totally pot luck which I think is bad business.

I'm glad they took care of your issue. But it's rediculous that you had to go to a different store and make an additional phone call to get your problem resolved.
 
FYI: that was updated AFTER the fact, so the guy still is not entirely wrong. I don't even work for Apple and I'm sticking up for the guy.

SGMD1 said:
The website also states that those who buy an iPhone 4S after October 14 can get AppleCare any time until November 14.

There is a reasonable expectation for "Geniuses" to be experts on Apple policy. If they aren't sure, then they shouldn't make up false information and should actually check first.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You were met by a geniASS and a douche bag. Bottom line is you got what you needed and that was that. Complain to Apple corporate and go on with your life.

As for the rattle, I feel left out as my phone doesn't rattle.
 
So you got this straightened out right? Now what? What's the purpose of this thread?
 
Dunnie said:
I have spent over 80K on Apple Equipment and this kind of obnoxious behavior really turned me off. I'll probably stick with apple since I am invested ... but man this left a bad taste in my mouth.
Click to expand...

I nodded in agreement until i read this.
You were "that guy" in the store & got shut down lol
 
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