Silly apple store employees...

[brendu]

Had a funny experience I thought id share...

it never ceases to amaze me how an apple store employee can give their customers such incorrect information. I bought a mini today for my grandfather, and I told the sales guy I am a teacher so I should get a discount right... he said he had no idea, he would have to check, I let him (knowing I was right, and sure enough I was) so $50 off... not bad...

Then after all was said and done, I asked what it would cost for me to bring in my 13"MBP and have them swap the ram from 2x1GB to 2x2GB, figuring he would say something like $200-$250... hoping he would say around $100-$125 because then I would save myself the trouble and let them do it... well he told me $600.... im sure he must have thought I meant 1x4GB or something so I simply said thanks and left. But imagine if I had been someone who had no idea he was wrong, I would think apple service was the biggest rip off ever (which is debatable)...

Thats all really... nothing too exciting, just another day of misinformation from the local apple store... thank goodness I have you guys when I have a real question I need answered.

 

[BrianKonarsMac]

The quality of an employee's knowledge varies wildly from person to person - some are truly gifted while others shouldn't even be allowed to touch the computers.

I worked with some people who didn't really know anything about the computers, but at least they KNEW they didn't know, and would come ask the more knowledgeable employees for help. When the employee is just giving out the wrong answer - that's bad news. It's even part of the training that if you don't know the answer, it's okay, as long as you can help the customer find the answer (through online articles, other employees, etc.).

As a customer, I'd prefer to hear an employee say "I don't know", at least then I know they're being honest with me.

 

[Badger^2]

They are sales people, not tech giants.

Sure, there are some exceptions to that, but many people probably more than 3-4 sales people put together.

Putting in your own ram on a MBP isnt hard.

http://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/macbookpro_15_unibody_mem_l/

 

[EndlessMac]

The quality of an employee's knowledge varies wildly from person to person - some are truly gifted while others shouldn't even be allowed to touch the computers.

That is true. A person can not make generalizations of every employee. It's like most retail stores and other services, there are some good employees and some not so good ones. The national franchises want you to think that all of their stores are good but it really comes down to each individual employee at each individual store. That's why when I find a store with good employees I go there even if there is another franchise store a few blocks down the street.

The problem with a lot of retail stores is that the employees are low wage workers so to start off with they are not the most qualified person to begin with and then it comes down to how much the stores actually train them which probably is not much. Most retails stores that I have been to hire sales employees rather than people who actually have experience with the products.

I miss those days when employees of a store actually used to either work in the industry, want to work in the industry, or it's a serious hobby for them so they are knowledgeable about what they are talking about. Nowadays they seem to just hire employees who are good at sales or the cheapest employees they can find who is just working until they can find a better job so they don't care to learn about what they are selling.

 

[THX1139]

Some people live to find fault.

 

[jdusoccer12]

Yeah I know what you mean I had to go to the Apple Store to get my iPhone checked out and my mom went with me. So while I was talking with the Genius my mom went over to look at the new iPod Shuffle I told her about and she complained to the Apple Store employee because she doesn't use the normal headphones and wouldn't be able to change the song or anything. Then the lady that worked there said that no all you have to do is press the button on the iPod, oh wait what happened to the buttons? My mom not knowing anything about iPod other than what I tell her said that they moved them to the headphones.

Yeah Apple employees should at least know a little about the products.

Because those iPods have been out for a couple months by then.

 

[Scott6666]

My 74 year old non-computer-literate father finally took my old MBP, retired his Windows box, and bought one of those $99 Apple in-store support plans. Now when he can't find his mail icon - or some similar level problem - he goes to the Genius and doesn't bother me with it.

Now I don't have to wear my "No, I won't fix your computer" t-shirt when I see him.

That's a lot of what the geniuses are for. And I'm thankful for it.

The genius may get something wrong now and then but I bet they answer 2 - 10x as many "stupid" questions than technically interesting/challenging ones. We should pity not pillory them.

 

[EndlessMac]

Some people live to find fault.

Really? I don't know if you are replying to me or to the OP but is it so much to ask for that an employee of a store actually knows something about what they are trying to sell or at least have someone in the store know? I might as well ask a person off the street for answers otherwise.

 

[brendu]

They are sales people...
Putting in your own ram on a MBP isnt hard.

I know and I would do it myself, I do it to all my machines, I just wanted to find out to satisfy my own curiosity what it would cost...


Endless Mac - couldnt agree more...

My 74 year old non-computer-literate father finally took my old MBP, retired his Windows box, and bought one of those $99 Apple in-store support plans. Now when he can't find his mail icon - or some similar level problem - he goes to the Genius and doesn't bother me with it.
Now I don't have to wear my "No, I won't fix your computer" t-shirt when I see him.
That's a lot of what the geniuses are for. And I'm thankful for it.
The genius may get something wrong now and then but I bet they answer 2 - 10x as many "stupid" questions than technically interesting/challenging ones. We should pity not pillory them.

The geniuses are one thing, they for the most part really know macs and know where to quickly look to find out when they might not know exact figures.. and the kid who was helping me was polite and friendly so I didnt care, but since he is in sales I would hope he could tell me how much it costs to upgrade ram.. im sure there are customers who actually do that, and if he is telling them crazy numbers... he is hurting sales by not selling the extra ram...

on another note:
I actually bought my grandfather a mini today with a new dell 20" to replace his old dell and set it up today with planning on setting it up so he cant do anything to lose icons, or change settings... I found a program called "deeper" that locks the items to the dock among many other features... I got it for the dock locking though so he has his 6 icons on the dock and they are really, really big... Biggest reason I wanted him to get a mac = screen sharing... I can help him whenever he needs without driving for hours to help him...