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Why don't Apple Store Employees know anything about the watch?

Just tried to try on the Apple watch without an appointment, was rebuffed by the employee that I must make an appointment.

Okay, I understand that when there are too many people trying it on, appointments help organize the process.
But when there is nobody trying it on, what the **** is the point of appointment?

This Apple watch launch is just completely idiotic.
 
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The point of appointments that they might only have 1 (2 for more expensive models) person allocated to try ons. You might walk in at 11:55 and see nobody trying it on - but what if someone has an appointment at 12? Should they wait because you walked in without an appointment.

The employee could see the appointment schedule - and if they said you needed an appointment, there's a reason for that.
 
Brian Y said:
The point of appointments that they might only have 1 (2 for more expensive models) person allocated to try ons. You might walk in at 11:55 and see nobody trying it on - but what if someone has an appointment at 12? Should they wait because you walked in without an appointment.

The employee could see the appointment schedule - and if they said you needed an appointment, there's a reason for that.
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I don't disagree with anything you said, but just wanted to add that IMO if they employee DIDN'T take the time to explain that to SHNXX, and offer to check for when the next appointment was, then that's a fail on the employee's part.
 
aristobrat said:
I don't disagree with anything you said, but just wanted to add that IMO if they employee DIDN'T take the time to explain that to SHNXX, and offer to check for when the next appointment was, then that's a fail on the employee's part.
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I agree. I've walked into an Apple Store and asked to try on the watch without setting up an appointment ahead of time, and while they did say I need an appointment, they set one up for me on the spot, and I only had to wait like five minutes.
 
Like any store, some employees are more passionate and knowledgeable about their products than others. But in general, for the past decade, Apple products have basically sold themselves. People line up to shove money into Apple's hands and ask questions later. Maybe Apple has become a little complacent in product training.

When a product like a watch comes along that isn't as instantly intuitive and obvious as an iPhone or a MacBook, and that most (relatively low wage) retail employees don't need (everyone needs a phone; no one needs a watch) and can't afford to buy for themselves and investigate, then they're gonna sound a little ignorant if you have deeper questions beyond "is it in stock?" and "how do I turn it on?"
 
How many of us have gone into a large PC store, like PC World, or in UK Curries, etc., to find that you know more about their products than they do, if you are a gadget geek, as most of us who prowl these forums, but to Joe blog they "may" look as if they are all knowledgeable, I have stood and listened to a expert telling a customer they "need" a pen drive with their new laptop for it to be productive.
 
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jimkraz said:
How many of us have gone into a large PC store, like PC World, or in UK Curries, etc., to find that you know more about their products than they do, if you are a gadget geek, as most of us who prowl these forums, but to Joe blog they "may" look as if they are all knowledgeable, I have stood and listened to a expert telling a customer they "need" a pen drive with their new laptop for it to be productive.
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What is a pen drive?
 
They seem to be learning by doing. The ones wearing a watch knew their stuff. The ones that weren't were very well versed in the basics but needed help with more complex questions. If you haven't actually worn one for a while, I guess it would be tough.
 
Night Spring said:
I agree. I've walked into an Apple Store and asked to try on the watch without setting up an appointment ahead of time, and while they did say I need an appointment, they set one up for me on the spot, and I only had to wait like five minutes.
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Nobody set me up. The guy continued to just chill there with another guy, doing nothing. At least the other one was wiping the watches clean while idling but the one doing nothing just stood there.

I was not in a U.S. Apple Store so I guess employees are probably worse than the ones in America.
 
pooleman said:
You insulted the Golden Calf. Prepare to reap the world-wind.
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Lol, well at least this person spoke the truth. What people were objecting to in the Angela threads was the tendency people demonstrated for blaming pretty much every screwup Apple made on Angela just because she is currently the one with the most name recognition among the Apple executives.

But this aspect IS her responsibility. She should be made aware of such a concern. The last time I was in the Apple Store last weekend, nearly every employee was finally wearing an Apple Watch and seemed happy to talk about them and very realistically, not in just a canned corporate rah rah way.
 
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JarScott said:
That seems careless of Apple.
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For each product launch it was basically this:

The product was launched at the keynote on lets say 10th June and released to the public on the 20th june

The staff would then have those 10 days to learn the product WITHOUT seeing it or playing with it and then the first time we actually get to HOLD the product is when we walk past the queue on launch day ahead of opening.

Its very hard selling a product youve literally seen for like 10 minutes but tbh most customers you speak to know its new so understand you wouldnt of seen it before hand.
 
leeingham said:
For each product launch it was basically this:

The product was launched at the keynote on lets say 10th June and released to the public on the 20th june

The staff would then have those 10 days to learn the product WITHOUT seeing it or playing with it and then the first time we actually get to HOLD the product is when we walk past the queue on launch day ahead of opening.

Its very hard selling a product youve literally seen for like 10 minutes but tbh most customers you speak to know its new so understand you wouldnt of seen it before hand.
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That's the strange part- I wonder why Apple won't allow hourly employee training sessions (hands on) between announcement and launch day? Or they're worried about leaks?

They give out plenty of review units under NDA in advance.
 
AppleWes said:
That's the strange part- I wonder why Apple won't allow hourly employee training sessions (hands on) between announcement and launch day? Or they're worried about leaks?

They give out plenty of review units under NDA in advance.
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This is understandable.


Reviewers who leak would never be given access in the future again and it would be disastrous for their careers.
Apple retail employees who leak would get paid by willing media outlets and could quit their low paying jobs.
 
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SHNXX said:
Reviewers who leak would never be given access in the future again and it would be disastrous for their careers.
Apple retail employees who leak would get paid by willing media outlets and could quit their low paying jobs.
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Good point. Sad but true!
 
We've had the same issue when buying a car.... even "I" know more about the particular model we are looking at then most sales people know... but that's because I've been online researching all I can about what i'm interested in!

when I went into apple for my try on appt.... I had to bite my lip when the girl was telling me about the watch.... I already knew everything she told me... but I played the good customer and said my "oh is that right?" and other appropriate comments.... lol!
 
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caligurl said:
We've had the same issue when buying a car.... even "I" know more about the particular model we are looking at then most sales people know... but that's because I've been online researching all I can about what i'm interested in!

when I went into apple for my try on appt.... I had to bite my lip when the girl was telling me about the watch.... I already knew everything she told me... but I played the good customer and said my "oh is that right?" and other appropriate comments.... lol!
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I can't do tha type of pretending anymore. I have no tolerance for it. TheY know me at my local Ape store now and generally leave me alone unless I ask specifically for help.
 
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AppleWes said:
That's the strange part- I wonder why Apple won't allow hourly employee training sessions (hands on) between announcement and launch day? Or they're worried about leaks?

They give out plenty of review units under NDA in advance.
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In the three years I was there we never ONCE got a product early. The earliest people saw it wa the visual team who put it out over night and even they only saw it the night before.
 
Arthur Driessen said:
I went to an apple store and tried to get info on how the calorie tracker in conjunction with the exercise app works. No one knew the answers to my questions. I went to another store. Same result. I went to another store and tried to find out about what turns the heart beat sensor on and off. No one could answer my questions.

Why are apple employees not fully trained to answer questions like they are on the other apple products? Wouldn't it have been wise for apple to have a couple training seminars for their employees before they released the watch?
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What kind of questions are those to ask? they are somewhat vague without any clue as to what exactly you are looking for in an answer. Not to mention going to the apple store to get this info is silly when it's easily searchable online and that way you can figure out what exactly you are wanting to know.
 
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GrumpyMom said:
Lol, well at least this person spoke the truth.
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NO.

I am not having this.

It is completely unreasonable to expect someone who is paid millions and millions and millions of dollars to be good at their jobs.

The Apple Watch launch in general, and Ahrendt's role in particular, are beyond criticism of any kind. It has all been flawlessly executed. Anyone who says otherwise is an enemy of the people.
 
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Ahh..I'm going into hiding. Too bad my avatar is already wearing a hat and a fake mustache. I'll have to find another disguise!
 
The Apple Store experiment has changed. It's natural due to sheer increase in user base. Genius Bar spots are now days in advance rather than same day, etc. the workshops aren't as good as they used to be.
 
AppleWes said:
That's the strange part- I wonder why Apple won't allow hourly employee training sessions (hands on) between announcement and launch day? Or they're worried about leaks?

They give out plenty of review units under NDA in advance.
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Because they're just that... sales staff.

They're taught how to sell accessories, to highlight the main features of a watch, and how to sell things like AppleCare. Beyond that, there's no point investing hours of training for the one edge case who walks into a store wanting to know anything beyond the basic details - most of those people would buy online anyway.

In the same way that a car salesman won't know what oil goes in your Honda, or a PC World salesman doesn't know what speed RAM is in a HP laptop.
 
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