Let me start by saying that my purchasing experience with Apple is usually a pleasure. I've been to many of their stores, across several states, and have purchased online quite a few times.
Unfortunately this isn't the case when I visit the Walt Whitman Apple store in Huntington, NY. I've had some issues with this store in the past. On more than one occasion, employees of this particular store have lied to me. One genius had lied to me about my iPhone when I was trying to get it replaced. I called her out on it but she played stupid and kept rejecting me. I immediately drove to another local store and it was replaced with no questions asked, because the issue was apparent.
Another time they couldn't find my reserved iPad and blatantly lied about their reservation policy. I pulled up their policy on my phone and, once again, they played stupid with me. Ends up they were looking in the wrong location, and my reservation was there. So much about their supposed policy they lied about.
Yesterday I received an email letting me know that my reserved iPad was waiting for me at the store. This particular iPad was reserved under my father's name and was going to be a father's day gift for him. Understanding that he needed to be present in order to purchase it, I had him meet me at the store. We were asked for his ID and were also asked who as going to be paying for it. I told them I'd be paying for it, as it's a father's day gift, to which I was told that this isn't possible. This came as a surprise to me, as I have purchased iPads under other peoples names before, as gifts. They were present to show their ID, and I bought it for them. No questions asked.
I asked to see a manager and, after about 15 minutes of waiting, a man comes out. I explain the situation and he claims it's corporate policy that the person who reserved the iPad must pay for it. I ask if this is a new policy, and he tells me that it has been implemented since the launch of the iPad. I explain that I've purchased iPads, that weren't reserved under my name, as gifts before and didn't have an issue. A couple being in that very store. He tells me that I should not have been allowed to purchase them and that the lifetime purchasing limit for iPads is 6 anyway, so I'm over my limit regardless. I purchased two iPads last week and returned one, so in theory I should still have one purchase left if this were true.
I find it very hard to believe that every other time I purchased an iPad this policy was ignored. The manager was telling me that people buy and sell them (as if I didn't know) and that's why I couldn't purchase it for my father, regardless of having the same last name and both of us being present. I could just reserve it under my own name and buy/sell it if I really wanted to.
Anyway, I just thought I'd share this with everyone. Have you had a similar experience regarding iPad purchases at the Apple store? Sure my dad could have paid for it himself, or we could have used cash (thanks to Apple changing their policy after a woman had saved money and couldn't purchase one when it was credit/debit only) but at this point I didn't want to purchase it from that particular store based on principle. I reserved one at another Apple store and walked out.
Unfortunately this isn't the case when I visit the Walt Whitman Apple store in Huntington, NY. I've had some issues with this store in the past. On more than one occasion, employees of this particular store have lied to me. One genius had lied to me about my iPhone when I was trying to get it replaced. I called her out on it but she played stupid and kept rejecting me. I immediately drove to another local store and it was replaced with no questions asked, because the issue was apparent.
Another time they couldn't find my reserved iPad and blatantly lied about their reservation policy. I pulled up their policy on my phone and, once again, they played stupid with me. Ends up they were looking in the wrong location, and my reservation was there. So much about their supposed policy they lied about.
Yesterday I received an email letting me know that my reserved iPad was waiting for me at the store. This particular iPad was reserved under my father's name and was going to be a father's day gift for him. Understanding that he needed to be present in order to purchase it, I had him meet me at the store. We were asked for his ID and were also asked who as going to be paying for it. I told them I'd be paying for it, as it's a father's day gift, to which I was told that this isn't possible. This came as a surprise to me, as I have purchased iPads under other peoples names before, as gifts. They were present to show their ID, and I bought it for them. No questions asked.
I asked to see a manager and, after about 15 minutes of waiting, a man comes out. I explain the situation and he claims it's corporate policy that the person who reserved the iPad must pay for it. I ask if this is a new policy, and he tells me that it has been implemented since the launch of the iPad. I explain that I've purchased iPads, that weren't reserved under my name, as gifts before and didn't have an issue. A couple being in that very store. He tells me that I should not have been allowed to purchase them and that the lifetime purchasing limit for iPads is 6 anyway, so I'm over my limit regardless. I purchased two iPads last week and returned one, so in theory I should still have one purchase left if this were true.
I find it very hard to believe that every other time I purchased an iPad this policy was ignored. The manager was telling me that people buy and sell them (as if I didn't know) and that's why I couldn't purchase it for my father, regardless of having the same last name and both of us being present. I could just reserve it under my own name and buy/sell it if I really wanted to.
Anyway, I just thought I'd share this with everyone. Have you had a similar experience regarding iPad purchases at the Apple store? Sure my dad could have paid for it himself, or we could have used cash (thanks to Apple changing their policy after a woman had saved money and couldn't purchase one when it was credit/debit only) but at this point I didn't want to purchase it from that particular store based on principle. I reserved one at another Apple store and walked out.
Would have loved getting my iPad as a gift.... 
