Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

PC World - laughable buying experience

Scott56R

Scott56R

Guest
Original poster
Mar 14, 2008
119
0
Last night I reserved an iPad for the wife (stops her using mine ;) )

I arrived at the store this morning and the buying experience went like this.

1. Gave my reservation number to a member of staff. I was then instructed to "go over to the iPad accessories, have a look which ones you'd like to purchase today" !!! (even though I had shown no interest in purchasing accessories)

2. Whilst waiting another member of staff came to me "Which accessories have you chosen" ,"erm... None just the iPad thanks". "oh ok, I would recommend a case and a pack of screen protectors as the iPad does scratch very easily", "no, seriously.. I'm good, just the iPad"

3. A sales guy approached me holding an iPad box. "right, if you'd like to follow me to the till I can take payment"

4. I paid for the iPad cash, as I handed over the money to sales guy said, "ahh you're paying cash, for security reasons I need to have this counted by a senior member of staff". I then had to wait at the till with a que forming behind me whilst I waited for a senior member of staff to arrive to double count the money I had handed over

5. After I was given the reciept I was then escorted to "get the item signed out" I asked what this means and basically, I have to have my item signed out of the store by another senior member of staff!

What should have taken mintues, took in total over 30 minutes!!! An absolute joke.
 
well,

I bought a i7MBP at the apple store in NH. Normal Saturday, no special release day.

I called them to see if the MBP I want is available.

I walk in and the first guy with an Apple T Shirst asks if I need help. I say yes, get me a i7 MBP with matte high res screen.
She says ah yes you have to talk with a sales rep. I'll bring you to him.
We go over to the guy and he is busy so I have to wait for about five minutes. He is finally available and asks if he can help me. I say yes, get me a i7 MBP with matte high res screen. He says let me check if we have it in stock. I say yes because I've called already. He says he will check. I wait for about five minutes. He comes back and says yes we have it. I say ok I take it let me pay. He says "no" and "you have to speak to our apple specialist". I say I don't need an apple specialist, I need a MBP. He says it's apple policy and I have to speak to this specialist. He tells me to wait and he will send the specialist. I wait about five minutes and the specialist finally shows up (a ~18 year old guy). He says can I help you? I say yes, get me a i7 MBP with matte high res screen. He starts to consult me. I tell him I know enough about macs and I'm in a hurry and I know what I want. He says "no" and we have to go through an entire annoying list of points. Do I know what mac I want, what MBP, what screen, how do I back up, do I have mobile me, what software, do I need iWorks, what do I do with the mac (none of their f%^&&**^ business) and blah blah blah. Finally I'm done and he says I can have the MBP now. I say fine lets pay. He says "no" you have to talk to the sales guy. We go over to a different sales guy. He is busy and I have to wait for about 5 minutes.
He is finally available and asks if he can help me. I say yes, get me a i7 MBP with matte high res screen. He says let me check if we have it in stock. I say yes because I've called already. He says he will check. I wait for about five minutes. He comes back and says yes we have it. I say ok I take it let me pay.
He says ok I'll get it for you. I wait for 2 minutes. He gets it and I give him my Amex card. He swipes it and 1 min later I have a call from Amex to authorize the purchase and he has a call from Amex to authorize the purchase. After some talking on the phone he gives me the MBP and I check if its the right one and just run out.......

Seriously if I hadn't needed the MBP and wasn't going to Europe the next day I would have walked out.
It's ridiculous. I should take 2 minutes to buy that damn thing. It took 45 minutes and 4 people. It's nice to have service available when I want it but making it mandatory is a joke.
 
To be honest, counting the paper money I can understand--it's much too easy for cash to go missing when dealing with larger amounts when the store is overly busy with a hot item. And I suppose you could grab an iPad and wave an old receipt to get out if they don't escort you around with your rare and precious marvel. Anyway, I can sympathise with a certain amount of paranoia. I imagine those 5 employees don't earn nearly as much in a day as the cost of a few iPads.

On the other hand, trying to sell you a bunch of screen protectors and other things you don't want, that annoys the daylights out of me. I can't stand the "hard sell." I've walked right out of a Mac-store-that-will-not-be-named when "hard sell" turned into "obnoxious jerkery."
 
andiwm2003 said:
well,

I bought a i7MBP at the apple store in NH. Normal Saturday, no special release day.

I called them to see if the MBP I want is available.

I walk in and the first guy with an Apple T Shirst asks if I need help. I say yes, get me a i7 MBP with matte high res screen.
She says ah yes you have to talk with a sales rep. I'll bring you to him.
We go over to the guy and he is busy so I have to wait for about five minutes. He is finally available and asks if he can help me. I say yes, get me a i7 MBP with matte high res screen. He says let me check if we have it in stock. I say yes because I've called already. He says he will check. I wait for about five minutes. He comes back and says yes we have it. I say ok I take it let me pay. He says "no" and "you have to speak to our apple specialist". I say I don't need an apple specialist, I need a MBP. He says it's apple policy and I have to speak to this specialist. He tells me to wait and he will send the specialist. I wait about five minutes and the specialist finally shows up (a ~18 year old guy). He says can I help you? I say yes, get me a i7 MBP with matte high res screen. He starts to consult me. I tell him I know enough about macs and I'm in a hurry and I know what I want. He says "no" and we have to go through an entire annoying list of points. Do I know what mac I want, what MBP, what screen, how do I back up, do I have mobile me, what software, do I need iWorks, what do I do with the mac (none of their f%^&&**^ business) and blah blah blah. Finally I'm done and he says I can have the MBP now. I say fine lets pay. He says "no" you have to talk to the sales guy. We go over to a different sales guy. He is busy and I have to wait for about 5 minutes.
He is finally available and asks if he can help me. I say yes, get me a i7 MBP with matte high res screen. He says let me check if we have it in stock. I say yes because I've called already. He says he will check. I wait for about five minutes. He comes back and says yes we have it. I say ok I take it let me pay.
He says ok I'll get it for you. I wait for 2 minutes. He gets it and I give him my Amex card. He swipes it and 1 min later I have a call from Amex to authorize the purchase and he has a call from Amex to authorize the purchase. After some talking on the phone he gives me the MBP and I check if its the right one and just run out.......

Seriously if I hadn't needed the MBP and wasn't going to Europe the next day I would have walked out.
It's ridiculous. I should take 2 minutes to buy that damn thing. It took 45 minutes and 4 people. It's nice to have service available when I want it but making it mandatory is a joke.
Click to expand...

That sucks. When i purchased my 27" iMac in November I was in and out in 5-10 mins. Guy came up to me, I told them I know everything that I need to know about an iMac, and he said ok and I gave him my card and it was over with.
 
I agree with you guys, PC World truly are dire and for anyone wanting to purchase from them don't visit one of their stores unless you want to deal with people who have less idea than you do.

Went in a few months ago just to check see which iMacs they had in stock, they only had the core 2 duo models in so I ask the salesman "do you have any iMacs with the Core i5 or i7 processor?" and was give the following answers from diffent ones: "what's a Core I processor?" "Apple don't use those yet" " it's just a new brand name, the core 2 duos are just as fast!" :rolleyes:
 
andiwm2003 said:
well,

I bought a i7MBP at the apple store in NH. Normal Saturday, no special release day.

Story about a fantastically stupid and long ordeal.
Click to expand...

I don't use PCWorld to buy my computers, but it seems to be the case with big corporations in the retail business.

When I bought my first laptop, a Samsung X10, I had to wait 20 minutes until I got it (it is some big chain with stores across Europe, called MediaMarkt)

When I bought my first iBook, I was in and out of the store in five minutes, I payed by card. The store is a small chain with 30 or so stores nationwide.

When I bought my first iMac at the same store, I was out in less than ten minutes, the longest part was the counting of the money.

When I bough my first MacBook in the same store, I got in, said what I wanted (4GB instead of 2GB), so the had to upgrade the MB in store, which took the longest (30 minutes), but that was okay, as I could go somewhere else in between. The ordering and paying took less than five minutes again, and I paid with cash.

When I bought my first MacBook Pro at another, smaller store (three stores in the whole country) I got it in less than five minutes, and I paid by cash again.

The second MacBook Pro at that same store took me five minutes again, and I paid cash.

So all in all, the smaller the store chain, the faster the whole process.

The Samsung got three to five people involved, the iBook and iMac and MacBook had two people involved, and the MacBook Pros had only one involved, the cashier, which got the MBPs for me and counted the cash without any help.
 
Apple store was packed, everyone playing with and buying iPads.
I walked in, said I wanted an iPad, the clerk went to the back room, returning in less than 1 minute holding my iPad, He scanned my CC and I was gone. Total time spent in Apple store buying an iPad 4 days after introduction: 3 minutes.
 
Les Kern said:
Apple store was packed, everyone playing with and buying iPads.
I walked in, said I wanted an iPad, the clerk went to the back room, returning in less than 1 minute holding my iPad, He scanned my CC and I was gone. Total time spent in Apple store buying an iPad 4 days after introduction: 3 minutes.
Click to expand...

I bought my 3G iPad on release day of the 3G iPad's about one hour after they started selling them in a Boston Apple Store. No line and I was in and out in 3 min.

I think it's just in some stores where the manager thinks he's smarter than the customers and the market and wants to create a "special" experience while all he/she creates is an annoyance.
Maybe a Harvard MBA (ducks and runs out of thread..........):D
 
Les Kern said:
Apple store was packed, everyone playing with and buying iPads.
I walked in, said I wanted an iPad, the clerk went to the back room, returning in less than 1 minute holding my iPad, He scanned my CC and I was gone. Total time spent in Apple store buying an iPad 4 days after introduction: 3 minutes.
Click to expand...


^^ exactly how it should be
 
Wow those apple employees are a total joke. They shouldn't consult people who are ready to buy. I would have walked out if they went to more than a second person for "consulting".

Scott56R said:
Last night I reserved an iPad for the wife (stops her using mine ;) )

I arrived at the store this morning and the buying experience went like this.

1. Gave my reservation number to a member of staff. I was then instructed to "go over to the iPad accessories, have a look which ones you'd like to purchase today" !!! (even though I had shown no interest in purchasing accessories)

2. Whilst waiting another member of staff came to me "Which accessories have you chosen" ,"erm... None just the iPad thanks". "oh ok, I would recommend a case and a pack of screen protectors as the iPad does scratch very easily", "no, seriously.. I'm good, just the iPad"

3. A sales guy approached me holding an iPad box. "right, if you'd like to follow me to the till I can take payment"

4. I paid for the iPad cash, as I handed over the money to sales guy said, "ahh you're paying cash, for security reasons I need to have this counted by a senior member of staff". I then had to wait at the till with a que forming behind me whilst I waited for a senior member of staff to arrive to double count the money I had handed over

5. After I was given the reciept I was then escorted to "get the item signed out" I asked what this means and basically, I have to have my item signed out of the store by another senior member of staff!

What should have taken mintues, took in total over 30 minutes!!! An absolute joke.
Click to expand...
 
Did the same on release day with second sign out. Covers staffs back incase they give you wrong model. I.e size/3G. That's why. No pressure on accessories then
 
I remember you mentioning something about the 'experience' .. I was 'told' I was purchasing basically Matt.

No big deal at the end of the day, they could really make it 'slicker' though
 
That's just how consultative salespeople are trained.

When I used to work consultative sales back in the day they didn't want us to just let a customer buy the product, we had to consult them. The idea was that A) We could earn more money by showing the customer add-ons he/she hadn't though of, and B) By consulting we could make sure that it was the right product for the customer, thereby reducing returns.

I'm not saying it makes any sense, but that's what they trained us to do.:rolleyes:
 
I had a perfectly acceptable iPad buying experience in a PC World in Leicester.

Walked in on the off chance they had the model I wanted, as I had been waiting on the Apple Store reservation list for quite some time at this point. Asked the bloke what models they had in stock, they had the 32gb 3G that I wanted.

The bloke asks me if I'd like a case and AppleCare, which I decline, and then asks me which SIM and network I want, and then goes out for about 30 seconds to get the iPad and the SIM. Straight to the tills, pay on my card, done in 5 minutes.

I was expecting a hard sell on AppleCare and the accessories but none of the kind. I have no problem with a sales rep politely asking me if I want to purchase an extra, as long as they don't push me if I say no.
 
testcard said:
Fosse Park? I often visit that store to watch the tumbleweed rolling down the aisles ;)
Click to expand...

Hah, yes it was Fosse Park. You're right though, the store is huge, and its pretty empty whenever I rarely go in there! I really would never buy a PC or anything from there, but they had the iPad I wanted when Apple didn't...so I cannot fault them.
 
Wirelessly posted (iPhone 3GS: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A293 Safari/6531.22.7)

I ordered my iPad and recent iPhones online. My iPhone 4 came a day early. Not going into the store unless I have too
 
I cannot for the life of me understand why anybody shops in PC World. Useless bunch of idiots who know nothing yet still try and talk down to you.
 
Dont Hurt Me said:
I wonder if these guys knew what the paper was you were handing them. Stupid just stupid when you cant buy with cash wtf is this world becoming?
Click to expand...

No it's not because you have no idea what a PIA (and dangerous liability) it is for a business to handle cash. Cash requires too may safeguards like multiple counting each time it changes hands (one reason it required a manager since he would ultimately have to count it anyway), a safe to hold, management time to balance and a security company to haul it to the bank. Also insurance policies are pro rated on the amount of cash you handle so the less cash the lower your premium.
 
lol, well i think that's the paranoia of staff who knows that their company is testing them and if they fail they'll loose their job.

They do strictly as written in the book, with no room to actaully find out what the customer really needs and get it. In your case, a fast purchase of a MBP.
ok, that they try to sell you something else, is natural, but they should get it, if you say, you don't need something, or that you know what you want.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back