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Rude Apple Store Worker - My first apple store experience

devilot said:
That just about sums up how I feel about Apple. I have never received great service from the retail Apple stores. :(
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Agreed! I'm afraid to purchase Apple products in store anymore because every time I did in the past I got a bad product and had to fight to get an exchange/refund. It is sad to see it is still going on :(
 
Chrispy said:
Agreed! I'm afraid to purchase Apple products in store anymore because every time I did in the past I got a bad product and had to fight to get an exchange/refund. It is sad to see it is still going on :(
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Wow, I've had very painless refunds on Apple products. (Non-computer/iPod) I usually just come up with "It didn't meet my expectations." as my reason for returning it.
 
Eidorian said:
Wow, I've had very painless refunds on Apple products. (Non-computer/iPod) I usually just come up with "It didn't meet my expectations." as my reason for returning it.
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That makes me feel a little better. There is one guy in the Indy store (where I'm sure you have been many times haha) who is always very helpful when I ask to speak to him. Unfortunately he is not there often when I am there. Perhaps things have changed in the 8 months since I was last there.
 
Chrispy said:
That makes me feel a little better. There is one guy in the Indy store (where I'm sure you have been many times haha) who is always very helpful when I ask to speak to him. Unfortunately he is not there often when I am there. Perhaps things have changed in the 8 months since I was last there.
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I've had some bad experiences with the manager and a certain Genius there. I think I know too much about Apple products. They don't want me to out class their sales associates with product information. Still, I know not to be a jerk and it works out. The floor sales people that do know me (I wear Apple Store t-shirts everytime I go) know to stay away.
 
Abulia said:
I doubt it.

Speaking of SLC, the Apple Store in Salt Lake does have the 1.83 Ghz MacBooks in stock as of yesterday. They're all out of the 2.0 Ghz white and black models, though.
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Thanks. I ordered from the online store. I can't justify a six-hour round trip in gas dollars when I can just pay $20 more for express shipping.
 
My wife and i always go to shop there, but i never stepped into apple store until that day when i went to buy the macbook pros, i dont usually go to willow bend in basketball attire but i dont think my appareance should matters when i'm in a store to buy something.
 
Name of Valley Fair Apple Store Manager?

Devilot - do you have the name of the Valley Fair/Oakridge Apple Store manager? I am sending a letter of complaint, and I think it is better when it is addressed to an individual instead of "To Whom It May Concern."
 
Isn't the Apple store at Willow Bend the new one just opened. I reccomend going to the one in the Galleria or if you don't mind a drive go to the one in the Woodlands. Those 2 always have great support.
 
It has definetly been hit or miss for me. The biltmore apple store here has been awfull, whereas the chandler store has been nothing but awesome everytime i go in. The biltmore store i recieved rude service and i swear i was asked 5 or 6 times to buy .mac and applecare. It sucks having to drive 30 mins out of my way to get to the chandler store but its worth it for the customer service.
 
I visited a few Apple Stores in Buffalo NY, Syracuse, Woodcliff Lake NJ, Rockaway NJ, and Danbury CT. Syracuse, Rockway, and Danbury are smaller stores and have limited display areas. So far, I have not had complains with those stores (neutral experience). I noticed Buffalo store has more active sales associates on the floor. I bought some peripherals and external HD at Woodcliff Lake on several visits I made there; but, I have not been asked if I need help by their sales associates not even once.

Fortunately, I have not gone through the warranty issues with any of my Macs; so I have not had any opportunity to test out how those stores handle my case yet.

I hope there is a web site which lists up all the Apple Stores' user experience. By this way, a potential shopper can check on the reputation of the store before he/she goes there for shopping.
 
FirePak said:
It has definetly been hit or miss for me. The biltmore apple store here has been awfull, whereas the chandler store has been nothing but awesome everytime i go in. The biltmore store i recieved rude service and i swear i was asked 5 or 6 times to buy .mac and applecare. It sucks having to drive 30 mins out of my way to get to the chandler store but its worth it for the customer service.
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I have been to the Biltmore store once, and yeah, they seriously didn't understand that I didn't want the .mac account and the Apple Care. The guy even brought the Apple Care with the iMac after we told him we didn't want it. I had to tell him again after he brought it out that we didn't want it. They also tried to get us to get the ipod, and it was hard for them to understand that we didn't want that either.

Unfortunately, it already takes me about 30 minutes to get to the Biltmore store, and it'd probably take well over an hour for the Chandler store since I live in way north Peoria.

When I get my MacBook on Thursday, my mom wants to come along to check out the iMacs. I hope there is someone awesome working, because I don't want her first impression of Apple to be based upon a rude sales person.
 
bookarts said:
Devilot - do you have the name of the Valley Fair/Oakridge Apple Store manager? I am sending a letter of complaint, and I think it is better when it is addressed to an individual instead of "To Whom It May Concern."
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:)

Kathi Handrahan
General Manager
Apple Retail Stores
Valley Fair and Oakridge
 
Apple hardware may be nice, but you should expect that humans will be human. Rude ones, whether they work for Apple or Microsoft, will be just that.

Hope you like your MacBook Pro. And what would happen if the replacement had bad pixels too?
 
Thanks

Thanks Devilot! Luckily, my experience there was mostly good, and my complaint is minor.
 
I had the same problem so I just went to compusa to buy my macbook. I was happy that I did.The didn't even bug me about the warranty.
 
I must confess I met a great one in the Meadowhall store today, guy named Stevie and despite knowing he wasn't going to get the sale (with the NUS discount online being massive) he was real helpful going through things. just wanted to point that one out.
 
I've only had one rude treatment at the Apple Store, as those of you who saw my story posted in the MacBook release thread would remember. I'm not going to repost it here, but I'll say that while I don't remember anything rude from my other trips, I'm only approached/acknowledged about half the time, though it's probably obvious that I'm only there to play around most of the time.

jW
 
I'm going to start by saying, I've never had a bad experience in an Apple Store.

I think alot of people are commenting on their non-aggressive sales attititude. because they are used to going to best buy or the gap and having sales associates shoving product down their throats. I REALLY appreciate going to an apple store, and being left alone... because I'm not an idiot, I do my research, and when I'm ready to buy something, I will let them know.
I hate hate hate, having people try to sell me on something, or try to tell me how much I need something I dont. I almost screamed when I got my cellphone... no I dont want more minutes... no I dont want more text messages, IM FINE! STOP SELLING ME STUFF I DONT NEED

So,I really think that apple's retail model is Brilliant, and although i think the original poster, did have a poor experience, you cant avoid those completely with any company, but being passive, and watching the sales associate help other people, is probably not the best way to solve your problem... how about taking a deep breath, and talking to someone else. Nobody is perfect, many people make assumptions upon the way you look. Its not right, but its hard to blame him.
having worked in guitar stores, 99 times out of 100, the dirty guy with beer on his breath who comes in with stains on his torn sweatpants, is not going to buy the guitar or amp he wants to try out... however I will say that I've sold a few to such fellows.
anyway, some one was asking about commission... Im pretty sure that Apple store employees do not work on commission.

I really agree with the person that said that consumer expectations in this country are screwed up. its fast food culture. everyone expects extreamly fast, and good service. just like at mcdonalds where you can wait in line for just one minute pay under 5 bucks and have a cheeseburger made out of 100 different chemicals. what a deal!
 
To start off, I am a 15 year old guy...

Last night I saw An Inconvenient Truth and afterward went to the Apple Store in the mall. It was around 8:50, and there were only a few people in the store, with most of the workers standing around talking to each other. I walk in and first go to the software section and then over to the Macbooks so I can test them out.

Not one person greeted me or came up to see if I had any questions or needed any help. While I didn't have any questions about the MB, I was going to ask one of them about Automator if anyone came up to me. In the past if I'm in there with my parents, several workers will approach us to ask if we had been helped, and last night, there was a worker helping an adult customer.

I find it very annoying and rude that no one cares to help me. Being the most knowledgeable computer person and the mac promoter in the family, I have a strong influence in what we buy. Just because I don't carry the credit card doesn't mean I shouldn't be helped. Not only does this annoy me, but my mom also finds this offensive when I tell her the story, as this is not the first time I have been ignored. She has suggested writing to Apple. Should I write to the store or corprate office, or should I even bother?
 
Sorry kid. It's my experience that 15 year old kids in Apple Stores are usually just looking at MySpace and surfing the web, especially 10 minutes before the store closes. If you really were interested in a product, you would have asked someone for help. Odds are, 15 year old kids aren't buying computers (though some may be), but usually employees leave kids alone unless they are taking up a computer for an extended period of time or being obnoxious. You yourself said you're the most knowledgeable one in the family...you probably know more than the Mac Specialists, why even bother asking them? They are there to help switchers and people who are afraid of technology.
 
don't bother. that's how life is. i'm not saying it's cool or nice, but it's certainly not something that's only going to happen at apple stores.

that's just my opinion though.
 
Um, this ties in to how I was treated at the Apple Store.

I've been to two Apple Stores in my life (once when I bought my MBP, and once when I bought iWork '06.)

In the Falls Apple Store down in Miami, I was treated nicely, everybody was friendly, etc, and we got in and out in giffy (though i did the second time too, but merely because I wanted a piece of software the second time). Not only that, but they gave me a student discount on the computer.

When I went to the one at St. John's Town Centre in Jax, FL, I was treated...eh...looking back on it, it doesn't make sense.

The guy said that I couldn't get a student discount at the store and that I had to order the piece of software online in order to get the student discount. It wasn't so much that it was the complete and utter rudeness in which he stated it. I needed it, so I bought it for the full price. I either got scammed by the guy, or he was telling the truth in a manner which was incredibly rude regardless.
 
benthewraith said:
I either got scammed by the guy, or he was telling the truth in a manner which was incredibly rude regardless.
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You weren't scammed, you can't get software at EDU price in Apple Stores, only online. And put yourself in his shoes, you're probably the 50th person he told that to that day. Yes, in a perfect world, he would be polite and kind to every person who came in, but this is the real world, patience gets worn away...especially in retail.
 
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