The Apple Store – Are You Kidding Me?

Two True Tales of Horrible Customer Service at the Apple Store

Tale 1

A customer of our’s bought a new iPhone. But they didn’t have an appointment to set it up so they had to return to the Apple Store on another date to get it setup by the genius. So they returned to the Apple Store several days later at their alloted time only to find the Genius was busy with another customer. The Genius spent an extra 20 minutes with this customer forcing my customer to be late. Eventually, the “genius” was ready for them.  Sparing you all the gory details, two hours later and the “genius” couldn’t get my client’s iPhone to check email!

I spent less than 10 minutes changing and correcting all the genius’s settings and had the iPhone working flawlessly. (In case the genius is reading this, you need to turn off SSL for many email servers.)

Tale 2

Person with a Powerbook G4 that was dead. Now, in most stores that I have been in, when you need service for an item (TV, camcorder, etc), you take it to the store, go to the service counter, and they take your item in for repair. Don’t try this at the Apple Store!! You need to make an appointment with the genius first.

So here is what happened to the owner of the PowerBook…She make a phone call to the Apple Store to setup a time to bring in the dead laptop. The employee at the Apple Store says, “Sorry, but you can only make appointments online.” Fine, so she goes online and spends 10 minutes navigating Apple’s site to find where to make an appointment. Finally, the first appointment is available BUT IT IS TWO DAYS AWAY! So what is she supposed to do without a computer for 2 days just to get into the store for an appointment with a genius who will confirm that the laptop is dead!

So, our frantic Powerbook owner calls the Apple Store again and explains that the laptop is dead but the online genius scheduler won’t let her make an appointment. She is told that there is nothing they can do about it. Her options are to wait 2 days or to come in to the store to see if there might be a chance that someone might be able to help her. Maybe.

If this is Apple wants to build a great retail experience, count me out! I will go to the little guys down the road who will wait on you when you walk in and whose geniuses actually might know something.