apple store employees suck

so i went to apple store here in cleveland , hoping i would be able to probably replace my mbp because it has a yellow screen and sales rep goes "i have never heard about such a thing " im like are u kiddin me it sall over the place , i go "do u visit any forums?" he goes "no , nothing outside official apple forums " i cant believe that, another thing he says that genius all booked up till sunday and after sunday store closes for two weeks.

 

They are told to not agree with the customer. I bought an Apple Cinema 23" Display from the Apple Store and it the screen was pinkish. I went back to the store and noticed that all of their 23" displays were pinkish. Someone with very bad eyes could easily tell. I asked the Apple store employee what's up with the pink displays because I want to exchange mine, she said, " I don't notice anything pink about the displays". I told her to look at the 30" and see how perfect in color it is and how pink the 23" is and she said it might be the ambient lighting in the store but she doesn't notice it.

Another customer heard our conversation and told her it was really pink and she tried to deny it.
Apple doesn't want their employees to create a snowball effect so they are told to try and hide the issues with their products. Not good customer service but what can you do?

 

OP -- is there another Apple store you can go to?

Maybe you can just call/e-mail Apple tech support instead.

 

well did you bring your MBP into the store with you? just because you had one bad experience doesn't mean all of Apple's retail employees suck. it isn't worth your time to post stuff like this because a huge majority of people already know it really isn't necessarily true at all, a massive majority of people LOVE the service they get at the retail stores, as it is much better than anything you will get from any other computer company, because none of them really have good retail stores at all.

IT IS ALL OVER THE PLACE is a completely relative phrase, just because someone works at a retail store, doesn't mean they will be looking all over the internet looking for problems that some users are having, especially when a large majority are extremely happy,

keep in mind that basically every issue people post about a problem with electronics is hardly ever the majority, people don't worry about giving praise usually.

I have no idea why their store would be closing for two weeks, I recommend bringing your laptop into the store with you, and you are really adamant about it they will agree with you. Like any retail store, they are never looking forward to customers wanting to replace or refund a product, so you have to be very sincere and forward about what your issue is.

does your screen have a slightly overall yellow tint or is it one of the ones that has a bad yellow band across the screen? if it is just the yellow tint that is just most likely how the screen is calibrated, and it just needs to be calibrated better.

 

take ur laptop into the store and show him the screen. then turn it on and show him this thread. see what they do after that.

 

Um, Cleveland? Ok, so, there's your problem right there...

Yeah, they always say this. They are not in the business of confirming rumors and speculation, but rather, they are in the business of dealing with the issue at hand.

 

Yes... its very frusterating when they have a manufacturing error that is on a large scale. They are trained not to admit it or even deny that the problem exists. On my 4th shuffle they told me that I must have been breaking them. I looked up the issue and there were news articles of 1g shuffles having near 30% failure rate. You just have to insist, and explain to them why this hinders your productivity.

 

Yes, that's an annoying issue of any company. They need to support their products but they want to be honest about it.

Apple claims that the 1st generation iPod Nano doesn't scratch easily. Mine's got so scratched until I got a transparent cover for it. At least Apple kinda acknowledged it by changing the materials used in the second generation to be more scratch-resistant.

 

Hahaha, you can't beat the snotty store employee at the SF downtown store. This guy thinks he's god and treats everyone including fellow employees like dogs. But really, if he's good and knows his stuff I wouldn't mind his arrogance and snide snarky remarks and condescending demeanor but the reality is that this guy is a smug self-satisfied who knows jack about Apple stuff. That any problem you may have with their products is strictly user error or that you're idiot. He reminds me of that "soup nazi" character on Seinfeld but alas he's more of a fly in the soup then anything else.

 

I had my macbook with me and i showed it to him and to geniuses they all denied it cold , so let me ask u this if u work in apple store so u are a geek ,dont u visit any mac forums , arent following the mac world , all im saying is he had a nerve to tell me that he never visits any mac forums, give me a break . and he told me that all genius appointments were booked till next week , when i called apple customer service they told that there was one at 7 pm that day and then some so , thats my point and i will post stuff that frustrates me alot . tahts the problem with mac community when u bring up some issues thaey label u as mac hater and thats why apple gets away with this sorta stuff, when i pay 2500 grand for a laptop what do i expect?? Thats right nothing but high quality .sony totally got them in that area

 

Totally agree with you. I went to the Apple store to look at purchasing the Macbook Pro and had a question that the employee couldn't answer so she went to ask a "genius" who was SO rude to her that she had to go ask another "genius" who told her that I had to make an appointment to ask my question. Okay, so let me understand this. I want to drop over 2 grand on a notebook and they want me to make an appointment to ask a question? Uh, I don't think so! If customer service is this horrible BEFORE the purchase I can't imagine how bad it'll be afterward

 

I doubt that's the norm. When I went to the Apple Store, they were very nice about answering question.

 

No, sorry to disagree with you but the service at the Apple stores "in general" is pretty good. Now, it's unfortunate that their employees are not as savvy as they should be but you didn't mention what question you were asking? Depending on the question it may have required a genius but you should have asked the manager to help you if they were making you jump through too many hoops.
As a customer at the Apple store you have to drop the "I am about to drop 2 grand attitude" and know that this amount of money is the norm at this store so you can't get cart blanch service because of what you are buying but I understand your concerns.
Remember the OP's concerns are not about how bad the service is but how the employees act like an existing known problem doesn't exist and they try to ignore the floating rumors.

 

I never knew the Apple store could be this unpleasant. Wow.

It only confirms my decisions to do all my Apple-related business online.

 

It's a cult. That's how cults operate. You don't point out issues or flaws... certainly not as an outsider or newcomer. Once you've done enough evangelizing for the cult, you're allowed to participate in the more candid internal discussions about specific issues... as long as you don't ever question the basic foundations of the cult or its leader, Steve Jobs.

And when you are raising an issue, you need to reinforce your cult credentials; for example: "I love the Mac and I've been using Macs ever since I got my SE/30 in 1987 and I own 14 Macs and 8 iPods, but I do wish Apple would..."

 

He's absolutely right. When I started to realize I needed my computer for business, not for some sort of religious experience where contrived environments were created in order to instill brand loyalty, I stopped dealing with Mac. Seriously... you have to WAIT to get your questions answered and computer repaired? Most other companies have 24x7 instant support or next day repair.

 

I only use that tactic so people don't think I'm some 15 year old punk that just got my first Mac with mommy's credit card. Macz rulez!

I also use that tactic to reinforce the idea that I might know what I'm talking about, or maybe I've been there, done that.

I def have a love hate relationship with Apple. I've sworn them off several times in my life. There was a time when Apple was ESSENTIAL for graphic design. Windows computers were often 8-bit and were terrible with things like printing and font management. They still get a lot of their "aura" from that era, even though everyone knows that a windows computer can produce equally quality work these days, and more if you count Studio Max and CAD programs that don't really run on Macs.

The first Mac I ever used? IIci.
The first Mac I ever bought? 7100/66

 

Why are you trying to provide an analysis of a customer with their Apple "relationship"? Does it matter? If you aren't happy with their service, fine. Don't shop there or purchase their products, but all this rambling is so unnecessary.

 

well it seems you really were treated poorly at that specific store, I would definitely make it a point to report those employees to the manager of the store, and make an issue out of it, because that is bull****.

All of the Apple stores that I have been to have been very helpful, while I agree that the regular employees should definitely be more knowledgeable, I have been in there so many times looking at a computer, and next to me is a Mac Specialist answering some questions about another computer to the people across the table, and I can't help but correct what he is saying, but that is not the majority.

 

Apple store employees are helpful, but they will not acknowledge something as a trending flaw or error, even after it has shown up on forums such as these numerous times and is therefore very much quite possibly more than an one off problem.

The LCD lines issue, the bulging battery, the expanding iMac capacitors, it will always be something they've "never heard of" even if perhaps in their private life they are aware of it.

I don't think anyone is saying the employees are not helpful.

 

well then the title of this thread should be, Apple employees won't admit to problems with some of their hardware, not Apple employees suck. . . .

 

Well, they do suck for not admitting to known problems, but, whatever... it's not really their call.

 

Don't misunderstand as I am not backing Apple, especially since they are richer than me but think about, if you were in business selling products that you actually built that had some defects and if you had a complaining customer would you come out and admit that a ton your products have the defect?

If you did you would create a snowball effect and word would spread pretty fast especially over the internet and you'd have a ton of customers bombarding your store front demanding refunds or exchanges.

My point is some defects in workmanship are not considered defects to every customer so as a person in business it's to your best interest to tackle every problem as if it's the first time you heard it rather than admit you build faulty products.

 

So if the store guys wont say anything about it, how do you get it fixed?

 

Apple has to take heed to any problem a customer has. They cannot just blow a customer off as if the problem doesn't exist. What they won't do which makes sense is say things like, "Yes we have heard of this problem from several customers" or "We are aware of this issue since it is posted on several blogs on the internet" or "We have had 3 customers come in today with the same issue".
If they said those things it would snowball all over the web that Apple has admitted to a known problem and it would cause chaos. Apple has had known issues with their products and have publicly addressed them but it depends on much out of control the problem has become.

 

No the problem is when this repeated error or problem takes you passed the included (crappy) one year warranty. Then you have to explain to them that you shouldn't have to pay upwards of 359 to 600 dollars to fix a problem that you know will happen over and over and over again.

 

That's true to extent. All service is guaranteed for 90 days.

 

Have you tried calling Apple directly? I had no issues convincing them that I had a yellowing issue. They've all been very courteous and I was even assigned to a specific "product specialist" who has been very prompt at returning my calls.

So far its been nothing but "customer first" attitude from all the people I've spoken to on the phones. Of course I'm still waiting for my problem to be fixed (just sent in my MBP for the second time) but from my experience, Apple has very good customer service if not quality control.

 

cry until he agree

 

Just a side point, but its likely the legal department of apple (and dare I say most other companies) that demands that employees do not admit fault... this would mean that they are liable, should an issue go to court. Its just like when you have a car accident... you never admit it was your fault... even if it was. Its a shame but that's the way the law is. So if apple employee's start admitting to problems then it opens the flood gates... that doesn't mean that you still cant get it fixed you just need to push your point and demand that the screen is replaced.
a

 

In my experience, the 'genius' crew was too helpful. When I tried to buy my computer, they treated me like an idiot. Wayyy too overbearing for me.