Disappointed In Apple Store Staff

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I recently dropped my iPhone (3G 16Gb White) into a glass of water, and it completely stopped working. In my efforts to be reunited with me little electronic friend, I popped into the local Apple Store. I explained my situation to the chap behind the Genius bar openly and honestly, and asked if he could tell me what parts need replacing.

He went out the back for about 10mins and came back to me. He explained the battery is corroded and I need a new phone, I asked if I could not just simply replace the battery, but he insisted it was soldered to the motherboard! I explained to him I knew it wasn’t and that I felt a bit cheated by him thinking I was unaware of that… to which I said “you probably didn’t even open it up anyway.” You can imagine my surprise when he replied “exactly!!”

Is it just me or does Apple seem to be giving their customers grief lately! I know it was my fault but I still, I was open enough with him… the least he could have done was NOT LIE to me.
 

cwa107


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His reasoning is certainly questionable, but I can understand the mentality of wanting to replace it. With corrosion, you're likely to end up on a wild goose chase of replacing parts. The net result being an unreliable device. Would you want to warranty something like that?
 
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Wouldn't have taken long to explain that instead of lying about it. The batteries may be soldered, but solder does come off ;)

Then again, I really dislike our local Apple Store's staff attitudes... snooty is a pretty good description in general (with the odd exception of the 'geniuses' I've dealt with)
 
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I feel fortunate our Minneapolis Apple Store currently has mostly educated and polite employees. Bummer on your phone.
 
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I have to admit, when stuck in the Mall of America.. (although not Minneapolis) the employees there rocked..
 
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We have three Apple stores here in Las Vegas. I've shopped in all three. I have been met with nothing but courteous, knowledgeable help. In fact, I don't see how they could be any better. Over the last three years I've walked in with some seriously obscure questions. I've always gotten a helpful answer. I've gone in with hardware problems. I've always gotten the item fixed on the spot, or replaced under warrantee with no hassle. I tell my friends that the quality of the help in the Apple stores is one of the major reasons to choose Apple over PC.
 
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[rant]Come on guys, let's be realistic for a moment. Just because Steve Jobs wants Apple training and certification to be able to turn their employee's into mindless zombies whom don't question the letter of the [Apple] law, there are bound to be those who resist just a bit ! :Smirk:

People are people no matter where you go, and sometimes "training" can't correct for bad judgment or poor personality traits. One of my best friends used to work in an Apple store in Georgia (Buck's County I believe) and used to tell me about the "types" of customers they would get who just seemed clueless and such, and how they were "handled" by some employees.

What I got out of him saying these things to me was that some of the Geniuses or salesmen just didn't want to be bothered with people sometimes, because they would get too fed up. Whether or not this is a good practice, it doesn't matter because:

A. Human beings can be robots only for so long before breaking down.
B. Apple stores have so many new customers per day, that it really just won't matter if a few people are shoved aside every now and again.

That's what happens when a great little mom and pop operation becomes too big for its britches. That's just life, and we either just deal with it by sucking it up, or we choose to spend our money elsewhere, and perhaps even express our dissatisfaction by writing a nice little note to a V.P. or C.O.O. somewhere.

Were enough people to take an stand such as boycotting buying Apple products for reason 'x' and these reasons were expressed in a petition in which the number of people was so massive, you can bet it would at least start a chain reaction and change the course of certain events.

But pUleeeze.. People these days are content with being led by the nose, being dumb and just taking whatever is dished out without any reaction. Don't think that's true ? Look how the government operates and what we do to change things. Right... Look at religion. Look at the technology we have and what it is actually able to accomplish, vs. what we are using it for.

[/End rant].
 
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I have this problem all the time, which is why I barely go into Apple Stores. From experience, I know that people in shops are nowhere near as friendly in the UK as they are in the US (or at least in CA anyway), but whenever I've had to speak to Apple Store staff, they've either

a.) Been standing around talking to each other for ages and seem disheartened when asked for help.
b.) Don't know the answer to any question and have to go into the back for about 10 mins (even before I had a Mac when I asked if they could unzip .rar files or if I would need third party software!).
or
c.) Insist that you need an appointment for the simplest of things, even if the whole store is empty and the manager is free.

The only help I've ever gotten from the Apple store is when I had to take my MBP in because it kept restarting and wouldn't boot up. Once I'd gotten it to the Apple Store, it magically worked for some reason, but the manager did take a report down of what had been happening and told me to come in again if the problem arises again and they would take a look at it and replace it free of charge if it's a big problem.

But aside from that, I agree with Dysfunction, all the staff always seem either very snooty or (occasionally) stoned. I've never had any other help from the Apple Store; I tend to avoid going in there if I can now.
 

Slydude

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Have to agree with Dysfunction about the staff at Apple's Mall of America store. I was in there several years ago while making the transition from OS 9 to X. O had been trying for several days to get the install done and it just wasn't working. On a trip to Minneapolis I stopped at the MOA store and inquired about the problem. Over the next half hour two different guys tried to figure out the problem. They never did figure out why the things i had tried didn't work. They made several suggestions that I had tried then admitted that they didn't know the answer. Great group all around.
 
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a.) Been standing around talking to each other for ages and seem disheartened when asked for help.
b.) Don't know the answer to any question and have to go into the back for about 10 mins (even before I had a Mac when I asked if they could unzip .rar files or if I would need third party software!).
or
c.) Insist that you need an appointment for the simplest of things, even if the whole store is empty and the manager is free.

I have had these same issues with my local Apple store (Tampa ,FL)

It's a lot like going into a Bestbuy lots of young people standing around and talking.
 

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