3 ms·

I was asked to wait 45 minutes to pick up a bought and paid for phone. I left and came back later and found a more reasonable sales person, but still ended up

I was asked to wait 45 minutes to pick up a bought and paid for phone. I left and came back later and found a more reasonable sales person, but still ended up waiting about 10 minutes. Then there was the time I made a service appointment, showed up slightly before my appointment, and waited 35 minutes for a “genius” to look at my phone. I don’t know if it’s just my local store, but I avoid Apple stores as much as I can now.

danso 7y ago
Yeah that's messed up. Handing off already-paid for equipment should be smooth and a priority for them. Trying to think back when I picked up laptops, and it was always quick. But I had the freedom to go in during slow hours.
- moondev 7y ago
  Microcenter got this right. They have a dedicated section and register for internet pickups. It's fantastic!
  - skinnymuch 7y ago
    I thought this was the common thing to do now. I don’t go out to stores too much. But Target and Best Buy were my last two and both have sections on side for pick up.
dawnerd 7y ago
Same experiences here. Ever since they went to the kind of free-for-all approach it's not been a good experience going to a store. I miss the days too when they actually had a checkout counter. Way easier than trying to flag someone down.
- xattt 7y ago
  From the experiences described, there’s a sense that corporate threw a bunch of ideas at district managers (or whatever their hierarchy is) without follow-through of trying to identify pinch points and develop a process to correct them. It might be an issue of mindset within the company. The problems described seem regional (overcrowded stores, shady/burnt-out retail staff in some areas; positive experiences in others) that each need a separate approach but are lumped together in Apple’s one-size-fits-all approach to everything. I predict that Apple will close their retail stores by the end of the decade, citing improved logistics). Apple products will continue to be sold at third-party retailers until the company folds or pivots in another 10 years.
  - topkai22 7y ago
    I don’t think so, unless they can’t get the experience quality issue under control and it starts damaging the brand. The stores serve an outreach component that 3rd party retailers can’t. As much as I hate them, the classes they host are always well attended and I’m pretty sure they have a small business coordinator that makes sales that won’t happen otherwise. They remain a major differentiation point versus Android to, enabling the forever tolerance of AAPLs insane margins.

danso 7y ago

Yeah that's messed up. Handing off already-paid for equipment should be smooth and a priority for them. Trying to think back when I picked up laptops, and it was always quick. But I had the freedom to go in during slow hours.

moondev 7y ago
Microcenter got this right. They have a dedicated section and register for internet pickups. It's fantastic!
- skinnymuch 7y ago
  I thought this was the common thing to do now. I don’t go out to stores too much. But Target and Best Buy were my last two and both have sections on side for pick up.

dawnerd 7y ago

Same experiences here. Ever since they went to the kind of free-for-all approach it's not been a good experience going to a store. I miss the days too when they actually had a checkout counter. Way easier than trying to flag someone down.

xattt 7y ago
From the experiences described, there’s a sense that corporate threw a bunch of ideas at district managers (or whatever their hierarchy is) without follow-through of trying to identify pinch points and develop a process to correct them. It might be an issue of mindset within the company. The problems described seem regional (overcrowded stores, shady/burnt-out retail staff in some areas; positive experiences in others) that each need a separate approach but are lumped together in Apple’s one-size-fits-all approach to everything. I predict that Apple will close their retail stores by the end of the decade, citing improved logistics). Apple products will continue to be sold at third-party retailers until the company folds or pivots in another 10 years.
- topkai22 7y ago
  I don’t think so, unless they can’t get the experience quality issue under control and it starts damaging the brand. The stores serve an outreach component that 3rd party retailers can’t. As much as I hate them, the classes they host are always well attended and I’m pretty sure they have a small business coordinator that makes sales that won’t happen otherwise. They remain a major differentiation point versus Android to, enabling the forever tolerance of AAPLs insane margins.