Apple store employees and their incompetency

[daonesteven]

Sorry, I wasn't sure exactly where to put this thread and since it has to do with an iPhone 3G case that I wanted, I guess I'll put it here. Plus I just got back from the Apple store and I'm pissed.

So I want the Sena ultra slim leather pouch case for the iPhone 3G, and I live in Berkeley, CA, so I call my local Emeryville apple store maybe 10 miles away and they say that they don't have it. I call the Walnut Creek one maybe double the distance away, and a female phone employee said that they do carry it. I drive all the way there and when I arrive, one of those male apple store employees wearing a blue shirt tells me that they don't carry it. He checks the back, and comes out and says tough luck. I show obvious signs of annoyance, and as I drive back home on the freeway, I call the number again, and this time, a different female phone employee answers from the Walnut Creek store and checks three times (because I ask her to) and says "Yes sir, we do have it, I have it here in my hand." At this point, I see the freeway and there's major traffic so there is no way in hell I'd go back.

Sorry this was a long story but I had to vent. And in case someone points it out, yes, I know this was a specific example and not all apple store employees are incompetent, but ever since one of my close friends who is a mac genius got rejected from working at the apple store, he's been telling me that most of the time, they hire only retail experienced people who couldn't really care much about computers. I disagreed at the time, but this visit just really reminded me of that talk. Anyone else have similar experiences?

 

[Resist]

Maybe if you had gotten the first girls name and asked to she her when you got there, you wouldn't have left empty handed. Just a suggestion.

 

[golden3159]

Maybe if you had gotten the first girls name and asked to she her when you got there, you wouldn't have left empty handed. Just a suggestion.

Should he also have asked her phone number, address and marital status too?

To the OP, im surprised at that. Apple was clearly in the wrong here, that's the kind of amateur stuff you usually see at Best Buy. But it looks like you just got a bad apple (no pun intended )

 

[Sweetbike40]

I've experienced the same thing with them. Exactly. I called about an iSkin. Took the 40 minute ride to the store and no sign of them carrying any iSkin cases. None. Also, a couple of years ago i called to see if they had a bluetooth adapter in stock. I argued with the kid on the phone. He said there's no such thing. ummmm....duh...yeh there is. I ended up ordering it on Amazon.

 

[bruinsrme]

having been in an apple store te cases are numerous and keeping track of them would be a feat.
i would suspect a couple of things, the first is the employee had no idea what you were talking abou and rushed you off the phone to help the customers in the store, they may have carried it at one time, they never carried it but the name was similar to something else.

 

[Resist]

Should he also have asked her phone number, address and marital status too?

No need to be a smart ars.

Usually a store will ask who you spoke to that gave the information. If he had her name they could get her and clear it up.

 

[micsaund]

I've had similar issues with my local store. I called-in once and they said that that the item was in-stock, when I got there, I had two employees check and neither could find it. I'm about 6 minutes from the store, so I think it was unlikely that they sold-out of the item in that time and my suspicion is that the first guy on the phone was just being lazy and didn't actually check on the stock status.

But, in general, my disappointment with the Apple store is pretty low. They tend to do an OK job with stuff. I don't care for the "check out anywhere" thing with their little handheld registers (it's confusing and disorganized IMO) but that's about my only regular complaint.

 

[John T]

No need to be a smart ars.

Come on! Lighten up! What, no sense if humour? By the way, what's an "ars"? or did you mean arse?

 

[ratbatblue]

I've had similar issues with my local store. I called-in once and they said that that the item was in-stock, when I got there, I had two employees check and neither could find it. I'm about 6 minutes from the store, so I think it was unlikely that they sold-out of the item in that time and my suspicion is that the first guy on the phone was just being lazy and didn't actually check on the stock status.

But, in general, my disappointment with the Apple store is pretty low. They tend to do an OK job with stuff. I don't care for the "check out anywhere" thing with their little handheld registers (it's confusing and disorganized IMO) but that's about my only regular complaint.

I agree with you on the checkout thing. But beyond that, when I had the "I drove all the way here because someone told me you had this and now you're telling me you DON'T" experience, I did have the salesgirl's name. After speaking briefly with a manager, he told me mildly that the girl probably just got the product name confused, then offered to give me any similarly-priced case in the store free, "on loan" until they got my case in (the quotes were actually in his voice). I took one, then kept calling back every few days to see about the one I really wanted. After a couple of weeks, I quit trying, but I will never hesitate to take my business to that Apple Store. And the other one we have in our area is even better. That's Austin, TX. Guess we're just lucky.

 

[Sun Baked]

When you poach employees from McDonalds, what can you expect.

 

[unixphone]

When you poach employees from McDonalds, what can you expect.

they speak spanish, but Apple people dont