Apple is all about sales - customer service sucks
Posted by gopalshenoy on October 14, 2007
Yesterday, my Mighty Mouse, only 10 months old and the one I purchased with my iMac, stopped working - all I could do was scroll down and not scroll up. I decided to take it to the nearest Apple store in Natick - about 25 miles away. I also had a $600+ gift card from Apple and I intended to spend it. I am a great fan of Apple products (see my previous post where I have raved about Apple products). I walked in like a kid in a candy store confident that I will get a new mouse and then get some more of new toys with my gift card.
I talk to one of the reps at the store only to be asked if I have an appointment to replace my mouse. Excuse me, now I wondered if I have hearing problems. Yes, he was serious - he said I needed an appointment to talk to someone about getting a new mouse. He refers me to the manager who says the same thing - I needed an appointment with the Genius Bar and if I want, I could wait around 2 hours to see if they could squeeze me in - hallo, first of all, I don’t need a Genius to replace my mouse and two, I was not looking for a doctor’s appointment. I could see that there were at least 10 sales reps in the store, some selling new stuff, others just standing around waiting for customers to whom they could sell stuff. Now here I am, a very loyal customer being told to leave, drive back 50 miles, set up an appointment and then drive back another 50 miles the next day all for replacing a mouse.
None of this reasoning would go anywhere with the store Manager. He told me that they had a system in place and we had to follow the system (hallo, I am the customer) and it was put in place to be respectful of other customers - never mind, this customer being insulted. Only when I told him that I was intending to spend $700 in the store did something dawn on the manager. Not immediately, but after about 10 minutes when he saw me looking at the new iPod. He knew that I was serious about spending the money. He came by after 10 minutes and he said he will do me a favor (sure I am the customer and you are doing me a favor) and exchange the mouse. So why all the hoopla, if you could do this - it took him a mere 5 minutes. Amazing !!
Apple got away lucky - I had an Apple gift card and hence I was a captive customer. I could not exchange the card for money to spend it elsewhere - who knows even if I could do, I am sure that would need another Genius Bar appointment. I ended up spending all the money getting my new iPod, iPod shuffle and the Bose sound dock.
While I am happy with my new toys, I can tell you that I am still shocked at the horrible experience. Does this mean that as long as you churn out great products and the world is beating a path to your door, you can get away with horrible customer service? Maybe Apple will - but I don’t think this is a model anyone else would want to follow. After all, history is loaded with examples where companies once market darlings found themselves out of reckoning (Just ask Dell), when they forgot what got them there - the customer !! If my experience is what loyal customers get from Apple, maybe Apple deserves no better. Apple, you have got arrogant.
October 14, 2007 at 12:24 pm
hi gopal, i’d like to feature this story on my wowNshit blog.
i’ll send you an invite, and appreciate very much if you write this and any other wow and shit experiences.
thanks… mush
October 14, 2007 at 8:05 pm
Try cleaning the mouse.
October 15, 2007 at 7:06 am
Folks, I did clean the mouse - the point is their process for exchanges - imagine if every store requires you to set up an appointment for returns/exchanges. I don’t really care if Genius Bar appointments have been there for quite some time - it should not be for simple things like returning a mouse that does not work in spite of all the cleaning. It is a stupid process that Apple has in place. Their troubles are related to them not realizing the needs of their mainstream consumers who are not as tech savvy as their initial Mac cult. Customers are not the ones who bend to a vendor’s process, it should be the vendor that bends to their customer’s needs. Plus, if it was as simple as cleaning the mouse, why did the store manager at least ask me if I had tried it, instead of posturing about the appointment I had to make?
October 22, 2007 at 11:18 pm
Apple products have good design, but there are lots of things not to like about them. They have this arrogant position in general that if they don’t think a feature is important, then I should not either.
Also, they are the kings of using a closed system and milking you for money. This is why iPod accessories are soooo expensive (you have to pay a huge royalty to apple for the interface rights) and why it is such a pain in the ass to manage songs you bought from iTunes (the DRM makes it impossible to use on other music players or move to other systems).
This arrogance and their support of closed systems is also why they got beat by Microsoft in operating systems.
December 10, 2007 at 10:35 am
I agree completely. They are arrogant, and the so called genius bar makes you channel your complaints through one narrow passage that even if you make an appointment, there is essetially no appeal from the knucklehead who waits on you.
December 18, 2007 at 9:24 am
coudn’t agree more with all above. I’ve been a mac user for 20 years, but their recent forays into the world of retail have driven me crazy. The “appointment” system is so ridiculous I can’t talk further about it without wanting to kill myself.
Need help on the phone? Each call is only 69 bucks.
I’m seriously contemplating a switch to microsoft shortly.
January 21, 2008 at 4:25 am
i learned a lot from you guys…
January 31, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Yep, I agree !! Just happened to me when I was trying to replace a bad power supply for my iphone, same thing — I needed an appointment! They have 4 “geniuses” behind the bar in Pasadena CA, they should designate 3 for appointments and at least one for “walk ins” — the bottom line: it was just an exchange — no need of appointments!!!
January 31, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Yep, I agree !! Just happened to me when I was trying to replace a bad power supply for my iphone, same thing — I needed an appointment! They have 4 “geniuses” behind the bar in Pasadena CA, they should designate 3 for appointments and at least one for “walk ins” — the bottom line: it was just an exchange — no need of appointments!!!