No one wears the trousers in a nutshell

[sovay]

I have had good experiences at Apple stores. In fact, they are traditionally unremarkable—I walk in, I buy a cable, I buy a battery, I walk out. Yesterday, this was not so much the case.

The nearest one is in a mall; I hate malls. So in order to spend as little time in the store as possible, I researched the current models of MacBook, figured out which one I was actually interested in (and might be able to afford without hocking my soul to Steve Jobs), and went to Burlington to check it out. Mostly, I wanted to make sure the flat keyboard would not be uncomfortable to type on and the new iPhone-style trackpad—"incorporat[ing] Multi-Touch gestures, including swipe, pinch, rotate, and four-finger swipe"—would not drive me up the wall. And I was met by the most unhelpful clerk in the world. He did not seem to understand that I had ever used a computer before in my life. I explained that I was just test-driving this particular model and he told me I might have a little trouble adjusting to the trackpad from a mouse, but I would find it was really, really easy to use. I repeated that I knew from trackpads, and I had already determined that I could use this one, thank you, and he told me what I really wanted to look at was an AirBook. I said that I used computers primarily to write on and he talked to me about graphics processing. And then he gave me the wrong model number for the specs I had carefully given him.

My brother has asked if he was stoned, but I don't think so, even if he did look like the lead in a Judd Apatow film; I think he was simply not listening to anything I said. Maybe he had an AirBook quota to make, but on top of the laptop death, that was annoyance I didn't need. Guess what Apple store I am not buying my new computer from.

(In other news, the pineapple was delicious.)

Comments

[rax.livejournal.com]

I had the same experience at the Galleria; I gave up and bought mine online. (I love love love love love the new MacBook Pro.) In the past I've also had good luck buying from the UMass Boston store if you just want one of the standard builds and don't want to wait on shipping; the clerks don't care, but it sounds like that is the experience you are looking for.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

<3 pineapple.

OTOH, people who don't listen? no <3 for them.

[yendi]

Do you still have any sort of educational affiliation? You can just go to the Apple online store and go to the education section; the prices run less ($50-100), the shipping is free, and they toss in an iPod touch. And you get to avoid giving the crappy retail store your business.

[tuppshar-press.livejournal.com]

Sounds to me like there's a commission on the model he pushed on you, and not a commission on the other one. As a salesman, he's probably had more luck selling people on the fancy graphics packages than the more mundane things like word processing. Sell the sizzle, not the steak, they always say.

I'd make the final purchase elsewhere; otherwise you just wind up encouraging that sort of thing.

(And yes, I was a salesman for many years, and I've seen exactly this sort of thing happen all the time. I wasn't comfortable with it, which was why I was never the top salesman, and why I am no longer a salesman.)

[schreibergasse.livejournal.com]

Oh dear.

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

Apart from the Genius Bar, I don't think the Apple Store employees are there to do much beside prevent shoplifting.

[clarionj.livejournal.com]

Generally, I've had good luck at Apple stores, but on my last visit too, the clerk couldn't even type with two hands ... and he brought out the wrong model right from the start. The people at the Genius Bar were fantastic though.

I think the frustrating thing is people not listening. I'd recently written an e-mail to iTunes about a problem I was having. I specifically related the problem, and the answer back was a generic help page that didn't address the problem, and which ended with "I hope this solves your problem!" When I wrote back, "No, this didn't solve my problem at all. It didn't even address my problem" (yes, snippier than I usually like to be, but really ... it was so off target), the reply was oh-my-god saccharin and placating ... "I hope you're having a splendid day, and I'm sorry blah blah blah, and then a closing like "Truly have a lovely day!"

I think the blueberries were pretty delicious that day, so yay for lucious fruit.

[teenybuffalo.livejournal.com]

Bet you anything he had a quota to make. Anyhow, it sucks to have to go through the computer replacement process, especially with hlepful people like that. (Hlep: it's like help, only not helpful.)

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

Good grief, I hate that sort of salesbeing.

Glad the pineapple was delicious, and good luck finding an Apple store which hasn't got rude/clueless idiots working there.

[skogkatt.livejournal.com]

I haven't been there in months, but all my experiences at the Burlington store have been much better than that. I hope it was just a bad day for that person, and not an indication that Apple intends to be more push and less helpful from now on.

[mrbelm.livejournal.com]

I've never had a bad experience at the Cambridgeside store. I make it a point to go on a weekday in the morning before the lunchtime browsers show up. The employees are awake, not overworked, and not settling into the post-lunch coma.