YYZBear's Profile

The APPLE STORES are the greatest outlets ever. I'm always lured into the store by the greatest displays. However, all that exciting experience is washed away by the sales people working in the stores. Does anybody at Apple care about training those people? What about replacing them with robots? The robots would be much warmer, friendlier and less sarcastic than the salespeople. Robots would not make sarcastic comments or faces to other robots about their customers. I begged my friends to stop me if I ever mention about going into an Apple Store again. I was doing really well for the last 12 months with my promise of not stepping in any of the Apple stores, until the new iPod Touch was released. Because I still wanted to honor my promise, I decided to call the store to see if they had the product in stock, so I would ask a friend to pick up the product for me. Here's the phone conversation that I had with one of the sales person at The Apple Store Eaton Centre, Toronto, Canada on Sept 07, 2007 around 5:00 PM. Salesperson: "ApStoEaCenterrrrr!!!" I was greeted by a not so friendly Mac Genius, and I guess she couldn't say "Apple Store Eaton Centre" after handling so many calls, so she combined the first syllables of each word into one word to express her frustration - "ApStoEaCenterrrr!" FIRST TRY Me: "Do you..." . Even before I finished my question, she interrupted me by shouting "NOOOOO!". Me: "Do you..." and she shouted "NOOOOOO!" once again. Me: "May I..." and she shouted "NOOOO!" again. So I decided to play her game of interruptions, regardless of my mom's advice when I was kid ("Do not talk when other people are talking!!!"). Me: "May I finish my question before you say 'NO'?" I shouted back. Salesperson: "I know what you are going to ask, and the answer is NO". After that answer, of course I would not ask if the iPod Touch was available in stock, so I thought about asking for the availability of another product such as the iMac, Apple TV, etc, which I know it's in the stores already. However, before I had the chance to start the question, she hang up on me. SECOND TRY I was in a good mood that day, so I didn't let that drive me insane. I assumed she had a bad day, but I still wanted to know when the iPod Touch was going to be available in the stores. So I decided to call again... I waited 5 minutes, hoping she would go to the washroom change her "iPad" (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1BUH9eXy18), then I called again. Salesperson: "ApStoEaCenterrrrr!!!" It's very encouraging to hear gibberish that sounds like the real name of the store. I was expecting another pleasurable conversation with the Mac Genius Girl. Me: "Do you...". and she interrupts again. Salesperson: "Didn't I say 'NO' before?". The first picture that came to my mind was of a chubby dominatrix with the Apple logo on her chest and a whip on the other hand. She was ready for total domination and humiliation. That may turn-on a lot of people, but I must admit that I'm pretty vanilla, so I replied... Me: "I'm so sorry to disturb you..." and before I finished my apologetic statement, she hang up on me again. I had a great day and I wouldn't let that spoil my day, so I called it a day. THIRD TRY It's Saturday morning on beautiful sunny Toronto. I had to go shopping at Sherway Gardens Mall where there's another Apple store (hopefully with polite Mac Geniuses), and it happens that one of the Mac Geniuses was just coming out of the store, so I approached him with a quick question. I could see the "look of death" in his eyes. How dare I stop him during his break, but he couldn't ran away. Me: "Do you have the iPod Touch in stock?" Salesperson: "No". And his body language tells me that he is ready to go for his break. Me: "Any ideas when it will be available in the stores?" Salesperson: "At Christmas". How could Apple release a product in the beginning of September, and not be available in the stores until Christmas? The fulfillment process must be really screwed up. I felt like saying that Apple would be out of business by Christmas if they don't do anything about their customer service, but he couldn't care less. Me: "Do you know if iPod Touch is available in the stores in the USA?" I was willing to drive to Buffalo-NY and get one. Salesperson: "I don't work in the USA... d'oh. I don't know. " and he walked away before I asked any more questions. Oh well... I guess Apple can get away with such bad Sales staff. I still think Apple creates great products, but the bad experiences that I had with Customer Service makes me think about going back to the PC World again. I'm already prepared to hear "I told you so" from my friends. I know it's hard to believe, but you can check the APPLE Customer Service for yourself. Call the Apple Store Eaton Centre, in Toronto Canada, and ask anything about the iPod Touch. You can reach them at (647) 258-0801. I hope you get the Apple Dominatrix. What happened to the polite Canadians? Where is Apple recruiting those people from? What about sending them for Customer Service training? Has anybody else had a bad customer service experience like me? I'm posting this message in a few newsgroups and it would be nice to hear your experiences. Have you converted back from Mac to PC? If so, is there any counseling or support group out there? Would the PC world accept me back? Pleeease!