My Experience At The Nashville Apple Store -Updated!

Update: The manager from the Green Hills Apple Store phoned me, and was shocked at my personal experience at their location. He went above and beyond to make things right- and successfully turned me back into the happy Apple customer I was prior to this experience...

Several people asked me about my experience at the Nashville Apple Store, so I thought I'd share how that went. They have what they call a "Genius Bar" where you can go for technical issues, repairs, etc and work directly with an Apple Store employee.

Apple holds a reputation for being a superior company with superior products, and the name Genius Bar alone carries a certain presupposition.

You expect to have an "experience". Well, I can tell you... my experience was not so hot. I arrived at 3:00 on a Thursday afternoon, and the store was packed and very noisy. There were wall-to-wall people browsing the product demo's on the sales floor:

It took me several minutes to find an actual employee at the Apple store, to inquire about my appointment at the Genius Bar. It turns out that the Genius Bar is simply a shelf around the edge of the sales floor.

When your name gets called over the noise level on the sales floor, you're escorted over to a free spot at the shelf to the side of the room. It's crowded, you're being bumped into constantly, and it's incredibly difficult to focus. Not ideal at all, in my opinion for a "Genius Bar".

My expectations were not over the top. I didn't expect special treatment, or for them to bend over backwards for me in any way. A little empathy and personal assistance would have been nice.

I was misquoted the price for repair or replacement of my shattered iPad, because they failed to ask about my product specs before giving me an "at the most" quote. There was no apology for that at all, just a blank stare from my rep and a very matter-of-fact attitude about the cost.

I chose to purchase the replacement iPad at $349 plus tax, and the rep proceeded to put it in my original iPad box - which was full of glass. He also insisted that I clear my data from the original iPad, meaning I had to use the shattered touch screen - leaving me pulling tiny shards of glass out of my index finger.

Next I asked for recommendations on an iPad cover or case, and an iPad stand. I had originally purchased the Apple iPad Case, which doubles as a stand, but I was very disappointed with it. He argued with me that he thought it was very stable, even when I set it up in the stand and showed him how it wobbled back and forth. Again, a blank stare.

He stood by as I browsed the iPad cases on the wall and offered little to no help. He finally said the Incase iPad case with stand was probably the closest thing they had to what I was looking for. I wasn't allowed to unbox it or demo it before making a decision, so I decided to bite the bullet and get one.

Since the registers were so busy with other customers, he offered to email my receipt to me. I have never received that receipt. And with an Apple iPad and the Incase products in hand, I had to ask for a bag to carry out my items.

Not only was it not an exceptional experience, it was a negative experience all the way around. The customer service was seriously lacking from the moment I walked in the store and actually had to locate a rep.

I don't plan to ever order from Apple.com again, or step foot into an Apple or MacAuthority store. From this point forward I will purchase any Apple Products I want or need from Best Buy, where they offer great customer service and product insurance options. As for repairs, from now on I will look for independent local service providers...

I could have left happy. I expected the 4-hour round trip and a substantial cost for the repair/replacement, but they had an opportunity to make me feel like the brand new Apple customer that I am. They could have easily kept me as a free word-of-mouth marketing machine...

Their loss.

I've heard rumor that there is a similar Android product hitting the market soon. I'll be interested to check that out, as I get excellent customer service (and insurance!) from Verizon. 😛

I do love my Apple iPad. I now have well over $1,000 invested in it, and use it on a daily basis to manage my online business. I'm just sincerely disappointed in the quality of the Apple iPad Case, and the level of service & support they offer their customers.

Next: Best Apple iPad Case ?

p.s. In my next post I'll show you the Apple iPad Case, the case that the guy at the Apple Store recommended as a replacement, and more on my quest to find the perfect case and stand...

Update: The store manager phoned me and was shocked at the level of customer service I experienced - particularly being made to clear my data on the shattered touch screen, and the rep putting my brand new iPad back in my box full of shattered glass. For that, he arranged for a full refund of my replacement cost: