I had to take my girlfriends iPhone back to AT&T cause it was totally defective. Now I am not going to rant about the policy where you have to go to an Apple store, and actually see a real tech, I think thats a great policy. I am not going to rant on the fact that if I did want to exchange at AT&T I would have to pay a restocking fee, even though that is a load of crap. I am going to rant on the terrible treatment and downright a$$-hatedness of the employees in the store.
I went in and I had an item to return that was under thirty days, and the iPhone which I wanted to get exchanged, I knew of the policy before hand I just wanted to see if maybe I'd get lucky. Well first off, when I showed the item I wanted to return, the person that was helping me was the same guy who I bought the accessory off of, and right away, he became a total jerk about the return. I let that go for a second cause the iPhone was much more important. He asked me what was wrong, and then proceded to tell me how they won't do anything cause Apple won't let them, and how Apple pretty much screwed up their customer service options. There were four sales people there and they were all bashing Apple. The rep, whom for the rest of the rant I will call DB (not his name, but initials for what I want to call him), well DB kept asking me questions as if I was stupid, he knew it was my girl's iPhone and kept basically insisting that it must be user error. Now my girl and I are not stupid, we both have working in the technology industry for over 5 years, and know technology inside and out, between sales and service. We have owned every phone that any wireless carrier we are with have sold. So anyway....
DB proceeds to tell me that he has to charge the restocking fee, so I asked if that made any sense to charge me for an item that is defective to get a new one, and he once again just trashed Apple. Another rep from across the store said that we should go to an Apple store and maybe they would be able to help, so I said ok, where is the closest one. This genius told me the farthest one away, and keep in mind, there are only 4 in the entire state. I knew where the closest one was. I asked if they could give directions and the only thing they said was oh yes sure its easy to find. That was the extent of their directions.
So I gave up with the iPhone and said that I'd check out Apple. So I got this GPS receiver I want to return, DB tries to talk me into keeping it, and when I told him I no longer have a phone that it works on, he says that it will working with the iPhone!
Oh really? I said I just want to return it, and my girl wants a case. By this point we are both super ticked off! She picked out a case for her iPhone and left, after the transaction DB just walked away, he didn't even say thank you or offer any assistance at all. What is really funny is my girl used to work for AT&T and the manager of this store we were in, was her old manager!
So I got in the car and did a google text for the closest Apple store, which is awesome with the iPhone cause I just clicked the phone number in the text and it called. So the Apple dude gets on, and he was in one word AWESOME! he even laughed when I talked about AT&T, he told me about how their exchange/repair works, and invited me to the store, and even said about setting up a appointment to come in and have a real tech look at my girl's iPhone. The call to the Apple store, and I am sure when I actually go there, was a great experience. It almost makes me want to get rid of my Vista notebook and jump back aboard the Apple train! I just might.
I am sorry, I had to rant a little, I was frustrated with AT&T's poor treatment
Thanks anyone who read this!
