Shiny Apple, Rotten Spot

I have something I want to get off my chest. Nothing major but it irks me because...well, it does.

Also, please tell me how you'd respond to this or feel about it.

On June 2, 2007 I decided to finally get rid of my horrible Sony Vaio notebook with the incredibly crappy keyboard. Rather than buying another Windows based laptop with Vista Business, which was running incredibly slow, I finally went over the side of Goodness & Light and put out the bucks for a 15" MacBook Pro with a matte screen and 2.33GHz etc. Cost me $2499.00 plus tax and note counting the software I purchased with it - Parallels among other and Office for the Mac (old habits die hard). I took the machine home, loaded it up was delighted completely by the feel and the speed of the Core2 Duo CPU and just fell in love.

By coincidence, on June 5 - THREE DAYS LATER - I read on the Apple home page that a refreshed version of the MacBook Pro was released that day and was in the stores. THREE days later. There were some significant upgrades. Faster processor, bigger hard drive space, upgraded graphics, upgraded native wireless, faster sidebus speed etc.

Know what irks me?

There is NO WAY that the Apple Store employees who sold me the machine - that would be the Apple Store in Tyson's Corner Virginia, didn't know that the new machines were coming.

And they didn't tell me. They didn't do what is right by the customer and say, "look, we're getting new machines in 3 days. Why don't you wait and come back? They are better and the same price."

Instead they kept quiet and sold me a machine that was effectively off the shelves three days later.

This from a company that is supposed to be so cool and customer friendly.

Not the first time I've had problems with, lets politely call it, the non-disclosure of information, with an Apple Store. Another time I bought expensive earbuds at their SF Superstore and asked them if it were exchangeable or refundable at other stores and they said yes. Oddly, it broke and when I tried to get it replaced, I found out that earbuds were only sold regionally and in Tyson's Corner, (again) I couldn't get those. Regional stock was the way the store worked - not national inventory. So I had to go to hell and back and ultimately exchanged it (long story here) in Palo Alto for the new set.

Get it?

They could have a customer for life. I love the MacBook Pro I have and would recommend it to anyone. But NEVER buy it at their Tyson's Corner, Virginia store. They don't seem to care about much but pushing sales.

Got anything to say about it, Apple? Ring me up on my Blackberry from your iPhone.

How would you deal with this one readers? Should I put it in the fourth edition of CRM At The Speed of Light as a comparison of a sales-driven engineering culture versus a truly customer-centric one?

Technorati : Apple, Customer Experience, Customer Service

Comments

[Paul]

actually, I am not at all surprised at your case!! Not the slightest!! It eqaully irks me, but zero surprise factor here!! :)

Just look at another VERY simple market case : the USB/camera memory industry... Suppliers started "feeding us" 16m, then 32m, then 64m memories KNOWING DARN WELL they could JUST AS WELL sell the larger sized memories from the start... instead they decided to gradually sell us low and then increase... I have a whole bunch of small (and totally useless) camera memory cards floating about... The last I bought for my camera and PDA were 512m and woved NOT to buy ANY more for a long long LONG time!!

My 128m USB key works fine (i keep it clutter free) I will NOT buy a 4g until I am dying for it!!

Paul

[Gary Mawby]

I've experienced the same injustice from many companies over the years, Apple included. Cox Cable and Sprint were the worst.

Honestly, "customer service" has never been Apple's competitive advantage. Unfortunately, their products are so irresistible they sell themselves and Apple really does forget they have customers involved in the sales transaction. Their product quality and originality is also one reason why they can sustain premium pricing. Mac hardware and software is not a commodity like the PC.

When I make an Apple referral, I always warn the potential customer about possible service pitfalls. Howevr, I understand service has improved over the years according to the press and rating companies like JD Power. I've only owned Mac products. Luckily, they are pretty reliable so service or repair calls are not necessary that often.

Escalate to headquarters. It usually works. Contact the HQ executive office, investor relations, and public relations, all in turn, if necessary. Over the years I've had these encounters with Cox, Apple and Sprint. It's a shame it's necessary but it's worth the effort especially for products with MacBook Pro's price point.

Gary

[Scott Rogers]

Had a similar experience at the Apple store in the King of Prussia mall last year.
Went in with my son the week before my son graduated from High School to have him pick out a laptop for college. He picked out the 12" Powerbook and we were ready to buy right then. The employee told us that Apple runs a promotion for new college freshman in July and we could save a lot by buying then. We thought - great, we'll get the computer he wants, save money and a free ipod too.
We keep checking the website for the promotion and the day it shows up (three weeks later), the computer he wanted is no longer listed.
I rush to the store to find that that particular model has been discontinued, replaced by a better, faster model. However, the better, faster model is powered by Intel (for which my son did not want, and he had made a point of this to the employee in June).
I was able to order a re-conditioned second from Apple that day, and we received it in the mail the next day.
The initial wow of great service - being told in a whisper that we could save money by waiting for an upcoming promotion, turned to irritation about the service - not being told that the specific model we wanted would be discontinued in a few weeks - before the promotion began.