That's not true. There's data out there; customer service surveys by third parties and the like. Regardless, I've worked plenty of retail in the past to know that despite the 'wiggle room', there ARE corporate guidelines for all this stuff. And let's face it, if there's any company that's going to be more anal about uniform policies and image across the stores than Apple, I haven't seen it. I've had friends who have worked in the past for Apple Stores (though sadly not any more. They were always good for a discount! lol). I can tell you unequivocably that Apple *does* detail policies for such things, and is *very* attentitive to it's customer comments and surveys. Neither Apple (or really, any electronics retail chain) is going to give out replacement systems without some sort of guidelines. Like I said; sure there's going to be a little leeway from store to store and somebody might have a better experience in one Best Buy than another. But it's hardly a stretch to understand that some companies may be better at customer service than others. That doesn't mean it happens, without fail, across every store in the nation. And that doesn't mean that, even in the top rated customer service chains, people still dont' have bad experiences. But I think anyone should logically understand that. I mean, we aren't talking about 'knocking a little off the price' here. In a past life I worked at both CompUSA and Frys. I can tell you that replacing an entire system for something NOT covered under warranty would be a very big deal for some chains. And usually that won't happen without a lot of complaining and loud arguing happening first. *Of course* retail chains have policies for this sort of thing. Apple wouldn't be any different. And to walk up to the counter and just have it offered to you? I think CompUSA corporate would have laughed you out of the store. :grin:
True they will give out guidlines but I would bet money they are vague and easily exploited if a person so chose to. Yes, they will be uniform but come on, are you telling me that isn't like that any company? Half the letter of the law lays in interpretation. As for customer surveys I do not doubt they would score highly, but does that necessarily mean they do replacements like this more often? I doubt they have questions that could address that. I will concede that at a big box store the customer "experience" may not be as positive as possible, but when service is needed for a dysfunctional item I doubt that there would be a difference. Like I said, it's one of those areas that is hard to feel out, so it is speculative. Actually I have pulled the trigger on a lot of replacements (at BestBuy) that were arguably the customer's fault. If I could do my best to cover up their damage I would. Oh so many modded XBOX failures.. haha.. Furthermore I would credit the customer with the amount they paid, instead of the fair market value as so stated in the PSP documentation. So let's say you bought a computer two years ago and it is on its last limb and really is beyond repair, if you paid $1400 for the machine I would hand out $1400 in store credit. The beauty is $1400 today will always get you more technology than $1400 yesterday. I wasn't the only one who did this, we all did it. Bending the rules isn't hard, you just have to find an associate (and manager willing to overlook it) who is willing to bend them.
Oh sure, I agree with that. I'm just saying that some companies are going to pay more attention than others. And some will be much quicker to fire you for screwing with their policies than others. Everything I'm told points to Apple being one of those type of retail chains. Haha, that's awesome. I'd have given you a hell of a customer comment card if you'd have hooked me up like that too. lol And I understand what you're saying, I just think we have enough info to know that Apple has got to have some sort of key policy in place. I mean, Apple is considerably smaller (in range of products) than a Best Buy, an iphone and a macbook are going to be pretty high profile in one of their stores, they're going to be a little stricter with them, I would think. If they are going to have a lot of these bending of the rules happening a lot in random stores, that's probably going to be a bigger concern. Anyhow, do you still work at Best Buy? I had another friend who lasted a week there. He said the constant sales pressure of add ons (he was in the computer dept.) was enough, but it was when they tried to make him dance at the store meeting? he was already ready to quit. lol
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I worked there for three years. It was soo much fun at the beginning. I loved the whole goofy stuff we did at meetings, the games and stuff, it was so much fun. Near the end it basically came down to school versus BBY. They want you to be a lifer. School, friends, family, they all just get in the way of the big blue box. I loved working there, I loved the people I met, I just know I don't want to be in sales forever... I will admit there is a ton of pressure to upsell the customer. Geek Squad was the worst when it came to that. Our Geek Squad numbers started to get so weak that we were required to try and add on whatever we could. Heck, we had this service where after you bought your PC we would take it to GS and they would literally just install the automatic updates. Thats it. That was why I moved to customer service. I had a lot of fun there. I worked away from all that garbage. Honestly, it didn't get that toxic there until our numbers started to fall. Thats when they started being dicks. Oh well.
