Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

261–270 of 288 posts

Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster

#261

Post by [deleted] »

dv_dt wrote: post #186
sandworm101 wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> figuring out how to flag someone down if they're busy. For that reason alone, I've stopped recommending Apple products to my older relatives. Be cute. Wear cool clothes. Don't be old. Look like an "influencer" with a million followers. The more you look like the people in the apple commercials the faster they will get to you. Above all things, apple stores are image-conscious. They are welcoming to people who fit…

Or like many other corners of America, aircraft boarding, etc, military personnel are given some extra perks for the risks for which they volunteered.

[deleted]

Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster

#262

Post by xvector »

jdsully wrote: post #168
xvector wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can’t be serious? You think it would be reasonable from a security perspective if Apple was capable of transferring your data?

They used to do that a long time ago. You would sit there with them as they transferred it off your old machine.

> They used to do that a long time ago.

Pretty happy they don't do that anymore, then. It sounds terrible for security.

Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster

#263

Post by xvector »

atonse wrote: post #44
GeekyBear wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The award for the most asinine thing about the Apple Store is their insistence on not having a proper area to pay for things. For small ticket items, you can scan, pay and leave without needing to interact with the staff. >Thanks to the Apple Store app, you can use your iPhone to scan the barcode of an accessory off the shelf and use Apple Pay to pay for it. From there, you can just walk out of the store with your n…

I have the app. It works really well if you are an Apple nerd like me. But not everyone does. Judging by the number of people that wander around, this is clearly a solution that sounded good at Apple's Silicon Valley offices but breaks down doesn't work in the real world. This is not an area that needed innovation for innovation sake. Just have a sign and employee assigned so you can go to them and pay for stuff.

You can literally talk to any employee if you want to buy something, and they'll whip out their Square-equipped iPhone/iPad.

There doesn't need to be a dedicated employee for sales. Just ask one of the employees roaming around the stores.

Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster

#264

Post by seanmcdirmid »

rootusrootus wrote: post #189
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Portland store is like one of the main stores in the country for overseas buyers of apple products. That thing with Oregon having no sales tax...so it can get really busy.

I believe it. A significant number of the developers on my team that visit from Hyderabad take at least one new iPhone home with them. Lack of sales tax combined with the prices Apple charges in India (IIRC they don't sell directly, which may be part of the problem) make it attractive to buy them in Portland.

India has highish tariffs and VAT; China is the same way. If you take those out, additional retail markup is probably not that significant (at least in China that has actual Apple stores, not sure if India third-party resellers get iphones for something like wholesale).

Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster

#265

Post by rootusrootus »

akvadrako wrote: post #246
rootusrootus wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To each their own, but you're setting yourself up for a lot of unhappiness if you think there isn't a corporation out there that won't disappoint you at least once. Switching your entire ecosystem out for one bad experience seems like asking for an unnecessary headache.

It’s not that I expect fewer issues. The reason I started using Apple over Linux was because I thought I could avoid some of those headaches and I do think years ago they cared about quality of experience. But if I’m going to have just as much trouble I might as well keep my freedom.

Ah, so indeed it was not the only factor. ;-)

Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster

#266

Post by oldjokes »

sandworm101 wrote: post #162
bunderbunder wrote: post #61

The absolute worst thing about going to the Apple store is figuring out how to flag someone down if they're busy. For that reason alone, I've stopped recommending Apple products to my older relatives. Once upon a time, the dominant factor was that the walled garden allowed them to feel less intimidated by their technology, which left them feeling like their devices were vastly more capable, even when they technically…

>> figuring out how to flag someone down if they're busy. For that reason alone, I've stopped recommending Apple products to my older relatives. Be cute. Wear cool clothes. Don't be old. Look like an "influencer" with a million followers. The more you look like the people in the apple commercials the faster they will get to you. Above all things, apple stores are image-conscious. They are welcoming to people who fit…

I have not thought about it like this before but I think you truly might be onto something.

Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster

#267

Post by II2II »

rootusrootus wrote: post #241
akvadrako wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well I’m one of those people and it’s the only factor. They wasted so many hours of my time and money because of their poor service, I just feel bad buying anything from them.

To each their own, but you're setting yourself up for a lot of unhappiness if you think there isn't a corporation out there that won't disappoint you at least once. Switching your entire ecosystem out for one bad experience seems like asking for an unnecessary headache.

Agreed, with two caveats. You have the option to switch hardware vendors with Linux and Microsoft, without having to sacrifice your entire ecosystem. There is also a world of difference between being disappointed by a single experience with the corporation addressing it in a meaningful way, and having that disappointment cascade into a series of disappointments because the corporation is not addressing the problem.

Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster

#268

Post by CWuestefeld »

askafriend wrote: post #218
CWuestefeld wrote: post #215

I have one experience with the Apple store, when I went there to try to get my wife's phone fixed. I had no idea that's a stupid thing to do, that you can't just go there and ask for help. Actually, I had to go there and try to flag someone down. He told me that I had to make an appointment to get help. But he couldn't just make the appointment for me. There was a line for that . I was told they'd probably be able to…

You could have booked an appointment sitting at home in your underwear.

I had no idea that "an appointment" was even a thing.

Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster

#269

Post by jdsully »

xvector wrote: post #262
jdsully wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They used to do that a long time ago. You would sit there with them as they transferred it off your old machine.

> They used to do that a long time ago. Pretty happy they don't do that anymore, then. It sounds terrible for security.

All they did was hook your old mac up to your new one with a cable and run the standard software. You sat with them and watched.

There's no reason they couldn't do something similar/more modern with an iPhone and not have a security risk.

Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster

#270

Post by deepakhj »

chadash wrote: post #8

I live near an Apple store and frequent it every few months when I need to fix a phone or laptop, or buy a dongle, etc. The store near me gets lots of foot traffic, but the experience is just fine. There are usually at least 2-3 employees who will come up and ask me how I'm doing and what they can help with. Given the size of the store, the number of employees is surprising actually. And it's as easy as ever to book…

Citi Double Cash extends warranty by 2 years. Plus 2% cash back on everything. I haven't used it yet so I'm not sure how good service is.

Amex does 2 years too. Their customer service is unmatched when it comes to warranty claims. I've had them credit my account same day.

https://www.comparecards.com/blog/extended-warranty-credit-c...

Post reply on HN