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Mar 03, 08 - 04:52 pm Comment from: R

Not good customer service, certainly-- but she could take a deep breath. If I didn't ever set foot in places where people have been rude, I'd have to stay inside all the time. And frankly, at times, I haven't even been very nice to myself.

Anjela-- suicide pact? C'mon, let's go get polite.

Mar 03, 08 - 04:53 pm Comment from: Anim8me2

I keep hearing stories of bad customer service at Apple stores, but it always seems to be the Bellevue store. Is there some problem with the people there?

Mar 03, 08 - 04:54 pm Comment from: Jay-Z

I had one bad experience with a tech. support rep. and demanded to speak to a supervisor. When the supervisor called me back, he apologized and went absolutely out of his way to resolve my problem in a timely fashion. He also said that the event would go on the rep's file.

Sometimes you get bad employees, but Apple made the situation right, and I hope they do the same for this customer.

Mar 03, 08 - 04:57 pm Comment from: ken1w

Sounds fake. A "genius" is a tech support person, not a sales person. At every store I've been to, the genius'es are too busy and valuable fixing broken stuff brought in by customers to be selling MacBooks to customers. And this happened at the BELLEVUE WA store. That figures...

Nah, Ive had bad customer service in Allentown. Certainly some of the younger people that work at Apple stores carry the "smugness" that haunts Apple. It's gross when you see it first hand.

i am very suspicious of this, especially the location, i.e., WA. this sounds like a planted story - the kind of thing Microsoft would do in order to get bad press for Apple. Apple stores & Apple customer service in general are always rated off the charts for customer satisfaction when compared to other retailers. this just is not credible & does not sound like ANY experience i've ever had w/ Apple. why do these stories get so much juice???

Okay, so this employee deserves some re-training about not making assumptions.

But, come on. If her dick of a husband would have simply said, "Actually, it's my wife who wants the computer," then I'm sure Billdo would have switched gears and maybe even apologized.

Duh.

There are two sides to every story. Never, never judge until you hear both sides.

I went to the Genius Bar and was ignored and then I left totally upset. Then I took a deep breath and was fine by the time I got home.

I dont think this is a gender thing. I think it is a geek think. Lack of people skills. OK, lack of training.

Aren't computer nerds usually afraid to talk to girls?

This is news?

Slow news day I guess..

@Midwest Mac: Good point. The woman has harsh words for the Apple employee but says nothing about her husband. Was she invisible to him, too?

You know, there isn't much about this situation that a deep breath wouldn't solve.

@ Gomer37


HAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHAHAH....


...yes we are afraid to talk to girls. :(

Maybe he didn't want to look at your bloody dot.

Mar 03, 08 - 05:10 pm Comment from: Yimmie

May she is horribly disfigured or has a wandering eye? I can't look those folks in the face. It's also possible that she is a total byotch and is outwardly arrogant. I can't look at those people either. She should have said something like "Excuse me, I'm the one that's looking to buy so can you direct your attention to me please? Thanks.

Somebody better tell 'Bill' that it is 2008 and not 1978!

Mar 03, 08 - 05:10 pm Comment from: drmacnut

Quick Fix for Clarity: The Consumerist reports that Apple Store customer Anjela wonders if "a certain employee of the Apple store has has a rare disorder that makes women invisible to him." That might explain why the employee completely ignored Anjela and instead focused solely on her husband, who was not the actual MacBook Air customer, posits The Consumerist.

What's a women?

Probably Bill Gates' evil doppelganger loosed on an unsuspecting public. Last seen trying to convince someone that BigAss Table was better than iPhone. Looked really funny trying to make a call with that table held up to his head. (Hey, it takes two hands, OK?!)

Mar 03, 08 - 05:14 pm Comment from: El Guapo

@Midwest Mac

But, come on. If her dick of a husband would have simply said, "Actually, it's my wife who wants the computer," then I'm sure Billdo would have switched gears and maybe even apologized.


In the words of Fonzie: Exactomundo

I think this is a plant to get the women voters fired up for Hillary tomorrow.

thats what she gets. wtf, what was taking her so long to switch? the Mac OS is enough to switch, no matter the hardware, if you have a brain in your head that is.

or you can be a feminazi and put up with windows for that long for no reason.

Mar 03, 08 - 05:16 pm Comment from: Macromancer

"I had a horrific customer service experience"

Perhaps she could go live in Darfur for a week and see if she can redefine her definition of 'horrific'.

OTOH, the Apple store employees USED to be trained to the point where they wouldn't do this. Sadly anymore they just require that you have a pulse to work there.

Mar 03, 08 - 05:19 pm Comment from: Spark

Bellvue WA... too close to Microsoft territory. Explains everything.

Mar 03, 08 - 05:19 pm Comment from: Angelus520

I had a similar thing happen when I went with a friend to look at apartments with her. I was just along for a second opinion and wouldn't be living there at all. The landlady started off talking to me and ignoring my friend and finally I stopped her and said, "She's the one renting the apartment and the one you need to impress!" So bizarre and she got kind of testy about it. I finally turned my back on the lady so she would quit talking to me and focus on my friend.

And when my girlfriend bought her iMac last month at the Apple Store, the sales guy started talking to me, too, but she fixed that really quickly at the start. The husband in this story is an idiot and should have straightened it out right away.

Verdict - FAKE.

Mar 03, 08 - 05:21 pm Comment from: ron

Bill's Dad is probably hen-pecked. Bill's just getting his own back. Just before he gets the boot.

Mar 03, 08 - 05:21 pm Comment from: baxtrice

I've had a similar experience like this at my local Apple Store, but I've also had a great experience last time I was in. I believe it depends on who the salesman is. Having been in Retail, sometimes you hire a socially-inept idiot in sleek clothing - but it's only a matter of time before the sales numbers come in and he's dead last.

Mar 03, 08 - 05:21 pm Comment from: Spark

Interestingly, the chip on her shoulder weighs more than a MacBook Air.

One thing wrong with this story. A Genius does not sell product, only repairs it. I think she meant to say Mac specialist, not Genius.
However one employee doesn't make 99.99% of the others to be the same way, because they are NOT!

I've been treated like that when shopping with female friends in a clothing store, except it was the other way around—the guy gets ignored. Hmmm.

Could be a fake story since they didn't know the difference between a Mac specialist and a Mac Genius.

I have a lot to do with Indians and from experience I can tell that husband is usually the talking person and wife stands behind and tries to be invisible. Only so often you meet those westernized, emancipated Indian woman.

Shoot him, that's what I say.

Good on you Bill. Someone like this who is so far up her own arse deserves to be ignored. Not only did you ignore her but her thicko husband couldn't speak to her either and correct the situation.

I would like to know her experience at a PC world or similar shop. Crap lying everywhere, not enough staff and uneducated in products when one does appear. Anjela get a life

Mar 03, 08 - 05:34 pm Comment from: MacBill

I **HIGHLY DOUBT** that this story happened as she claims it did. There's just absolutely no way this would've happened.

This article is bogus.

Mar 03, 08 - 05:36 pm Comment from: Spudly

Dear snivels, Did you let "Bill" know that YOU were the one interested in buying the MacBook Air?!? Maybe your issue is with your husband if he so eagerly followed Bill around the store and did not make it clear to him that YOU were the customer!

Take a Midol!

I am related to a trained Mac Genius and have been in several Apple stores. The Mac Genius is kept behind the Genius bar and is seldom out on the floor. Their time is to valuable and scarce to send them out on the sales floor to do general sales work.

Were they the only the 2 employees in the store? If not, this story is just bull!

"Microsoft employee discount??"

Hm.

ken1w has a point: why would a Genius be selling peripherals?

Hm.

Why does the phrase "Miss Moxie" spring to mind?

Mar 03, 08 - 05:48 pm Comment from: F1Mikal

Ampar!
Please make me laugh now.

Ampar?
A M P A R !!!

Mar 03, 08 - 05:48 pm Comment from: NeonRed

I'm with you SPARK
She or her hubby probably just got laid off from Redmond and needed to get back in good graces with the Redmond management... lots of luck with that to the wieners...weiners...whiners...ya that's it...

Mar 03, 08 - 05:49 pm Comment from: Mr. Peabody

Maybe Anjela was/is a super hot woman and the young virginal Apple "Genius" - Bill - was so befuddled that it was all that he could do to stay focused on her husband and not make a bigger mistake by gawking at her and making a different kind of ass out of himself. That happened to me once or twice as I was "growing up". Hell, it still happens once in awhile.

Or, maybe Bill doesn't prefer women and all of the above is true in reverse, except that he did choose to gawk at his object of desire rather than play it safe and focus all of his attention on the hot guys female partner.

Or maybe...

When I worked in sales at an electronics store I learned very quickly that when a husband and wife walked in I had two customers to sell. Totally ignoring the wife was the stupidest thing I could do. I divided my attention equally and tried to keep both parties engaged. Purchases are frequently a joint decision.

Maybe she shouldn't have gotten drunk and slept with Bill the night before.

Oh c'mon, you know she was just gonna ask a bunch of dumb questions, anyway.

I've had a very similar experience with a Mac Genius"... no eye contact.. talks over you.. acts like you are not even there.

Actually there are 3 sides to every story.... Yours, Mine and the Truth.

MW = Truth - just couldn't make this one up..

Mar 03, 08 - 06:00 pm Comment from: Romeodawg

I think the husband was just flirting openly with the Mac employee because he was so sick of being married to this shrill, ball-busting, Gray's Anatomy watching, 10% at lunch tipping Omarosa of a woman that even a man crush on a random dude at Apple was a breath of fresh air next to that stifling pit of a marriage.

"I'm sorry but I can't look you in the eye because you're so hot it sizzles my hardware..."

Later on in the letter....


When I caught up to them, he was commencing the hard-sell of "AppleCare". After being told several times that I was not interested, he asked my husband if he was a Microsoft employee, and pointed out that he could get a 12% discount on it. My husband finally stopped Bill in his tracks and told Bill that the computer was for me. He asked Bill if the education discount, which I qualified for, or the Microsoft employee discount, which my husband qualified for, was a better deal. Bill told my husband that the education discount was better -- but continued talking to my husband as if I were not there. Even after being told the computer was for me and that we'd be using my education discount on it, Bill did not greet me, make eye contact with me, or acknowledge my presence in any way.

I think he likes the husband.

Mar 03, 08 - 06:10 pm Comment from: Madmax

If Bill made an honest mistake, it would have taken 5 seconds for her, or her husband to correct him.

That she remained mute throughout Bill's sales pitch - probably only confirmed by her silence - that his initial assumption was correct.

Sounds like she is the dumbass not poor Bill.