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HeatherEcsedi · Nov 4, 2003, 06:36 AM

I ordered a Dual G4 PowerMac at the beginning of September. I thought that for such a low price (1812 euros), it would be a very good buy, even if the G5 had just come out. I first contacted a long-time Mac reseller in Brussels who confirmed I could purchase this Dual G4 in their store. They only needed to order it but it would not take long. Eventually, they learned from Apple that this model was only available on the Apple Store...

Thanks Apple ! Two months lost ! So I had to turn to the Apple Store.

I must say that my experience with the European Apple Store has been rather terrible. It sure didn't take them long to answer my call when I had to order my Mac. I then received an e-mail message indicating how to proceed with the payment. Once Apple received the money wire, I received confirmation of my order with an order number. As I checked my order status online, it went from "being reviewed" to "being assembled" back and forth for 6 weeks.

In between times, I had received a confirmation of my order, again, this time in Dutch, with another pricing wich I found confusing

. Was my order going to go ahead or would it be delayed because the new price was higher than what I originally had to pay ? I called the Apple Store but it took much longer to talk to someone, who wasn't too sure about my order, not to mentionned that a cancelled order showed on the order status page. I had to call 2 or 3 more times to see things move. Eventually, I received confirmation that my order had left Cork and that I had to contact the Apple Store again to get instructed how to retrieve my Mac. Only to find out it had arrived some place in Holland. I can't possibly think how the Apple Store is run and I must say that this was the first and LAST time I ever place an order on the Apple Store.

If you had any similar experience, you are welcome to express it !

Hi I'm Ben · Nov 4, 2003, 01:17 PM

lol the apple store ---

I worked in Woodfield Mall for about 4 months and I would go in there every single day once to twice to check my email.

Each time I went in there I was a brand new customer to them, biggest bunch of ignorant employees ever it drove me crazy.

HeatherEcsedi · Nov 5, 2003, 05:11 AM

Originally posted by Hi I'm Ben:
lol the apple store ---

I worked in Woodfield Mall for about 4 months and I would go in there every single day once to twice to check my email.

Each time I went in there I was a brand new customer to them, biggest bunch of ignorant employees ever it drove me crazy.

Thanks but I was refering to the online Apple Store. Though I'm sure both could compare rather well...

Peter · Nov 5, 2003, 10:08 AM

no complaints here.

HeatherEcsedi · Nov 11, 2003, 04:12 AM

I have received confirmation that my order would ship this week but until it's delivered to my door, I'll remain skeptical...

My order went from Cork, Ireland, to some location in the Netherlands, because of some missing parts ?!? Eventually, when my order is complete, it should ship to my home. The funny thing (well, sort of) is that I received a delivery number which did not concern me in any way. Why did Apple give me some reference to a shipment which only interested some internal procedure ? This simply added to the confusion.

Hopefully, my ordeal will be over soon but I'll stick to what I earlier said. I'll never order anything on the Apple Store again. The worse part is that Apple offered no other choice.

HeatherEcsedi · Nov 15, 2003, 04:22 AM

I received my PowerMac yesterday. At last. Rather noisy as expected. I'll have to find some way to keep the noise down. Any suggestion welcome. I still have to get used to Mac OS X. I've been using OS X for over a year on our Xserves at work but I never took the time to dig further. This new PowerMac will help me learn more about this new OS. I plan to install Panther as soon as possible. I had two bad experiences so far. I installed the driver for my M-Audio card and crashed the system. I had to re-install. I had no idea how to solve this problem. And I get crashes when I turn the computer off. Odd I must say.

As far as the Apple Store is concerned, which after all was the initial topic, I guess as long as you are patient, not willing to call to get answers to legitimate questions like "When will my order ship ? We're 5 weeks late and counting...", I guess it works okay. I received e-mail messages every time something new was to be announced. Delivery is a problem though. When I ordered my Mac, I was told I would receive in time a voucher number which would allow me to take contact with the parcel company in order to plan the time and date. Yeah right. They came to my home when I was at work and I had to take a day off to eventually receive my order.

All I can say is that the service in general is not transparent at all and the way Apple handles it is questionable.

Will I order anything again on the Apple Store. It's very unlikely.

discotronic · Nov 15, 2003, 10:15 AM

Originally posted by HeatherEcsedi:

As far as the Apple Store is concerned, which after all was the initial topic, I guess as long as you are patient, not willing to call to get answers to legitimate questions like "When will my order ship ? We're 5 weeks late and counting...", I guess it works okay. I received e-mail messages every time something new was to be announced. Delivery is a problem though. When I ordered my Mac, I was told I would receive in time a voucher number which would allow me to take contact with the parcel company in order to plan the time and date. Yeah right. They came to my home when I was at work and I had to take a day off to eventually receive my order.

All I can say is that the service in general is not transparent at all and the way Apple handles it is questionable.

Will I order anything again on the Apple Store. It's very unlikely.

I've never had a problem with the Apple Store. I was able to track my order through the website. If I needed to speak with someone about my order I have had no problems. Some of your complaints are valid while others are lame. If you feel this strongly about everything you should have cancelled your order and bought from somewhere else.

Mr. Blur · Nov 15, 2003, 11:07 PM

i've ordered both hardware and software from the apple store, multiple times.....and i have never had any problem at all....i would not hesitate to buy there again.

HeatherEcsedi · Nov 19, 2003, 02:02 PM

discotronic, I was refering to the European Apple Store. Maybe the American Store works great. As far as saying my complaints (or some of them) are lame... please specify which ones. I don't feel I'm over-reacting here.

As far as cancelling my order, read my previous messages, the only model I was interested in was only available on the Apple Store and nowhere else. I originally ordered my PowerMac at one of the main and well known Apple retail stores in Brussels.

My general opinion is that, as long as you are patient, the Apple Store works quite alright. I just found some details confusing. And a four-month waiting (overall) should tell you I've been more than patient.