[imitchellg5]

Last week, an Apple retailer called SimplyMac opened up in Colorado Springs. I went into it today, and I can honestly say it was the worst experience that I have ever had in a retail store. I went in, there were about thirty people in the store and two people working. Occasionally somebody (four different somebodies actually) would come out of the back room and go walk around outside the store and take a smoke then just come back in, not even apparently noticing the mass of people in the store. They had an InvisibleShield that I wanted to get for my iPod touch, so I decided that I'd ignore the fact that nobody was working and buy it. I'm keeping in mind that it's a new store and that things are going to be a little rough for the first few weeks. After waiting for twenty minutes (after both salespeople have said to me multiple times that they'll be with me in a minute) I finally got checked out with the Shield. Great. The sales guy asks me if he would like me to have him install it on the spot. I said sure, why not. These things are a bit of a pain anyway to put on. He asks to see my credit card again and my ID. I said sure. I just assumed that he had forgotten to check my ID (he didn't ask for it in the first place). I get it back and it has an extra $20 charge on it for labor(for a $25 Shield, no less). I told him that was a bunch of crap and that I wished he had told me that he was gonna charge extra. I asked for a refund of the labor and that I'll put it on myself. At this point I am not in a good mood at all. He says he'll have to get the manager to authorize that. After almost twenty more minutes of waiting, the manager comes out, the sales jerk tells him what he is going to do, and tells the sales guy that he doesn't need authorization for that and to carry on. What the hell. So I get my $20 back, get home, and the front Shield is missing from the InvisibleShield. No frickin way. Go back and guess what? Because I opened the little package that the shields were supposed to be in, they won't refund or replace it. I was so pissed off I just through it on the ground and left. This bugs the heck out of me. Grrrrr. I'll never go back.

Sorry for the long rant.

Here is their site: Simply Mac :: The Utah Apple Specialist

[phantomdragonz]

If you have not contacted their customer service line yet I would. I work in retail and when someone takes the time to write a letter it usually gets handled quickly as long as the company is not worthless...

-Zach

[RAILhead]

Threw. ahem.

[Zeeb]

That sounds truly awful. If they don't shape up, they wont be in business long--there's plenty of places that sell apple products.

[osiris]

You could just drive your car through the front window, you know, by accident.

Actually it sounds like they need to work out a few details on managing their store. Give it another week, maybe they'll improve.
If not

[Oisín]

So I get my $20 back, get home, and the front Shield is missing from the InvisibleShield. No frickin way. Go back and guess what? Because I opened the little package that the shields were supposed to be in, they won't refund or replace it.

Was it possible to tell that the front Shield was missing without opening the packaging?

If not, shouldn’t they be obliged to replace it? They certainly would be over here, but US retail laws never cease to raise my eyebrows significantly, the more I hear about them.

[Eug]

I went looking for an Apple keyboard North Star Computer in Toronto a few years back... and there was hardcore pr0n playing on the 30" Cinema Display (albeit in a small window).

I'm not sure who put that there, though. Could have been a customer.

[Oisín]

^ Interesting sales technique.

[design219]

So did you walk out with a 30" Cinema Display?

[turtle777]

Since you put the charge on a credit card, just dispute the charge with your CC provider.

-t

[amazing]

Yes, your credit card provider will side with you on this one, though you'll have to assure them that you made an effort to resolve it with the merchant. You might not want to waste the time on such a small purchase, but since you feel quite strongly about it, that'll be up to you: do you wanna think about it whenever you pass by the store, or do you want to get it resolved, regardless of the time it takes?

Meantime, there's loads of stores out there that don't know how to do customer sales or service. Sometimes, it simply abominable lack of planning, such as not having hired extra help for a store opening.

[analogue SPRINKLES]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

Since you put the charge on a credit card, just dispute the charge with your CC provider.

-t

The correct answer. They will sort it out in no time for you.

[vmarks]

EASIER.
Deal with zagg / invisibleshield directly. they have a lifetime warranty and will send you new shields. Robert (owner of invisibleshield) will want to hear about your experience with this shop that is giving them bad representation.

[analogue SPRINKLES]

Originally Posted by vmarks 

EASIER.
Deal with zagg / invisibleshield directly. they have a lifetime warranty and will send you new shields. Robert (owner of invisibleshield) will want to hear about your experience with this shop that is giving them bad representation.

True but invisible shield asks you to send the old shield back when they send you a new one plus they charge you shipping.

Also the store will take it more seriously when the credit card company calls the store asking about unauthorized charges.

[vmarks]

What's also interesting is that not just anyone gets to be a mac retailer. you have to be in business as a company for 3 years before apple will even consider you. What else did these guys do?

Apple Reseller

Do you think Apple would like to hear about their level of service?

[imitchellg5]

Well, the front Shield isn't a huge issue for me. I just wanted it to be in the package ya know. Turns out (at least according to a friend) that my belkin overlay is almost exactly the same, so I just have that on front. Not a huge issue.

I don't know if I'll ever buy something from the store, but it is the only place that you can go here now to demo a new Mac (the other Mac store here in town still has a 1.25GHz PBG4 on display as their MacBook Pro demo) and play with new stuff, so I'll probably go back. IDK. Like I and the others have said, it is opening week and it's their first store in Colorado. I'm sure it will improve. It is a really well set up store, just not enough employees working.

[SirCastor]

I've passed the SimplyMac store a number of times on my way down to Provo. Never been in it. I might swing into the store to see if it's any better here.

[stevebain]

This feedback for Simply Mac is valuable and appreciated. As the President of Simply Mac, I want you to know that we strive to ensure a positive customer service experience for each customer in all of our retail stores. We never want any customer to experience what “imitchellg5” experienced. Having only been open a few weeks, we are getting closer to staffing the appropriate number of salespeople. I do feel our current training programs are yielding better-informed salespeople every day. Mitchellg5, feel free to contact me directly. I would be happy to help set things straight, replace the Invisible Shield product for your device and resolve any of your concerns. steve.bain@simplymac.com

[turtle777]

Wow, that's an unexpected turn.

I wish ALL Lounge threads would end with the person in charge posting and offering to fix it

-t

[SirCastor]

[withdrawn]

[phantomdragonz]

sir castor, keep that crap to the Political lounge and stop derailing!

It's awesome that the president of the company wants to make it right, speaks a lot about it's leadership!

-Zach

[turtle777]

It could be because Googling "SimplyMac" yields a link to this thread as hit #6.

SimplyMac - Google Search

Not good for business if this is unanswered

-t


Edit: It has to be "SimplyMac", w/o space