[Ti] The GOOD Apple Store (Was:Apple Store Service blows)

[John B. Crane]

I ordered my Big AlBook about 5 weeks before they were shipping and of 
course, no one could tell me when it would finally get there. I 
originally ordered from the Apple Store in Aspen Grove (Littleton, 
Colorado). At first I got a gentleman who, in my opinion, should not 
have had any direct contact with customers. He was curt, abrubt, even 
surly when I continued to call for status reports. At one point he 
"guaranteed me" Apple would have machines in by the end of the week, 
which of course did not happen. I got fed up after learning that they 
weren't even the first ones to get the 'books when they were shipping, 
and cancelled my order in search of the machine elsewhere.

Meanwhile, another person had been transitioned in to handle "business 
customers," of which I was one. She was wonderful, and the other 
gentleman went on to other tasks about the store. When the machines 
finally came in, the new gal was on the phone that day, even though 
weeks earlier in a mini-rant I had asked her to remove my name from the 
list... She called, said the machines had just come in and I'd been on 
her mind for the last 2 weeks, and she had one here and it was mine if 
I wanted it. I zipped down, apologized, we all smiled, and all was 
good. While there, I met the original gentleman who was nothing as I'd 
imagined, he was a quiet, kind man, and I (re)learned a valuable lesson 
that day: some people are just better suited for some positions than 
others.

I guess the point is that it can't be overstated how much impact just 1 
person can have on an overall buying experience, or how much impact 
they can have on swaying an opinion about a company - either for or 
aft. This is my third generation of PowerBook (starting with the 165) 
and I've loved them all- and will continue to buy them as long as Apple 
makes them. My hope is as Apple's retail business matures, those who 
should be off doing something else find happiness, allowing those who 
are suited to selling dream machines to drooling, starry eye'd zealots 
smile and take your money ;-). It's also important that tales of good 
service spread as fast and deep as tales of woe.
For what it's worth.

JBC
John B. Crane
CraneDigital, LLC
3D Visual Communications for All Media
Fort Collins, CO 80524
tel: (970) 229-1462
www.cranedigital.com

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