Saturday, June 29, 2013

The Apple Store - My Most Frustrating Experience.....Ever!

As you know, I have been having issues with the iPod.  So I thought to go to the Apple Store to discuss them with the geniuses there.

The visit was very frustrating because you cannot just walk in and get helped.  You have to schedule an appointment and describe your problem just to ask a question.  So armed with an appointment 3 days in the future I left the store with nothing solved.

So the big appointment day comes, Friday at 1:30 pm.  I was there 10 minutes early, as requested. I got signed in, described my problem and had my appearance noted.  They walk around looking for the description the bodyguard at the door puts in your appearance notes.  I guess that is for the police if you steal something while you are there.

I waited until after 1:45 pm before Genius #1 found the me that matched  my description and asked if she could help.  I described my problem and she nodded like she cared, and left.

White Mysterey Airheads 0.55 oz Bar - OldTimeCandy.com
Genius #2
About 15 minutes later, Genius #2 came up and asked if he could help.  He was so cute.  I described my problem and he looked thoughtful and said he knew nothing about iPods and left.

Then Genius #1 comes back and brings Genius #3.  He started off by saying he felt my pain.  He wanted me to know that so he said it again.  I knew he felt my pain.

My computer at home
I described my problem again and he asked me where my computer was.  At home.  He felt my pain, however he could not help me unless I had my computer there.

introducing: the OGRE at KROGER
I feel your pain, and want to
make you feel my superiority
My computer is an 8 year old PC tower that ain't moving anywhere!  He felt my pain.

Unfortunately, pain or no, he could not help me unless I could bring my computer there to feel my pain as well.    I reiterated all I wanted to do was to download audiobooks from the library and delete things from my iPod I no longer wanted.

As you can imagine, he felt my pain.  But he was unable to help me unless I could bring my computer in and he could actually SEE what I was doing.  I asked if we could use one of the MANY computers in the store and he said he could feel my pain, but no.

I tried three times to ask the question in a different way, I even brought Frank in asking him to moderate because I was so frustrated I was getting ready to show him what PAIN felt like.

Frank tried several approaches with no luck.  I looked at Genius #1 with tears of total and utter frustration in my eyes and asked her.....what do I do now.  The iPod is of no use to me if I can't do this with it.  Genius #3 suggested he could get my money back for me if his management approved it.

Can you imagine that?  They cared so little about helping me figure out two aspects of my iPod that they were willing to give me my money back?  Although I know he felt my pain the whole way.

Sheldon Cooper.jpg
Sheldon Cooper
Big Bang Theory
as my Apple Creative
I felt so degenerated by his remarks, so frustrated by the lack of help and so helpless.  All I wanted was to understand how to delete songs from the iPod and download an audiobook.

Genius #1 asked me to wait for a Creative.  This is like a science fiction move now.  Genius', Creatives, Adepts, unicorns...........how will they torture me next in a world I little understood?

After 20 minutes or so, a Creative walks over to me.  I guess he had my description as well.    He looked just like Sheldon on the Big Bang Theory, I swear!  I once again explained my problem.  I added if he felt my pain even once, I was out of there.

He helped me with several things.  One, he said that the iPod was not like a computer where you could work ON the device.  You had to work it through iTunes and make changes in there, sync the iPod to iTunes in the computer and it would be changed.  So deletes were done in iTunes on the computer WITHOUT the iPod connected.  If the iPod was connected it would not work.

That was an eye opener.  I am not without a level of understanding in computers, I do quite well in fact.  But I am not an Adept or a Creative.  But when he said that, I understood a lot.

And he also helped me with the downloading of the audiobooks.  He asked me to uninstall the Overdrive program and then reinstall it from a website he gave me.

Using those two incredibly important pieces of information, I was able to successfully download an

audiobook and delete one from the iPod.

Once I got the first one done, I told Frank we needed to download books continuously for the weekend.  And we needed to do all the books we ever hoped to read for the rest of our lives.  I may never remember how to do this next week!

In all honesty








8 comments:

  1. wow! does Apple really want this type of story about bad customer service to get out? I'm glad you persisted and finally succeeded.

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  2. Are the books going on on order? Mine sometimes end up with chapters all over the place. But I guess I would need a wizard to get me that information.

    I have become addicted to podcasts. They are free and many are quite good and informative. I like stuff you should know and Americas Test Kitchen the best right now. Oh and the History Chicks are reeeeeeeeeally good. Try it :-)

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  3. A very good reason for not going down the Apple road!

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  4. What a sad state of affairs. I see this in many places for all customer service. But you should be sure to let Apple know about this experience. Sheldon should be praised to encourage more of this behavior.

    I feel your pain but derived much laughter from the experience!

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  5. Argh. I am a total Apple person and have been for years. And, yet, I understand exactly how you feel. Genius folk are really hardware people. So my take is Creative folk are more the software people. Even with my personal Apple bias I'm frequently ready to pull my hair out over the iTunes stuff. They keep upgrading it and then I can't figure out how to add songs to my iPhone or iPad. I have never tried overdrive to either I keep a windows based computer for that along with embroidery and EQ 7. Don't get me started on Windows 8. Glad you can now use your iPod. I tend to write myself notes telling me how to use something once I figure it out. Then I have to find the note! Enjoy

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  6. I don't know what the overdrive is you are referring to, but somehow I manage to download songs, delete songs, and then connect my ipod and bam - it does it's thing. I rarely connect my laptop to the internet so I don't have to worry about the annoying upgrades that make things change. If I end up with a problem I usually call my son and he know what to do. Glad you finally have the problems resolved. I remember when I first got my iPod I looked in the box for directions. My son said there are no directions you just start pushing stuff. So he pushed the stuff and I wrote down what he did.

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  7. This is my first visit to your blog and I just want to tell you I adore the picture in your header! Those ears! And I can totally relate to itunes frustrations. I use it a lot and the recent changes have made me crazy.

    Also, if you like audiobooks, this site - http://www.audiobooksync.com/ is offering two free books each week this summer. Each week there is a young adult book and a classic. I've found a few that were worth downloadig. I love to listen to audiobooks while I quilt.

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  8. The last time I went to the Apple store, the employee told me that what I wanted (an I Pad 2) was just "too frickin' bad". I left the store. I do have an I pad ( it was a gift), but I don't ever want to ask a question in the Apple store! Gotta find a ten year old to help me!

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