I stopped by CompUSA this morning to pick up a new case for my phone. While I was there I stopped (naturally) by the Mac section, even though there is nothing new until next week.

One customer asked me if I knew about Macs, and I said I did. He asked what he needed to get his G4 Mini wireless. None of the employees could answer that, so I told him he needed an Airport Express card. After talking to me he told an employee he needed to get his Mini wireless, and the guy showed him attachments for iPods…

I talked with one of the employees, a nice kid who said he was saving for a MacBook, as I am, and assured me there would be no new notebook releases until the spring, at least. I asked how he knew this, and he said if there was anything new, he’d know about it because they would’ve trained him on it already. So I said when they have the keynote next week, something big would be released, it always is. If not a notebook, at least iTV or something. His answer: “They’re having a show?” Not only did he not know there was a Macworld Expo and Steve’s keynote, he didn’t know the first few days of January are a regular time for big product announcements.

This is who Apple lets represent them?

Independant resellers often let people who know little or nothing about Apple and Macs represent Apple in their stores.

Here’s what happened to me once in Fnac (translated):

ME: Good evening sir, I have a power issue with my PowerBook. It won’t start off from the power adapter without the battery.
SERVICE GUY looking dully at PowerBook: Mm, I see that you have a little dent at a corner of your machine. That means you’ve banged it somehow.
ME: Soo?
SERVICE GUY: Anything can happen when a laptop has a physical shock. I don’t thing that they‘ll honor your warranty.
ME: Well can’t we try to track down the problem first?
SERVICE GUY: I don’t know. Maybe I have an extra power adapter lying around
SERVICE GUY goes to storeroom and comes back with scratched and blackened power adapter.
SERVICE GUY plugs in power adapter, removes battery, and tries to power up after searching for the power button for about ten seconds
SERVICE GUY: It’s not working
ME: Are you sure it’s not the power adapter that you have, because the charge light isn’t even on, whereas with mine it stays green.
SERVICE GUY: Yeah… Could be you power port that’s damaged.
ME: Don’t you have another adapter?
SERVICE GUY: Don’t know. I think it was returned by a customer. Anyhow, it’s not working. Plus, your laptop is damaged, so that’s probably why it’s having a problem. It’s probably the motherboard. But I’m afraid you’ll have to pay a fee for the repair. Go to the Apple service center 100 meters away, it’s nestled in a small plaza that opens up into a small side street, right off the store, see if they can figure it out.

That was it. Of course, the AppleCare center’s service was good. Got a new power adapter within the week. Now I know where to go with my Mac problems.

Yeah.  The CompUSA staff is absolutely stupid.  When I went there to buy my iBook, the salesperson insisted that the iBook was not sold at all without the extended waranty.  The idiot then says that he’ll have to go talk to his manager to get permission to sell it to me without a waranty… a process that took a whole 15 minutes.  What a schmuck!

CompUSA is weird

I always have a bi-polar experience when I buy Apple products at my local CompUSA.

Very Good:
The Apple employee who works the Apple corner of the store. He is extremely knowledgeable, very friendly, helpful. All those Boy Scout virtues. For example, The Core 2 Duo MacBook was announced on Wednesday, Nov 8th. I called this Apple person who was at home on his day off. He came into CompUSA that evening and took the new MacBook out of the back room so I could buy it.

Bad.
The CompUSA people that I have to work with to actually buy something. They have trouble finding part numbers, prices. They make foolish ignorant statements about technology.

The Ugly.
The store. Dirty. Unkempt. Crappy layout. Harsh lighting. My wife feels creeped out just walking inside.

,dave

Best place for Buying Apple Products

Is there any doubt about where the buyer will get the best support, service or guidance????????????????

Why even consider an alternative to the comapny that designs, manufactures and has the best customer support record in the industry?

The choices are hundreds of real brick and mortar stores that are located worldwide or Apple.com

Go to a middle man and you’re guaranteed a supermarket mentality and service level - There are no Apple experts in any big chain store.

If you have to go outside Apple, pick an Authorized Apple Specialty store that deals exclusively with Apple Products.

As a general rule, I only go to non-Apple Stores if I don’t have any questions and I just need to buy a specific item.  They are worthless otherwise.

There is a local Minneapolis store called First Tech which has a decent reputation.  But each time I go I am treated as if I am a dumb ass.  Also their hours are horrendous.

I am so happy Apple created their own stores!

Re: CompUSA is weird

[quote author=“davebarnes”]I always have a bi-polar experience when I buy Apple products at my local CompUSA.

Very Good:
The Apple employee who works the Apple corner of the store. He is extremely knowledgeable, very friendly, helpful. All those Boy Scout virtues. For example, The Core 2 Duo MacBook was announced on Wednesday, Nov 8th. I called this Apple person who was at home on his day off. He came into CompUSA that evening and took the new MacBook out of the back room so I could buy it.

Bad.
The CompUSA people that I have to work with to actually buy something. They have trouble finding part numbers, prices. They make foolish ignorant statements about technology.

The Ugly.
The store. Dirty. Unkempt. Crappy layout. Harsh lighting. My wife feels creeped out just walking inside.

,dave

And don’t forget that, for the longest time, they parked the rolling ladder in the Mac section so that it didn’t block access to the cheap speaker systems along the side wall.

The local Apple retailer here.. Simutek.. is awesome.

My Macbook was having issues… they took at look at it for free overnight to diagnose the problem.

the biggest dfference is that they are a dedicated apple reseller, and although they sell massive plasma/ LCD TVs and accessories.. it is also an apple showroom with models out and playable.

The Mac Cafe in Homewood, Alabama is a dedicated Apple reseller owned by a Apple Certified Consultant.The owner has been in the Apple consulting business for a long time and decided there was a market for a dedicated Apple store. Their personell are helpfull and friendly and do not try to upsell you. I recommend them highly to anyone in the Birmingham area. The ONLY reason to go to CompUSA is if you have to have something on a Sunday. Even then, you should think long and hard before you go.

Re: CompUSA is weird

[quote author=“Intruder”]And don’t forget that, for the longest time, they parked the rolling ladder in the Mac section so that it didn’t block access to the cheap speaker systems along the side wall.

OMG. You must shop at the same CompUSA as I do in Denver.

I think we’ve all had bad experiences at one time or another, I know I certainly have, but in the town where I have lived for the last seven years there are two — TWO — Apple resellers/service centers and both are actually very good!

I usually take my macs to either of these places, and I’ve always have great results.  So not ALL third-party Mac resellers are complete bozos.

Re compusa

[quote author=“BanjoBanker”] The ONLY reason to go to CompUSA is if you have to have something on a Sunday. Even then, you should think long and hard before you go.

Hi, first post here…
You should check out their ad every Sunday. They regularly have great bargains if you’re willing to follow through with the rebates. I recently got a Bluetooth headset for tax (about $4.00—it was “free” after rebates)! I got a better one (a Scala 500) last year for $10 + tax on $50 after rebates. Yesterday I got a USB 802.11g dongle for $4.99 plus tax on $30 (?). In the last few years, I got a few external firewire hard disk drives, two battery backup units, a number of laptop bags, and plenty of other stuff.
Of course, finding the sale items in the store can be difficult, as compusa doesn’t really want to sell those things so cheaply. They are often hidden in remote regions of the store, and sometimes they’re still in shipping boxes on shelves accessible only by a ladder! I usually copy the SKU# from the online ad and hand it to an employee. SKU#s are a language many of them understand. They enter it into the computer and see that they have plenty in stock—compusa is pretty good about geting the sale items to the store, and you can check availability online before you make the trip to the store. Then I politely insist that they find them for me. I usually get what I came for!
Even if I need something that’s not on sale, they’ll match any local retailer’s prices. Recently I needed a USB device cable. They had it priced at $20. Target sold the same Belkin cable for $8—I found it using an iMac in the Apple section. I pointed this out to a salesperson, who matched the price!
If you go in not expecting great service or knowledgeable employees (except for the Apple rep, who is actually a valuable resource, and for most questions, is just as good as and easier to get to than the Genius Bar, which often all but requires an advance reservation), you can save a lot at compusa.
Now if I can just get one of their their service departments to install a new hard drive in my Clamshell iBook for their flat upgrade installation fee of $29.99, I’ll be a very happy camper!

My son works at the local BestBuy, and he tells me that they just got their first shipment of MacBooks.  Let’s see how that goes.

Apple Authorized Reseller

Well don’t think that you are in good hands going to an Apple Authorized reseller. Over a year ago I plunked down $1900 for a new Mac.  Still no Mac and no refund! In Sep 2006 I bought the new Intel iMac from the Apple Store in the Thousand Oaks Shopping Center. I advised Apple of all the details and they gave me a “claim number” which appears to be just a Tylenol for me since they don’t appear to be going to do anything about it.  One of our other Authorized Mac Resellers in this area allegedly left town about a year ago owing people tens of thousands of dollars.  The reseller who took my money has judgments against him in the tens of thousands of dollars! I would guess that my money is gone but I am having fun causing trouble.  In the near future I plan on filing a lawsuit against the AAR (a waste of time) AND Apple AND my VISA card.  That should be fun. Sort of a David vs. Goliath story.  I thought that when I filed it I would let the local newspaper know and see if I can’t have some more fun out of all this.

Not sure what filing a claim against Apple will do, since it wasn’t Apple that took your money. It was an unscrupulous dealer (who is probably not authorized by Apple anymore). The dealers buy their stock from Apple (hence Authorized RESELLER). At that point, other than warranty work, Apple is out of the picture.

Good luck though.