Apple Southpoint — Attraction in Durham

Today, I brought in my iPhone 7 for a battery replacement because the battery was sluggish, but otherwise, the phone was working just fine. While my appointment was at 1:30pm, they didn't actually have me to a rep for another 45 minutes. At that time, they took my phone and told me it would be 90-120 minutes until I got it back with the replacement battery. At this time, they did NOT tell me that the phone might be returned in worse condition than it was provided. There was no reason to think my phone had water damage (and that is noted on the report).

I returned 2 hours later, and I was told that my phone had had water damage. I couldn't know this, and the phone itself had never been submerged. At worst, I used it in the gym and sweat near the phone. Water resistant, I am told, but there was nothing that suggested it had been compromised so why would I anticipate what happened next?

When I was told this, I was essentially told I was expected to pay 350 for the replacement device. Now, I have insurance on the phone to cover things like that - and the insurance replacement was less (150-200). Also, the phone was working fine, so I opted to take my phone home and assumed I could just deal with the sluggish battery until I upgraded in the coming months...

But no. I got to my car to find out that the home button didn't work. (Since then, also the screen doesn't work.) I went back inside and made it clear they needed to put my phone back the way it was provided. The only thing I asked was a battery replacement. With the phone being compromised (which I also now doubt because the incompetency of the staff was just extraordinary), the floor rep now told me that they weren't responsible for the fact that the phone no longer works.

So, if I understand it correctly, if I bring a phone in to get a battery replaced and the phone has an issue due to something I could not have known. Then, they can't make the repair, which I can deal with. But if I don't want the proposed solution, I get a phone that's destroyed so I am forced to buy another?

By this time, I have already had to move several phone meetings and one new client call, and I am irate. They take the phone in the back and get the accessibility home button on my phone (and as I said, now the screen itself is no longer responsive) and they floor manager basically says I am making the cheap choice because I want to use my insurance because they literally broke my phone and wouldn't repair it and I didn't want to pay the Apple premium when I was already paying for insurance from my cell carrier.

I have the replacement phone coming tomorrow, but I cannot express how angry and disappointed I am in this store, its staff, and I am considering what other avenues I have available to draw attention to this.

The only reference made to the fact that I might get a more broken phone back was in an email that was sent after surrendering my phone (when I don't have a phone to check the message!?!)...

Just disgusting. And it really felt like I was being railroaded into a purchase I did not want to make. I am a creative professional, and I have a lot of Mac products in my mix. However, this not only poisons the idea of superior customer service, it suggests a far more nefarious strategy in handling and standing by their products. Terrible staff,...

Went in with my mom to return a duplicate order that the apple store sent by mistake. The official store sent an email that it was their mistake for shipping the products again but assured us that we could return the items to any storefront. We had receipt printouts, apple account information at the ready, and 3 pristine products that didn't even have the plastic wrapping taken off. I spoke for my mom a good bit of the time since she has an accent and I wanted the process to go as smoothly as possible. (Also, I have worked 5 customer service jobs in my life, currently working 2, so I know to not be a rude person. I just wanted to enter the store with the products and leave with a refund.)

Red flag 1) The apple employee who put us in the queue visibly shook his head when my mom explained the situation in her own words. I took this to mean that he didn't understand her and didn't want to understand her.

We talked to not one but two employees, which was nice but also unnecessary since having more than one representative made the discussion go longer. (Also note that neither of them were the manager, and I they were - didn't announce themselves as so.)

Red flag 2) The store ultimately denied our request to return ANY of the items due to not having the proper receipt for one of them.

The whole procedure was fruitless and took over 30 minutes and 3 flustered employees.

...

After having a thorough hour long conversation that night with an apple care employee, who was so helpful and lovely, I decided to try returning the products again at a different location.

On the official website, the rules for returning apple products are just that the product must be

1. unopened
2. bought from an official retailer (including the online store of course)
3. come with a proof of purchase

When we went to the Crabtree store in Raleigh, everything was so much better. The employee who put in the queue was openly friendly and not condescending. The employee who helped us was upfront with information and just wanted to make sure she did everything properly, so she got assistance from her manager. With the overview of the manager, the employee looked up the order numbers of the 3 products - double checked that everything matched - and promptly processed our refund. She even gave us a print out receipt and digital receipt at our request.

This procedure took less than half the time we spent at Southpoint. Do yourself a favor and just drive to Raleigh so you don't get a headache, which is the only free item consistently in stock that you can get at the Southpoint apple store.

Tl;dr Southpoint employees don't know how to use/don't have access to their own technology and don't know their company's official return policies. Crabtree location is better, less crowded, more efficient...

I am writing this review to express my utmost disappointment and frustration with the data transfer service provided at your Southpoint store. I visited the store with the expectation of utilizing my AppleCare coverage to replace my bent iPad. However, the experience turned out to be a complete letdown, and I am compelled to share my negative experience.

Upon arrival, I made sure to confirm that the "iCloud device backup" feature was enabled on my old iPad, as I believed that this would allow me to retrieve all my data . I even showed the store employee the corresponding page as proof. Shockingly, without any warning or clarification, the staff member proceeded to erase all the data on my old iPad. To my dismay, when I set up the new iPad, I found that the backup data from my old device was nowhere to be found on the icloud.

The store representative's proposed solution was to download the data from the apps after setting up the new iPad. However, this approach proved to be futile for me, as some of my app files were too large and I had previously disabled the iCloud functionality for those specific files. It raises the question: If the iCloud backup for my old iPad was properly enabled, why was it not accessible during the setup process of the new device? If the backup had been retrievable, I would not have had to go through the tedious process of downloading individual app backups.

Furthermore, I am deeply disappointed with the attitude and response of your male staff member. As someone who has invested a significant amount of money in the CFA exam, losing all my notes and materials due to this mishandling is absolutely unacceptable. Instead of taking responsibility or providing a satisfactory solution, the staff member shifted blame onto me, exacerbating my frustration.

I strongly believe that your store should adopt alternative methods, such as utilizing iPad-to-iPad transfer, to ensure a more reliable and customer-centric data transfer process. This would allow customers to personally handle the transfer of their data, minimizing the risk of misunderstandings or data loss.

Overall, my experience at your Southpoint store was extremely disappointing. I expected a seamless and efficient service, considering my AppleCare coverage. Unfortunately, the mishandling of my data transfer and the dismissive attitude displayed by your staff member have left me feeling frustrated and dissatisfied.

I sincerely hope that you take this feedback seriously and address the issues I have raised. I urge you to improve the data transfer process and provide better training for your staff to avoid such disappointments in the future.

I will proceed to file a complaint with Apple headquarters regarding this matter, and I’ll email to Tim...