Apple Irvine Spectrum Center — Attraction in Irvine

Extremely disappointed with my Apple experience at the Apple Irvine spectrum center today!

I had bought an iPhone online to be ready for pick up at the Apple Irvine spectrum Center. I had a 5:15 PM appointment. The online Apple Store told me that I could wait in line and arrive early. I arrived at 2:45PM. They said that until I get my QR code, my order could not be processed for my online order, even though I had the online order number. The Apple Irvine spectrum Center store said said I had to call the one 800 phone number for Apple. After being on hold, I was finally able to reach customer service at the online Apple Store who told me I had to wait until 5:15 PM before my online purchase would get processed. At 5:15 PM I still did not receive the QR code. So I went into the Apple Irvine spectrum center store and told them that I still had not received my QR code even though it was 5:15 PM for my appointment time. They told me there was nothing they could do until I receive a QR code. So I had to wait on hold again with the one 800 phone number for the Apple online store. The online Apple Store then made sure it was processed and told me I would be receiving a QR code in 5-10min. At 5:45 PM, I still had not received any QR code even though the online Apple Store said my purchase was processed. Again, the Irvine Spectrum Apple Store staff said there was nothing they could do without the QR code. So, finally I asked if the Apple Irvine spectrum Center store had an extra phone in stock of the model I wanted. They said yes, I can reserve that. But then I have to go back online to cancel my online purchase or else I will get double billed. So I had to again contact the one 800 number for the online Apple Store to cancel my online purchase.

What makes me most upset is that I had to be the person to figure out a solution to not receiving the QR code for my online purchase. At 3 PM when I originally arrived, they could've told me that they had my model of phone in stock and that they can make a reservation to immediately buy while I cancel the online Apple purchase.

In addition, after being there for over 3.5 hours just to pick up my online purchased phone (due to a screw up with the QR code not appearing in my email/text), not a single supervisor offered me any small compensation like a charger or a small amount of Apple Gift card. There is no way that I am the only person to have made a purchase online that never received a QR code. Not a single staff member thought to check to see if my iPhone model was in stock, so that they could sell me a phone immediately and that I can cancel my online purchase. I had to think of this idea myself. Who knows how much longer I would’ve had to wait for that stupid QR code to appear on my text/email.

The only bright part of the whole situation was the female staff member that finalized my phone purchase...

This is my very first experience going to an Apple Store. Ive been a long time user of Apple products. I love them!! From my MacBook, Apple TV, iPhone, AirPods, I love all things Apple. But i've never had to go to an actual store for any kind of assistance. Well my dog cracked the screen to my iPhone and I found out through my phone carrier that I have Apple Care and to take my phone to a local Apple Store. When I got there, the first person to greet me was amazing. He was knowledgable and polite. Told me to go home and "backup" my phone to my iMac because sometimes a "small percentage" of data might be lost in the repair. I came back for my appt and dropped my phone off and was told to come back at a certain time. When I came back my experience completely changed. A guy comes out yelling my name looking around. I told him that its me and the first words out of his mouth were "We had to restore your phone during the repair so your phone has been wiped clean". The way he said it, I thought he was joking and I just said "ya right youre being funny". He replied no that hes serious and thats why I signed the waiver for this exact situation. So my problem isn't that my phone was wiped completely, my problem is that he offered me no assistance about how to get it in working order again. He took my payment, handed me my phone and didn't say "thank you" or "do you need assistance on how to get your phone back to working condition" He never even told me his name. He just handed me a completely blank phone that didn't have cellular service on it and walked away. I am not tech savvy and had to have a friend help me "back up" my phone to my iMac before the repair. Now I understand customer service isn't what it used to be but this was hands down the worst service Ive ever had. Its hard to convey how rude this person was through words on a screen.I called the Apple Store from my husbands phone since mine did not work and was told "I am surprised he let you leave the store with your phone like that" but told me someone would call me back in a few minutes and nobody has. I honestly hope to never have to experience going to another Apple Store. I will continue to purchase my products from other retailers where they strive to provide better customer service than what I experienced at Apple. To not even get a call back is insane to me but it's the world we live in nowadays. My advice is to stay away from the Irvine Spectrum location. The management is...

FABULOUS SERVICE ! Just as we were about to commence our bike ride early on Thursday morning my iPhone 14 Pro slipped out of my gloved hand and plummeted face first to the asphalt. I thought I might have got lucky when I picked it up as it looked ok at first glance.....it was inside an Apple MagSafe Clear Case. BUT NO ! And then on much closer inspection I could see a small fracture in the glass screen in the bottom right hand corner. BUGGER ! I have dropped an iPhone only twice in my life and both times it required glass screen replacement. NOT SO BAD ! When we got back home I contacted Apple Support and booked a 2.30pm slot on Friday to have the glass screen replaced. It would be a minimal charge of $29 because we paid for 2 year Apple Care Plus when we bought our iPhone 14 Pros from Apple online last year. We arrived a tad early on Friday and a male greeter at the entrance directed us to a bar height community table in the Genius Bar area at the back of the store. A technician named Glynis greeted us warmly when we arrived. I removed my iPhone 14 Pro from it's clear case and handed it to Glynis. After a few signatures Glynis informed us my iPhone would be ready to collect at 3.50pm. TIME TO SHOP ! We took care of some shopping at Target next door and came back about 15 minutes early. While we waited for my iPhone to come out we decided to pick out new more grippy cases for our iPhone 14 Pros. The Apple Clear Cases we have had since we bought our iPhones are slippery to touch and show lint like crazy front back and sides. THIS TIME ! A sales Specialist named Gabriel gave us some helpful assistance with what style cases were available in the colors we wanted. We almost bought a couple of Apple Silicon Cases in Red and Blue but then saw the new OtterBox Figura Series with MagSafe. NICE COLORS ! We switched over to a purple one ( Agrias ) and a blue one ( Morpho ) of these. We headed back to the waiting area at the Genius Bar and my iPhone 14 Pro arrived with it's gleaming new glass screen. A Repair Administrator named Jazmin explained there was no internal damage to my iPhone. IT'S ALL GOOD ! We paid the $29 co-pay ( beats paying over $329 for a new glass screen ) plus the cost of our new OtterBox Figura Series Cases. A GOOD...