Apple Lenox Square — Local services in Atlanta

I am writing this review as a store review and not an apple customer service review because the impression I got from apple care is that apple store locations are responsible for laptop repairs and things of that nature, which is why they directed me to a specific store and instructed me what to do once I am there.

I have used this store in the past for my laptop repairs. My laptop has broken the same way four different times now. It broke two times within warranty and two times outside of warranty. On the two occasions that my computer was out of warranty, apple support insisted that I ask the store directly about waiving the cost of repair since whatever methods they were using to fix the problem were not working. This is a reoccurring issue with my computer, prior and subsequent to the warranty expiring, and I do not believe that I should be responsible for the cost of a repair for a problem that continually reoccurs, as it is obviously not my doing.

On my most recent visit to this particular store I was given very poor customer service from an employee at the genius bar. He was very unforgiving of the situation and kept reiterating that, if I had purchased apple care, that this wouldn't be an issue. He also suggested that this was "my doing" since, in his opinion, this happens to be a common issue with students and that maybe I shouldn't put books on my laptop and that I should buy a backpack with a special laptop compartment. Oddly enough, I had my backpack with me and showed him that I have a special compartment and that I always keep my backpack standing tall so as to not add extra weight onto the top of my laptop. I was then told that he couldn't believe me since that is just my word. I then told him that, after a quick search on the internet, I found out that this issue is quite common for my model of laptop and he responded by saying "well if it were a common problem people would be lined up out of the door for a repair or replacement," which I thought to be a very passive-aggressive comment for someone working in customer service and slightly contradicting to his previous statement. After "haggling" with the guy for about 10 minutes he said he would ask his manager for a waiver. He promptly returned and said that his manager approved the waiver, which I did appreciate (his manager didn't seem to ponder the question all that much, which is a good sign I guess).

At the end of the day I am happy that they waived my fee. However, this seems like a bit too much work on the part of the customer. I have been without my computer for ~1 month since buying it, and that's not including the time that I have had it in my possession but it not working properly. I have been massively inconvenienced by this whole ordeal and, if I'm not mistaken, the repair cost that this particular apple store has had to invest in order to repair my laptop on four different occasions has surpassed the cost of my computer by now. I could not have afforded to pay for any of these repairs on my own, which is scary for a student who is on a tight budget. The reasons students invest in apple laptops are simple; they work and the customer service is amazing. Unfortunately, these have not been true for me and I don't think I will be buying another apple laptop again because of this experience. This is what I would expect for a low-cost pc laptop. What incentive do I have to pay more money for something of the same quality?

As I said, not only have I had a terrible experience over the past two years with this particular location, but I haven't been offered any type of compensation for the lost time and inconvenience that I have faced for malfunctioning hardware. If it's apple policy to not offer any type of compensation then so be it. But I can't keep having this happen. If this issue comes about again with my laptop I will just buy another product from another brand instead of returning to this location for a repair that is obviously not going to work in...

UPDATE: REMOVED TWO STARS, and why:

So, last year I went here and had a good experience as you can see by my original review below. HOWEVER, this time when we went to go get the new iPhone 16 PM, we had no idea there was going to be a long line and they do things differently now. If a new phone comes out, either call or just check for the availability online first before you come here. The pickup lines are long. The MAIN problem is the OLD raggedy white man with glasses, with a buzz cut grey hairs) and slim build. I should’ve gotten his name because he is DISRESPECTFUL and I’m going be blunt here. My mom and I felt uncomfortable when talking to him, he was rude and acted defensive when we were asking simple questions like if they had the new phone in store. I would’ve spoken up but didn’t want to cause a scene. I DON’T CARE what kind of customers he deals with, we were not rude and never raised our voices. We even thanked him after!! Your job is to help customers and welcome customers happily who are spending hundreds to thousands of dollars on Apple products. How you gonna be an Apple Store staff and have SH1tty as$ customer service? At first, a female staff downstairs told us to go upstairs, but he told us to go back down again?? and proceeded to talk and show rude mannerisms. I should’ve just gone to a different staff member. He didn’t even offer to help us buy through the store. We had to buy it through our phone outside the store and even made us check for the availability ourselves.. are you the worker or are we the worker??? Completely different from Andres. Pick your staff better, we felt so uncomfortable with him and his personality. He was such a mood killer and made the experience awkward. And I usually am very lenient and don't get picky for customer service, but this one is crazy. Kept it 3 stars due to last year's experience with Andres.

Original review:

This review is literally coming from an unbiased and first experience at this store, my mom goes here a lot to get her phone every year, but today I decided to come and the experience was very great but that's because we went in knowing what we wanted and we fortunately got a great staff to actually help us. I'm going to say in my experience from yesterday on 9/25/23, was perfect. The staff member that helped my mom and I was Andres, and I hope he or someone working there sees this because he made the experience awesome and fully answered every single question we had, he put his input and opinions in to help us make our decisions, while not actually pressuring us into anything (at least that's how I felt). I also noticed that he spoke Spanish to other customers, so if you are a Spanish speaker or have a parent that isn't fluent in English but speak Spanish, they have a Spanish speaker. Forgot to mention this, but halfway through, I was drawing on the iPads and it is so convenient for artists. I draw on paper mostly but it can be so time consuming getting materials. I'm hoping to work more on digital art now after buying an iPad Pro, so convenient and Andres recommended it after telling me the 11inch was more practical for note-takings since I wanted to do note-taking for classes as well. You also get a student discount if you are in school, just make sure you have identification from the school to show proof like a school/student ID or emails (only for iPads and MacBooks). Just make sure you go in knowing what you want, and if you were like me, just ask questions and they should be able to answer and help with anything. I was fortunate to get a good staff to help me.

TLDR: Good experience and Andres was the staff that helped my mom and I get our apple products (iPhone 15 Pro Max online and an...

HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE. DO NOT ORDER SOMETHING FROM THIS LOCATION! DISHONEST CUSTOMER SERVICE!

I ordered an iPhone 16 pro about a month ago online and chose to have it delivered from this location because it was the only Apple Store near me that had it in stock. Should have been great as once I ordered it the site said it would be delivered the next day. Next day came and I get a notification that my device is out for delivery. I watch the delivery driver on my phone as he approaches my home. The text clearly said that I would need to sign for the delivery, so I waited by my door so as to not miss it. I see the driver pull in to my neighborhood on the app when all of a sudden I get a notification that my device has been delivered.... No one showed up at my door, nothing was dropped in a mailbox, nothing was delivered to a neighbor by accident. Clearly the delivery driver had marked it as delivered and drove off.

So I call the store figuring they can track down the driver. Nope. They used Uber Eats to do the deliver and had no name, phone number or any other contact info for the driver. So after 2 hours of on and off phone calls with them I get told a replacement device will be shipped to me but it'll take 2-3 weeks. Naturally I'm frustrated, but I felt like the customer service person was trying their best to make the situation better so I gave them the benefit of the doubt. Towards the end of the call she offers to email me a $125 gift card for my trouble. I thought this was really generous and so I thanked her and went about my day.

Fast forward 2 weeks. The new phone arrives, but the gift card never came (despite her saying it'd be in my inbox within 24 hours). I set up my new phone and figure I'll give them another 24 hours or so as I may have just misunderstood her. Fast forward a week still nothing. So today I call back..... after 45 minutes on the phone (being put on hold several times for extended period of times) I get told that she put in the gift card but made it for $0 so that was why I didn't get it. "Great, well can you correct that now?" "no" was the reply, followed by "but I can send you a coupon for $125". I figured that's basically the same thing, so sure (at this point I had been on the phone for an hour).

LITERALLY within a minute of me hanging up the phone I get an email for the coupon. It's not $125. It's not even close. It's $10 off any item over $100, $20 on anything over $200 or $30 off anything over $300. Pretty big discrepancy and kind of insane since I clarified with the customer service person multiple times and they assured me I was going to receive a $125 coupon. Multiple times --- after a nearly hour long call!

I instantly call back and after being put on hold for 20 minutes finally get a hold of a manager. The manager apologizes for the "confusing expectations" and clarifies they can't give me $125 and that they never could. So essentially these folks are entirely incompetent, or they are intentionally trained to lie hoping you won't follow up with them. The manager did nothing to make the situation any better despite having now been on the phone for an hour and a half with these people.

DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT order something from this location. Clearly, they can't manage to get something delivered without insuring it won't be stolen, and then if/when it is stolen they will just lie to your face until you...