Apple Menlo Park — Local services in Edison

It was a glorious day when my father gave me my first iPod, the iPod nano it was called! I was about 13 years old, now 32 looking back, maybe it wasn't so much of a good thing that dad did that for me.

That being said, let's get into this review of the APPLE STORE AT MENLO PARK MALL. Today, my wife and I acquired an iPad, let's just say it's really old! It's so old it can only hold 16GB of storage!

I stroll into Menlo Park Apple to get assistance as this device is LOCKED because the owner, who is 90-years-old cannot find the password for her ICLOUD account! God forbid the woman has a disease that affects her mind! In any event! I approach Zack, or Zac! (whatever) about said iPad.

First, he attempts to determine if we are the owners of the iPad by asking us questions that made it seem as if it was strange that it was locked. For example. I asked, "can you guys unlock this iPad?"

He replies, "why, I mean, like, is it yours?" My reply: "Are you insinuating that it is stolen?" He replies: "no, no, but we can't unlock it without proof of purchase."

I reply, "funny, because at short hills when this VERY SAME THING HAPPENED! They wiped the device clean so as to help us get into it!"

He responds, yes, we can unlock it but because we have no proof of purchase, I am choosing not to do it! Later, during our visit I proceeded to ask for his name, he replies, "why? are you going to report me?"

-_-. I said no, and here we are. I get, totally if this iPad was brand new, a pro, or a 2024 model sure! But the iPad is so old it's still asking to be plugged into ITUNES!

All in all Menlo Park is not the Apple Store you want to mess with it as customer service is not on the minds of many. The arrogance, snark remarks and lack of care and concern really makes the visit dreadful. Take the extra drive, go to short hills and get the best customer service ever!

It really is disgusting how we spend money on these apple devices and when you forget your password you're kicked to the curb as if you are a crook! And yes, one may argue, oh, he was doing his job! But the reality is, telling a customer that their iPad is now a brick is low key disgusting!

AND YES WE HAVE PERMISSION BY THE OWNER...

I called the apple customer care center who in turn called the store in Menlo with me on the line and we spoke with Emily. I explained that while traveling abroad and having phone issues in Colombia (no apple stores there) I brought my phone into an “apple certified” shop and they tampered with my phone, taking the apple battery out and replacing it with a Russian brand copy. I said that I knew that Apple doesn’t work on tampered phones, and asked what I could do since my battery barley lasts an hour. She told me it’s not a problem, just bring it in and they’ll replace the battery as long as there is no long term damage that would prevent them from changing it.

I bring in the phone and am told to return two hours later. I do exactly that and the apple employee comes out with my phone. She explains that they didn’t repair the phone battery because they had found that the battery was tampered with and it’s apples policy to not work on phones that have been tampered with for safety reasons. I replied that they did not find it to be tampered with, I reported that it was tampered to them and was told to bring it in anyway. She replied “yeeeaaahh, it’s apples policy to not work on tampered phones but you can buy a certified preowned model iPhone X similar to yours for $570.” I asked why Emily didn’t just say this on the phone and I could save a trip out to Menlo Park mall? She just repeated what she said above and ignored my question.

I was furious, took my phone and left. I then went to a local repair person and got a generic iPhone battery for $50 including install. I was going to trade this in for the iPhone 13 in October, but now I won’t. I’m going to transition all my apple products (iPad and Mac mini) to regular PC stuff, I would give this company another dollar. Your employees are aloof and arrogant and expect everyone that walks into the store to be as knowledgeable as they are. They polite passive aggressive attitudes they have are just...

If I could rate this store 0 stars, I would. But I can't. My AirPods (which I got last year) decided to take an early retirement, so I figured I'd have Apple look at it. For those of you who don't know, this Apple Store has a strict appointment-only policy. If you wanted to just drop in and get something fixed, YOU CANT! Sorry! Even during seemingly quiet times, assistance remains exclusive to those with appointments, unless, of course, you're there to make a purchase. After performing a complex ritual to secure an appointment, I finally landed a slot for 10:30 AM - but that was just the beginning of the circus. The Apple 'geniuses' concluded that the issue with my airpods was 'internal.' They said sometimes earwax can build up and get inside the airpod, or it was a mechanical failure: "all things mechanical fail over time." Really? THEY ARE MADE TO GO IN YOUR EARS. In short, they told me that my Airpods stopped working from simply USING THEM. Silly me, I assumed they were built to handle the daunting task of SITTING IN AN EAR! Then they had the nerve to suggest $69 for a single AirPod replacement. I won't be giving this money-hungry and disingenuous company another cent, and I won't be participating in their sick game where as soon as I replace one airpod, the other is ready to throw in the towel too. AND THEY CALL THEMSELVES GENIUSES. The apple technicians are called "geniuses". I expected Einstein, I got someone who went into the back room for 30 minutes and came out just to tell me my airpods stopped working because 'they just do that sometimes.' Look, if you're a fan of forking over a small fortune for a device that seems to have a shelf life shorter than my new years resolution, this is the place for you! Apple, and your 'geniuses', you've outdone yourselves in the art of disappointment. Keep up...