Apple Westfarms — Local services in Farmington

I have been in this store on more than one occasion and am only writing this review because all of my experiences have been poor. I have only gone to the store for product related issues, not the purchase of a device, so that is where my review will be focused. There is a common theme with my visits and this theme is that the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. I’m convinced that when you go in for an issue with your device, they will tell you what you want to hear, not what is going to actually happen. One occasion my son’s phone just stopped having cellular capability. Talked with verizon, then apple on the phone, then I was told I had to go to the apple store. When I did, I was told there was a common issue with this model and they would be replacing the phone with a NEW phone. This was repeated multiple times. I was also told that it would take a few days to get the new phone in and they would be sending my son’s phone back. They did not have a replacement phone for my son to use in the meantime, they ran out. So needless to say, we waited.. and waited..... a few days, turned into a week, which turned into two weeks. When the phone was finally in, I went to pick it up only to find that it was my son’s phone refurbished. NOT a new phone like I was promised. Nobody in the store really cared. I asked to speak with a manager as I was told I would be receiving a new phone and he was no help. More recently, I went in to replace the battery on my phone. I made an appointment as I know they are always very busy. I was shopping at the mall any way and decided to pop in to see if they could take me a few minutes sooner, which they could not. No biggie. At that time I specifically asked if they had the replacement battery in stock and if they would be able to change it in the store, so as not to waste my appointment. I was told yes. Went back at my appointment time. Spoke with 2 different people before a third finally came to look at my phone about a half hour after my appointment time. He confirmed it needed a battery....BUT you guessed it.....they didn’t have it in stock. I specifically asked that prior to my appointment. Such a waste of my time. I was so frustrated. And again. No one had any answers as to why they told me it was in stock. I even pointed out the person who told me it was in stock. Nothing. Needless to say, I went to Staples, replaced the battery in 5 minutes...done. I will never go to the apple...

I had one of the worst customer service experiences of my life here. I ended up going in with 2 issues with my MBP.. first one was that my mac would turn on whenever it felt like it, and wouldn't turn on whenever it felt like it. A pretty big deal when you are just about to spin a gig, and you rely on your hardware. And secondly was that the apple logo was showing through the LCD screen, causing a white smear behind the glass that was very apparent whenever a dark color washed over the area. First time i brought it in, I made an appointment and showed up SPOT on for timing. Checked in.. waited 20 minutes.. (mind you there are no chairs to sit, so this twenty minutes is engineered to get you to look around at their products) -- and finally saw a "Genius," along with ONE OTHER PERSON. He barely akgnowledged me, and only made contact with me or the other person when he had a question such as "Did you beat it up, is there any way I can prevent this from being fixed under warrenty, are you stupid?" (i'm being facetious) I ended up leaving the place not knowing what was wrong with my computer, but with a slip telling me what they were replacing. I got a call 2 days later saying my parts were in, made another appointment, showed up ten minutes late this time. I WAITED ANOTHER 20 MINUTES before seeing a "Genius" to drop my computer off. Sat there, no conversation as the guy plugged away at his computer. All he told me was "You're ready to go!" and then told me it would be 3-5 days to get it repaired, and they would contact me the same way they contacted me before via email and phone call. -- FAST FORWARD 5 DAYS -- I ended up calling, and they told me that the computer was ready to be picked up 4 days ago, and they apologized for not contacting me about it. I go in, wait a half hour, leave with my computer. Everything is fixed, everything is OK. I get home, check my email, and low and behold AFTER i left the Apple store, i got an email telling me that it was ready to be picked up. All in all, this place can suck pond water and I will do everything in my power to never go to this...

29$ Bait & Switch Battery Replacement

Recently I experienced significate lag with the response time of my iPhone 6 Plus. Shortly thereafter I was plagued with random power off episodes after 30 minutes of use. My phone would display it was completely drained but when connected to a charging cable it would turn on with over 50% battery life. Needless to say it all happened right before I heard Apple report they were “graciously” doing $29 battery replacements for iPhone 6 or newer. I made my appointment with Apple at the West Farms Mall, West Hartford, CT on 1/8/2018 @ 1 PM. When my Tech arrived they diagnosed the phone and found that the front camera didn’t work and the battery had less than 80% life with over 500 charges. It appears I was “approved” for their charitable $29 battery replacement. They proceeded to open my LifeProof case and remove the SIM card. It was beneath the SIM they discovered it was subjected to water. They opened to phone completely to verify their findings. At that point I was told they could not replace the battery in my functioning phone. They could however sell me a replacement or upgrade me to a new one. So now $29 turns into $329 (or much more). Apple was not “GIVING” me a battery. I was going to pay them for it. Why does it matter if my phone was subjected to water or not? If it was shattered and crushed and I wanted the battery replaced so what! Even at $29 I’m sure their still making money hand over fist with their Chinese manufactured battery. Sure seems like phase 2 of their scams to get current users to upgrade their...