Apple Alderwood — Local services in Lynnwood

If I could give zero stars I would. But not just for this store but Apple as a whole. Let me color this review with the fact that I have used Mac products for well over a decade and have defended them to local PC users but after this that will not be the case.

My whole experience with Apple since I brought my computer in has been incredibly disappointing and upsetting. I brought in my laptop due to it's inability to hold a charge. Fine. It was over 5 years old so that seemed like normal maintenance to me and pretty minor considering nothing else was wrong; however, since it is a MacBook I cannot access the battery on my own to fix so I obviously have to bring it in. I was told my computer was "vintage" and Apple didnt manufacture parts for it anymore. How is this even possible when it isn't even 6 years old yet? I was told my options were to trade it in - but I would only get $100 due to it's "vintage" status which could then be used to buy a NEW computer (why would I need a new one when only the battery was bad on this one) which cost well over $1600. I was dumbstruck. Or I could mail in my computer to off site support in hopes they had a leftover battery for my device. I obviously chose the latter. I was told I would get my device in 3-5 days. I did not. They sent ONE email asking for my response which got lost in my inbox and then nothing. No follow up. No phone call. No text. Nothing. Finally on day 8 when I still hadn't received my laptop and I was due to start school I searched my email for any updates. It was hidden in an email that asked for my response which honestly just looks like an email asking for a review but I clicked on it only to find out my device was hung out because another issue was found and they wanted my consent to continue with the repair. I opened the updated statement and it had on there the main reason I brought it in and then in a different section the new issue they found. My problem being is the way it was phrased with "please let us know if you want to proceed with the updated changes" does not make it sound like it included both fixes. It made it seem like they would fix the new issue but not both. At the bottom of the quote it says if I have any questions about the quote to contact Apple Support Chat - so I did. However the chat person told me they were unable to look up my repair claim for any information and I would have the call the store that I dropped it off at directly. Why when I had to ship it out in the first place and the store wasnt even repairing it - and why tell me to ask my questions to this chat when they can't even look up the order? So I called. Only to not even get the store directly still. This customer service rep was ALSO unable to look up my service request. I could see it plain as day on my end. I just wanted to confirm both issues would be fixed before I gave them $300 +. He told me he would have to connect me to the store as he could not help me. Why have me call this number to be told the same thing. Why is the STORE that I dropped my device off at who isn't even doing the repair THE ONLY ONE who can see my service request? And then kicker. No one at the store could help me because they were all too busy with people in store buying up the newest apple release. That will likely be "vintage" in just a few years where they will be forced to buy something new. I was beyond mad at this point. I thanked the rep for their time and hung up. I proceeded with the repairs - hopefully both issues are fixed - but I will only know when I get my device back but you can be rest assured I will NEVER buy another Apple Product and I will tell everyone in my life to do the same. This company is a scam and a joke and I cannot believe how many people are blind to this kind of commercial and financial ABUSE they have been caught up in because of shiny new tech gadgets. I have had all of my non apple products for nearly 10 years with no issues. This type of turn and burn consumerism that Apple pushes is disgusting. Also simple solution? Let me replace my own...

This review is not written in anger. It is written as a warning. Stick with this to the end, it only gets worse. My iMac was not functioning properly. I strongly suspected the hard drive. I took my iMac and my near-bulletproof external hard drive (it had my Time Machine back up) to the Apple Store at Alderwood. I just checked my external hard drive and the Time Machine back up literally minutes before the appointment commenced. It was working perfectly and all data was accessible. The technician performed his analysis and announced the internal hard drive on the iMac looked fine. This iMac has a fusion drive, which, as you might know, is a combination of a solid state drive (SSD) and a traditional mechanical drive. I pointed out to him that he was only reading the condition of the SSD on his software. He wasn't reading the main hard drive. A technician should have known this. He then proceeded to do several things that I didn't follow fully. The last thing he did was to erase my internal iMac hard drive completely, saying he would then re-install/restore everything from my Time Machine. He did all his work while my external drive attached to the iMac. He wiped the iMac. When he attempted the restoration from the Time Machine, the external hard drive could not be read...by any computer. This was a disaster. Apple said they didn't know what they could have done to corrupt my data on the external drive, but I'd have to send the drive back to the external drive manufacturer to see if the data could be recovered. Long story short...the external drive people sent the drive out to a major recovery company...estimated cost for recovery $2600. Three weeks later, the recovery company said that the data was corrupted beyond any recovery ability available. 7 years worth of tax records, medical records (I'm a doctor), 89,000 photos, music files...all lost. But wait...it gets worse. A little background...I live 4 hours round trip from Alderwood. All told I've made 9 trips to Alderwood (many of which were because in days of calling the store, no one would answer the phone. On other occasions, I was given erroneous information that prompted the unnecessary trips.). Apple Alderwood apologized for my lost data and repaired the internal hard drive on my iMac and gave me a new small portable external drive by way of compensation. They offered to migrate data from my laptop MacBook Pro to the iMac so I'd at least have something to work with. I went without my computers for a week so they could migrate the data. They called at the end of the week saying that the data migration was complete and that I could pick up my computers...another 4 hour round trip. I picked up the computers, brought them home, powered up the iMac the next day only to discover....are you ready for this?...No data had been migrated. The computer screen was a virgin screen. No photos. Not files. No music. I checked the iMac hard drive and of the 3 TB capacity, all 3 TB were available. The drive was virtually empty of everything but the OSX. Not a speck or iota or megabyte had been downloaded except one measly pdf showing one immunization record of one child. Unbelievable. I called the Apple Store, spoke to a very nice and apologetic gentleman who told me I could migrate my own data from MacBook to iMac. So, to the patient reader of this diatribe, I suggest you look at how many levels of incompetence and expense and time and loss I had to swim through in this experience. My best advice is that the Apple Store at Alderwood Mall should be shut down pending a complete retraining of the entire technical staff until they reach a level of competence that would justify a customer's spending thousands of dollars on Apple products. Meanwhile, I suggest your service needs and patronage be directed to benefit a different...

I want to take the opportunity to share my experience with Apple, so hopefully, what happened to my wife and me doesn't ever happen to any other one of your customers in the future. I was interested in upgrading my Macbook Pro and also purchasing one for my wife. So after scheduling an appointment with one of your sales specialists, on February 22, 2021, at around 4:00 pm, we arrived at the Apple Alderwood store located at 3000 184th St. SW Lynwood, WA 98037. We were courteously welcomed, screened for covid-19, and paired up with "Ginger," one of your sales representatives. From the moment we were greeted, Ginger's demeanor felt so condescending, arrogant, and overbearing. I told her my intentions of trading in my computer. She looked at it and inspected it with disgust. I asked for a suggestion for the new one. I mentioned to her what I usually did on my laptop. Her response was, "To be honest, anything you pick would be a lot better than that computer that you have" She then pointed to the 13" MacBook Pros. And Mac Book Airs. I told her that I would like the 15" better. She responded, "The MacBook Pro starts at $2,400; you really think you would buy it," with an expression on her face like inferring that I couldn't afford it. I told her yes. Please let me see it. She guided me to it. At that point, she looks very bothered because she says "that everything that we touch she is going to have to disinfect again" At that point, my wife began to get irritated with the attitude. She communicates to me, do you want me to request to speak to another sales rep. I responded no. Let's just get it over with, and let's go. I told Ginger to proceed with the trade-in. I will take the 13" MacBook Pro and my wife a 13" MacBook Air. And she said, Oops, sorry, the MacBook Air that starts at $999 is sold out. We have one, but it starts at $1,299. It has more features. So I consulted with my wife. I told her we might as well just get another MacBook Pro. We are paying the same amount. While we are deciding, Ginger interrupts us and says, Guys, I don't mean to rush you, but you only have a 15-minute session with me, so you are going to have to make a decision. We ended just buying my laptop. I spent $1,291.71 (after the trade-in), but in 15 minutes, we couldn't accomplish everything that we went to the store to do. The laptop for my wife was supposed to be a belated birthday present. As I was eager to upgrade my computer, my wife was eager to upgrade our iPhones. That also did not happen. We walked out of there very upset. Coincidentally, the store manager happened to be standing by the exit, and he kindly held the door open for us. We shared our experience with him. His reaction was that he was very sorry and hoped that we'd have a better experience the next time we come back to the store. It's been a while since I been treated with so much disrespect. Felt so humiliated, discriminated against. I went there to spend money to buy a product that I am proud of spending money on. I am proud to spend top dollar for a top-quality product, but when you pay top dollar for the top product, as a customer, you also expect the same level of customer appreciation—my thoughts.

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