Apple The Shops at Blackstone Valley — Local services in Marlborough

WORST EXPERIENCE AT APPLE STORE

How my “1hr” appointment turned into 5hrs of waiting. (In depth review)

Went to Apple Store after making an appointment previous day. Was checked in, waited until someone came out to help me. Super friendly associate answered my questions, explained I need to come back within five days to have my phone repaired. (Repair: True Depth Camera suddenly failed) She explained the repair could take up to an hr (1 HOUR) and to be prepared to be without a phone for that period of time.

Returned following day checked in again and waited a really long time, this was early Monday afternoon so it was far from busy. More than enough employees present but only a couple repair techs. Eventually an older lady came out to help me and was very rude and short with me as if I was an inconvenience. I ignored it and just kept smiling. She said repair would take 2 hrs, I asked her if the time she gave me was an estimate or the soonest it could be done (I had work in a couple hrs and only planned on waiting an hour for the repair as I was told), she replied “I said 2 hours”. I then asked if they were gonna take off the screen protector I had just bought and she said “maybe, maybe not” again very short with me, I had to ask her to clarify twice and she said the machine that takes off the glass might break it but they won’t know. She left with my phone and I left to wait.

Returned two hours later check in again and wait. This time a super nice guy came out to help me and explained the repair. He told me they fixed it and ran diagnostics and it showed there was a cellular issue. I haven’t had a cellular issue before so I didn’t understand why all of a sudden something was wrong. He showed me it was still getting service and said if I had an issue I could come back. I said I wanted to test it before I leave because I had to travel almost an hour to get to the store. I’m SO GLAD I did because the front speaker wasn’t working…at all. He ran some tests and showed it was in fact broken now. He left to go talk to his supervisor and I waited.

He came back and said they would have to replace everything in the phone except for the front screen/camera they just replaced. And that I would have to call my service provider after and activate the phone again because EVERYTHING including the eSIM will be ERASED.

I use my phone for work so there was no way I could make another appointment, and/or wait a few days to get it fixed. So I let them “fix” it…again. Waited over an hour and returned to be checked in and wait…again. Someone came out with my phone and explained there was no way to activate it without my other phone (I don’t have another phone??), I eventually had to run to my car to grab my iPad to use instead. I literally ran to my car cuz I had been there HOURS missing work and I was so over it, when I came back into the store she was helping someone else with their repair while holding my device. So I had to wait for her to help someone else first before she would finish helping me. I was really frustrated at this point and feeling very defeated. I just wanted to go home.

She sat me at a table and gave me a store phone and told me to activate my phone and then walked away saying if I needed help to call someone over. I ended up waving them over because the my service provider was asking for info about the repair I had no knowledge of. Eventually I got it activated and had to wait 45 minutes for the phone to install updates just to let me even use it. When my phone booted up I unplugged it and left. Not at any time did anyone check on me to see if needed help.

TO SUMMARIZE:

In total I spent 5 hours waiting and dealing with Apple reps who fixed my phone, but also broke it and then fixed it again. It’s now a week later and incoming calls aren’t being received by my phone, the phone doesn’t even register I’m getting a call. I’m being told when people call me it goes straight to voicemail.

So my phone is now broken a 3rd time??!! Calling apple today because I can’t keep driving almost an...

I Would give this store a 0 Rating if it allowed me to do so. . .

I came into the store to exchange my brand new IPhone 16 Pro Max that I bought on Thursday (10-10). A simple transaction became a nightmare. . . I usually never ICloud Backup my phone because once i get a new phone I just scan my old one and the data transfers within 30-45 min. I Find someone to help me with the transaction. They returned the Iphone 16 Pro Max for me but also tell me that usually based on their "policy" once you return the phone, they have to erase everything + take it to the back to be shipped out Immediately therefore, you can't scan it. The Employee told me he would make a 1 time exception and let me scan the phone once I purchased it. I buy the phone and do a Trade-in (IPhone 13 pro )which gave me $340 Credit. 30 minutes later as im about to transfer my number to my brand new phone that i just got, I notice a DEEP Scratch on the bottom of the screen (If I'm Paying over $1,200 on a brand new phone, I obviously want there to be no damage). I tell the employee I'm working with (Randy, who was very helpful) about the issue and he goes to speak to the manager with what he should do. The manager (Matt) comes up to me and tells me that the only way I can scan the phone again to transfer my data, I have to first buy the New phone at the retail price (over $1,200) without the trade-in and then he will credit me $340 to the card. Issue was I was doing it with my Apple Card with MONTHLY Installments which should be ($35.75 for 24 months) but he wanted me to pay 50$ a month for like 18 months. He wasn't very helpful as a Manager of the Entire store! Thats the only option he gave me and as a Customer, why should i pay more a month when it was a Physical Defect that I got from the phone from his store? I asked why i cant just scan the phone again like i did the first time and he said based on the return "policy" he has to take the phone away and couldn't make an exception like one of his peers did the first time. At this Point, I've already been in the store for 2-3 hours so i was pissed off. I asked Randy if he could think of anything else and he told me he can temporarily give me more storage on my phone so I can Save all my data to ICloud. This Process alone (to backup everything on my phone) took another 2 hours!!!! Once the ICloud back up was complete, Another Employee (dont recall his name because he didnt have a name tag) Completely erased the phone. He was also Extremely Rude and unhelpful! He then returned the one with the deep scratch and then AGAIN told me I had to buy the phone again. Issue again here was that he completely erased my data on the phone and. I didnt have access to my Apple ID to buy the phone. In Order to use your Apple Card for Monthly Installments, I needed to Scan his QR code and then Click Agree. Since I have 2 step Verification, it wouldn't allow me to access my Apple ID without getting a Text to my Number that I NO LONGER HAD. It Took him and another guy 35 minutes to figure out a way to put an ESim in my Trade-in Phone (Temporary) with my number so i can get texts and Verify it was me and purchase the phone. After Purchasing the Phone, the Employee (who actually sold me the first phone) just disappeared and left me all alone to set up the phone by myself. Thankfully, Im Tech savy and I didn't have an issue but there was over 10+ Employees throughout the store and many were just talking amongst themselves. It took my phone over 35 Min to Back it up off the Icloud Backup and as soon as it was done I Left the store. In Total, I Probably spent Over 5 hours in the store for something that was suppose to be a quick fix. now as I'm writing this, a lot of my data from the ICloud Backup didn't save and I only have Half of what I had on my Phone. I had over 120 GBs of data but only 64GB of data transferred and saved!!

In Conclusion, if you have an issue with something PLEASE DO NOT Come to this Store! I'd go to Natick or Boston even though it might be farther. They don't care about their customers...

Barbara helped me at this location after I had been to a different location that unfortunately had not resolved my issue. Mike was helping to assure that Barbara was comfortable with helping me as it was her first day on the job. At first I was nervous because at a different location, someone with years of experience was unable to accurately identify and resolve the issue. However, not only were they extremely friendly, professional, and efficient, but both Barbara and Mike seemed like they were making sure they were diligent in every process with care. They both explained to me what they were doing and why in terms that I was able to understand. As Barbara was seemingly comfortable and making progress on her own, Mike stepped away after making sure she was comfortable with that. Brianne (who I later found out was the manager) ended up taking his place in making sure that Barbara was free to ask questions if needed. Barbara was doing an EXCEPTIONAL job and actually "accidentally" found out the issue with my phone when asking to remove my cover I had to fit the phone on a plug in to run a test. Immediately after I removed the cover she came to a realization that my battery was expanding and actually bursting out of my phone. This was causing the issue the entire time whereas the man at the other location told me it was a software issue. He had told me to delete all of my data (which I did) and still the problems persisted. Once Barbara identified the issue I felt such a sense of relief because finally I felt like the representatives had control over the situation! The entire time the staff kept thanking me for my patience, but honestly I was thankful for theirs! They did not rush and were extremely diligent. They even took the extra step in calling my carrier (a regional one that they don't usually work with) to set up my brand new phone that they replaced free of charge. Prior to coming in this store location I was feeling hopeless and almost regretting the fact that I had paid so much for a phone and for the Apple Care Insurance when I only had the phone for 1 year and I wasn't receiving any help or attention for the issues after visiting the Natick Mall location twice. Solomon Pond Mall gave unbelievable service and went above and beyond. Not even just in comparison to another Apple store but in all my experience with customer service EVER. After finding out Brianne was the manager I can see why the store runs so well. If the staff is anything like their leader (which clearly they are) they are caring associates who are friendly, personable, and professional. Not once did I get the vibe that the employees were just "on the clock" or just "there for a paycheck" like I've experienced at other places. As for Barbara, keep on doing what you are doing! Do not lose your amazing and helpful personality because I think I talked about how fantastic my experience was for a solid 2 hours after I left the store yesterday and I have been talking about it with my employees all morning (the next day). Thank you so much again to Brianne,...