Apple La Cantera — Local services in San Antonio

It’s a nice, wide-open store. I went there to do my yearly phone upgrade. Id say that I’m a challenging customer, but if things roll out nicely, I appreciate that, and I will give praise according. FYI: I’m also heavily techie, owning an IT Company, with a twist...I also went to law school. Right, that said, nice store...however...the continued C19 restrictions meant that the store wouldn’t allow me to peruse around. Of course, not Apples fault in a C19 sense. I get that. However, I could see people in the store. I wasn’t just curious, having spent a good deal of money on these phones and watches. The plan was to providing me the phone upgrade ‘at the ropes.’ Same sort of ropes you find in front of a nightclub. A place where I’ve been spoiled having a lot of ‘love at the door,’ never having to wait in line. I was able to wiggle into the store by insisting that I needed to look over the phone case options, located at the far back right of the store. OK, got past the ropes but was followed with an employee stuck to me as I moved around. I found a little much. I was properly masked, I’ve even had my complete set of C19 vaccine shots, but that besides the point. If actually “buying,” who better to let into the store to look around. Obvious opportunity for a cross sell. Cases were, “eehh,” nothing impressive. I’m comparing them to the many options found online. Middle of the store, were the Apple Watches. I have the new 6 version. Like the phone cases, this display also struck me as a little light on features. Clean, light colored, wood case was nice but, not much going on. Sort of like a clean resume, “lots of white,” not so much detail. Beyond the store, I had an upgrade question; migrating my Microsoft Authenticator App. There were no techs available to discuss my concern that if I didn’t perform all the steps to move to a new phone properly, I might find myself locked out of my own MS apps. On a positive, the man at the rope pushed a button on his iPad, and I received a call to my phone in 2 seconds flat. The downside is the tech wasn’t able to help. Ref me to Microsoft instead. Final thought, the new iPhone 12 is “smaller” than the 11, unless you upgrade to the Pro version. Squarer sides are cool, but honestly, I like bigger. Heard the size decrease was because users wanted to be able to “slip the phone” into their shirt pockets. Not a thing for me, my shirt pocket would be pressed flat from the cleaners either way. Overall, a very nice, clean, roomie store, but lacked accessories. With the affect of C19 on shopping habits being made mostly online, people have gotten used to seeing Lots of options for Accessories, at rock bottom prices. I guess we’ll again get out to shop in stores, but a store rethink may...

Everyone, while putting best face were very unhelpful and acted pompous. Melissa helped me with the “exchange” of my pc.

My husband purchased a Mac as my Christmas gift during the Black Friday promotion, with the purchase he received a $150 gift card which is the only reason he got the Mac. I took the Mac back because 2 weeks after Christmas and airing it out, it smelled Mike mildew. Stepping in, the “Genius’s” questioned the concern I had and tried to dismiss me, until I insisted I just got it. They then offered an exchange which is what I preferred under the condition of visiting the Genius Bar.

After Breanna helped me (which was the smoothest process ever) Sabrina stepped in to help me exchange the Mac. Now here, she returned the Mac and started to charge me 162 and change, I started to question the reason and she explained that there was a gift card needed to be returned or I was going to get charged. So I asked my husband about it and he immediately sends it over since it was part of the purchase. Then at that point they still charged me the taxes for the gift card I returned which didn’t make sense. At that point, I started to question the process more and they were just more dismissive. I spoke with the manager about the gift card and she said “he bought it that day, if you want it back you’ll have to buy it again”, I got a refund for the taxes but it still didn’t see right. I decided to get my husband involved and he saw that the “promotion” caused the pc to be reduced to $849 in price instead of the $999 and used the $150 gift card to pay for it at the repurchase point. They completely failed to acknowledge my husband’s effort to purchase the item during the promotion as well as just evenly exchange the Mac properly. Since then, my husband and I have been on the phone with customer service and they disconnected our call about 5 times to the point where my husband had to go back to the store and deal with another “genius” named Chris. IT TOOK HIM 40 MINUTES TO UNDERSTAND THE SITUATION, 40 MINUTES, TO UNDERSTAND WHAT WAS GOING ON. Then he said he could help fix the mistakes. but guess what, the Mac had to be taken off location services… so now I’m at the point of having to get that taken care of but it’s so frustrating. So inconvenient. SUPER UNPLEASANT. The only reason we are insisting, is because of the way they’ve been treating us. The way they go against facts just to make them seem like they know what they are talking about is just beyond me. They didn’t even admit they made a mistake directly. Let’s see what...

May 8, 2018 I noticed my Apple Watch Series 3 screen was cracked. I didn't have an apple care so I called Apple to see if I had any options. Apple told me I can do an out of warranty replacement for $229. So I went to the Apple Store at La Cantera.

The guy at the Genius Bar was nice. He spoke with 5 different folks at Genius Bar before he came back. He then told me that since it's a hairline fracture with no impact, there is no cost for replacement. He then gave me a $0 receipt and told me the watch will be ready within 3 to 5 days.

Fast forward to May 14, 2018. I call the Apple Store to see what the status of my watch is. I am transferred three times "to someone that has access to help me". Finally I speak to someone that has access to help me. She tells me that my watch has a point of impact and that an e-mail will be sent to me to approve the work order so they can fix it. I advised her I didn't get any e-mails (which is true). Several hours after the call I get an e-mail which tells me that based on my call, the link provided would be able to help in the future. I click on the link and it takes me to my watch repair. There are three enlarged pictures of my watch. Ironically enough the crack doesn't look ANYTHING like it was when I submitted my watch, but still it is what it is. I try to see my repair options but it says that I had until May 13, 2018 to make a choice or the watch would be sent back. Where was my e-mail tell me this? I work for a tech company and am on my computer all day checking e-mails and working with tickets, I don't miss e-mails.

I call Apple Care again. I speak to a rep who tells me that the repair fee will be $289. $289? Where the heck this this come from, what happened to $229? It is what it is. At this time she proceeds to transfer me to two other people prior to someone who was able to approve the work order for me at $289. He then told me to work with Apple Store at La Cantera to get this honored at $0. Hahaha! Good luck with that.

I'm an early adapter of new technology. I have spent thousands of dollars on Apple Products. This has left an extremely bad taste in my mouth. The only thing that tied me to Apple was my Apple Watch since I use it for business. Once I get my watch repaired I will sell it and switch to Samsung. If I could give Apple no stars I would. Good job Apple, you just lost a customer. This may not mean much to you because you have many, but keep treating folks like this and see where that...