Apple Fashion Valley — Local services in San Diego

I had the worst customer service at this store and after this I am never ever buying any apple products. This was my 7th or 8th visit to apple store in a span of 2 weeks. First, I had a problem with my battery. Right after 2 days of my battery replacement, my earpiece speaker and microphone had a problem. I was told that I would need to replace the screen altogether since they both are attached to the screen. To get this done ASAP before my conference on Saturday, i took a day off from work on Friday to go to the store in the afternoon. I paid a whooping $160 to get the screen replaced and I was told that after the repair, they would run all diagnostics to make sure the phone is functioning correctly. After spending 2 hours waiting at the store, when it was closer to 5 pm, I immediately took my phone and headed for home to avoid traffic. After I reached home, guess what? The problem they were trying to fix got even worse!! I was not even able to hear anything from the earpiece. Pissed off by this, I immediately took my car and went back to the store. Only this time, they replaced my phone with a new one. As a compensation, I was given a complimentary screen protector. By the time I set up my new phone it was almost closing hours, so I had to go home. But guess what again? The new Phone had a problem with the earpiece speaker too!! But this time it was a different problem. The earpiece speaker had mechanical vibrations and I could hear an extra layer of voice when I made a call. I confirmed this with my 2 friends, just to make sure if I wasn't the only one hearing it, and they were able to hear it as well. I went back to the store on Sunday and this time the technician asked me to check with my network provider (AT&T) to see if they made any changes on their side for this to cause. This didn't make sense to me earlier and I told him that but he still insisted me on checking with my network provider. I went back home contacted my network provider and they were able to confirm that they didn't make any changes. Already pissed and decided to never buy any apply product again I went back to the store one last time, this time I had Derrick attending me. I told him my problems and he decided to run diagnostics software for the audio. He found no issues and kept arguing with me that the software didn't report any issues. Working as a software engineer myself, I explained to him that this is a mechanical problem, that could not be detected by the software. But he still didn't budge. Finally, they decided to replace my phone again. This time, unlike last time, Derrick just handed over the new phone and didn't care to set up the phone for me. As a customer, I had to do it myself and he already started attending other customers without solving my problems. Whenever I faced any problem and asked him to help, he'd keep throwing tantrums at me by saying "Apparently, you know it better, so you do it!". I found this very condescending. After I finally set up my phone, I made a quick call to make sure that I had no issues this time with my earpiece speaker and microphone. Thankfully, after several replacements and repairs I finally got a fully functional phone!! Later, I called the manager, whose name was Ayo, to talk about my compensation for my time, gas and money spent to resolve this issue. I told him the least he could do was to offer me a complimentary screen protector like my last visit. But he rudely disagreed with me and started arguing with me by saying that he has had customers coming in from a different state to the store multiple times and they never offered them anything. I don't know why he was being so proud of it. If Apple cannot repair a device at the 1st appointment, that is not something to be proud of. You cannot keep asking customers to come again and again. In the end, he didn't do anything to compensate and rather showed me his condescending attitude. This has been the worst experience of my life with Apple.I am never ever going to buy any apple products again and I will also make sure to let none of...

Overall, I would rate the apple store at 3 stars... because their systems can be improved in numerous ways, BUT I want to give a 5 star review solely to the 2 employees who helped me today. They were excellent. One of them was Christopher who told me he was a Pro employee and and the other was a tech specialist who was assisting another customer (I did not get his name but he was the one who introduced me to Christopher.).

When I first came, it was the previous night before and I had an appointment for my iPhone 7, because my charger port was very spotty, did not work with a lot of chargers that worked for other phones. The person who helped me was very kind but didn't seem to know a lot about how to troubleshoot the problem and didn't quite know much about the inventory when I had asked him questions about what they sell. Obviously he was a tech specialist, not a sales associate so I didn't expect a lot of info anyways. Eventually, he came to the conclusion after 2 hours of being there that there was a charger port problem that could not be fixed, he told me I would have to replace the device. He told me it would be $300 solely to get a replacement phone of the exact same model. This upset me, but I understood and asked to speak to a sales associate so I could buy a new phone and asked him to value my phone for trade-in. He told me I could get $200 trade in value for it and that I could get this all taken care of tonight.. During this time my phone, still not charging, had died and he said he would send a sales associate over. When the sales associate came over, she had an attitude from the start and very abrasively told me they could do nothing to help me trade in my phone until it turned back on (was on 10 minutes earlier, the tech specialist saw.). I had a 15 second conversation with her and told her I've been here for 2 hours and that my phone had been on just up until she came over. She said it was not her problem and that they could not accept trade in. I spoke to her for 15 seconds and it was enough to make me leave the store.

I came back the next morning after I got my phone to charge enough that it turned on and I asked to have a sales associate help me. They told me to wait at a specific spot near the tech help and I waited for 30 minutes while the first employee I mentioned earlier (that I would like to shout out for great service) was helping an older woman troubleshoot her iPad. After almost 45 minute wait after I was told 15 I asked him kindly if he could check my status in the queue and he found that the first person I talked to did not put in my name. So I had been waiting for nothing. He said that was extremely sorry and instantly connected me with Christopher. This was the best service I have received in the store yet.

Christopher was great and gave me so much information about each product. He explained all the benefits and all the pros/cons of each product offered and obviously had a very extensive knowledge about the products. We got into conversation and he mentioned he was a Pro employee and we just having a conversation while he was helping me pick a phone. I decided on the iPhone Xs and usually with that kind of money I get nervous about the purchase but he reassured me that I had opportunities to return it and made me very comfortable with my purchase.

A big part of business is being able to be at eye level with your employees and being able to be where they are working. Christopher had such an extensive product knowledge and ability to troubleshoot/sell that it impressed me. He knew much more than other employees and really knew how to get customer satisfaction. He told me he has worked at the store for 4 years and I'm shocked that he wasn't higher up. He knew how to make sales, guarantee customer satisfaction, improving productivity and radiated the energy that I feel like would make a positive workplace.

These 2 employees are the only reason this review...

Read through to the end before buying Apple. You can change your concepts.

First - on 09/15 (Mother's Day) I went to this store to exchange the AirPods 2nd gen. it was defective and also to buy a new iPhone 12 for my wife (gift from mothers).

At check-in I just said it would be for warranty service as the new iPhone would be a surprise for my wife.

Inside the store after finishing the repair service, I told the clerk that I wanted to buy a new iPhone. He said he couldn't do that, that I should leave the store and make a new appointment that I would have to wait 3 or 4 hours to be called. You're welcome? I was there prepared, happy, with my wife and my 7 and 3 year old children. Wait 3 to 4 hours? I only have Sunday to stay with my family.

Second - I left and patiently at home, went online and scheduled a new time for today (May 16) at 4pm. I arrived 5 minutes early and soon they passed me into the store with my whole family again. My wife chose the color and model, we did the setup and backup of the old device and, after 1 hour, we were ready to pay.

As I have Apple's credit card, I wanted to use it by dividing it 24x with zero interest. At the end of the purchase the attendant said that it would not be possible because the system would only accept it 24x if I did this procedure online and that inside the store they only accept cash payment even though it is an Apple credit card. The fact is that this procedure is not clear at the APPLE store. This was proven by them and they apologized but nothing could be done.

So I was told not to buy a free iPhone but rather to be blocked by some brand (T-mobile, Verizon, etc.), but this was not my wish; I just wanted to buy an unlocked iPhone nine and give it to my wife by paying on Apple's credit card 24x the same as on the website. Difficult to understand that?

We called the manager and the suggestion was that I do it right there, online, inside the store and in about 30 minutes the same device that was already in the hands of the attendant would be available. We did everything that the attendant instructed and at the end of the purchase the system would only let you deliver the new iPhone that was in the attendant's hands the next day at 7pm. ABSURD! FRUSTRATION! SADNESS! ANGER! DISAPPOINTMENT! DISREGARD WITH THE CONSUMER. Several feelings at the same time because my wife uses the phone to work and we wanted to set up everything together at the same time we bought it after leaving the store.

I asked them to seek other information from other managers or the person in charge of the store, but they were hard, cold and insensitive to our situation. Result? We gave up shopping and left home ... another frustrating Sunday because of APPLE. I think I already had an apple in my house. Gradually we will migrate ... there are other better and cheaper options ... they don't care about you. They want your money and, more than that, they want your data, your information, your routine; want to map who you are and do it to clone your profile to sell more and more; is the law of greed and oligopoly.

Yes, we are all frustrated with terrible customer service and, by the way, we are opinion leaders and if you read this far, please do the same for the good of your family, think about how APPLE is treating you and how you would like to be treated.

Today there is no standard of care as I used to say. They are greedy and matter little to consumers.

Sad reality... I Was an Apple Fan. I...