Apple First Colony Mall — Local services in Sugar Land

I have gone to this Apple Store for many years with excellent service each time. In the 11 years since they opened, I have had numerous purchases, returns, and repairs done there. Having used computers since 1986, I still remember the days of taking a computer in for repair and having to wait 1-2 weeks to get it back. When the Apple Store finally opened, I was amazed at how fast they repaired things - always while I waited (with only 1 exception of waiting a day for a motherboard to be flown in).

They are usually great at helping me with issues and questions; although, there were a handful of times in which the first associate needed to get another associate to better help me. I'm a long-time power user so some of my needs go beyond the standard customer so I don't mind it when they need to get a more experienced associate for help.

Here are a few of the things with which this specific Apple Store has helped me over the years:

(1) Many years ago, I brought in my MacBook Pro with display problems. They determined it was caused by the graphics chip which required replacing the motherboard. Even though my MacBook Pro was well out of warrantee, they did the replacement for free because the graphics chip was a known issue. Moreover, they had the motherboard flown in next day air so my MacBook Pro was fixed by 12 noon the next day which was on a Saturday!

(2) I had an iPhone that developed a problem with the sound. I could only hear phone calls when I put it on speaker mode. They quickly replaced my iPhone with everything already transferred over for me!

(3) The hard drive on my old MacBook Pro failed while I was in grad school. I needed to turn in a report by midnight that night so the instant I determined that my hard drive had failed, I took it to the Apple Store. I got there around 6pm without an appointment, hoping they could fix it while I waited. They were completely booked for appointments that night, but I agreed to wait in case they could get to me. They managed to fit me in, ran the tests to confirm the hard drive had failed, and replaced it very quickly. I came home, restored from my backup, and was only slightly late turning in my report (along with a picture I took at the Apple Store showing that my hard drive had failed). I received full credit for my report.

(4) I bought a new MacBook Pro from the online Apple website, but after using it for awhile, I noticed an odd behavior when typing. I could not figure out what was causing it so I took it to the Apple Store. I was unable get the problem to happen while there and all their tests came up clean. So the associate ordered another identical MacBook Pro to exchange with the one I was using. She said that would rule out any possible hardware problems. I was amazed since the MacBook Pro was their fastest 15" model available with the memory and hard drive maxed out, making it very expensive.

(5) I ordered a new iPad Pro 12.9" 3rd generation from the online Apple Store along with a whole bunch of accessories. After trying them out, I decided to return many of the accessories simply because I either did not like them or decided I wouldn't really use them. The return was around $600 total (keyboard, cover, pencil, wireless earpods charger, and more). When I looked up how to return them, I discovered that the return policy was for only 2 weeks, and it had already been around 30 days. So I took them all to the Apple Store, told the associate I had messed up by waiting too long, and said I might need to talk to the manager. He said there was no problem, and immediately did the return, overriding the 2 week requirement. I was thrilled!

No computer store can possibly be perfect for over a decade, but this Apple Store comes very close. I cannot remember a time in which I left feeling unhelped or cheated. Instead, I am usually very happy and sometime even amazed at how quickly they were able to help me. I recommend this Apple Store...

𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘 𝗔𝗩𝗢𝗜𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗔𝗣𝗣𝗟𝗘 𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗘 𝗔𝗧 𝗔𝗟𝗟 𝗖𝗢𝗦𝗧. 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘 𝗔𝗩𝗢𝗜𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗠. Read the bad experience, they were right about this store and I should have been more cautious. To elaborate, I visited this store a week ago to have my phone checked and they told me the cellular/connectivity isn't working and to fix it, they would need to replace the back so I had to wait for the part to arrive at the store. So I waited.

Today, I visited them and waited for 20 minutes until someone actually helped. They gave me a paper with a code and said it will be done in 2 hours. At the exact time they said the phone would be completed, I came in and gave them the code to scan, the person told me, "𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐭, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭 𝟓 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬." So I waited a little more but it was taking WAY too long so I asked another person and he managed to bring my phone out just to tell me the technician wasn't able to fix it.

He showed me a picture saying that the screw inside was replaced. I got my brand new sealed phone in April, and have never brought it to any technician so I was really shocked/confused because no one has opened this phone at all, it's been with me 24/24. He continued saying that the when the technician opened it, they immediately concluded that this phone cannot be fixed because the screw was replaced.

First of all, the sheet they gave me earlier said that they would start fixing my phone at 4:30 (I was there at 3PM). If he said the technician wasn't able to fix it when they just opened the phone, 𝗪𝗛𝗬 𝗗𝗜𝗗 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗖𝗔𝗟𝗟 𝗢𝗥 𝗘𝗠𝗔𝗜𝗟 𝗠𝗘 𝗕𝗨𝗧 𝗠𝗔𝗗𝗘 𝗠𝗘 𝗪𝗔𝗜𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗔𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥 𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗥 (𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲)? Secondly, then why the other guy told me to wait another 5 minutes+ if the phone was already determined unfixable way before that?

Continue with this horrible experience, he suggested I could have the phone fixed at $499.99 which was annoying because I already paid for this phone and now I have to pay extra for a part that was somehow already there? The associate said since there's no way they could help me at the store (unless I pay), he recommended I should call Apple to fix this issue and to me, that is some bs because I was already at an Apple Store, talking to an Apple associate in-person and they want me to call Apple AGAIN? I did not waste 4 hours and gas just for you to tell me to talk to Apple.

He then said I should try contacting my carrier, in which I did and they told me to visit Apple and now Apple wants me to contact my carrier. This is a very fun experience so far. Since I just want to know every possible solutions, I asked him what should I do if the carrier refers me back to Apple, and he told me pretty much nothing can be done (except paying the $499.99 or just buy a new phone that would be less frustrating than waiting for 4 hours for absolutely nothing). He then told me I could try talking to the manager so I agreed.

The manager then came and just repeated exactly what the other person said to me, and though I already know nobody is going to help me unless I agree to pay the money. I tried talking to her and what I fool I was thinking these people would actually want to help.

𝐓𝐋;𝐃𝐑. 𝐇𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞, 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩. 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞, 𝐈 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐭.

A few side notes. I got this phone in a sealed box and NOT refurbished. This phone is completely new. This phone has never been brought to fix at anywhere because I immediately talked to Apple when the issue occured. $499.99 is a lot and I was more frustrated that I would have to pay for something...

Heres what's gonna happen when you come here for help on ANYTHING: you'll have your appointment set but will only be helped half an hour or more after your set time. Once someone finally bothers to come speak to you, they'll put on their fake professional persona and pretend to listen to what your problem is, but what they're really doing is listening for buzzwords regarding general, pre-understood questions that they know how to regurgitate answers to.

If you have a more specific question beyond how to change your wallpaper or something, they'll likely give you incorrect information that requires up to hours for YOU to work on, only for it to turn out to be the incorrect approach when they see it done at the end, if they even happen to speak to you again (sometimes they'll tell you that they'll come back and then just never show up again).

Whether it's the same person you started with or another person who MAY be feeling generous enough to ask if you've been helped, you can explain to them that everything you were informed to do for the last few hours was incorrect and didn't work, that you KNEW this already but was advised otherwise, and now it was all for nothing. They will respond by telling you the OPPOSITE advice that was given at the beginning (which you suggested at first but was advised against), that further help is beyond their scope and they'll do a few google searches (with demonstrably bad information) but will not help further, will not bring back the person you started with, and will not attempt to find a solution, they will simply tell you to go home and try it yourself. Don't try to bring up the ridiculousness of your situation though, they will start to get defensive and say laughable things like "then you should do what you think is right." What does this even mean? The problem has been articulated multiple times and you're telling me there is so solution. What?

Obviously this was my experience and after speaking to a supervisor MYSELF who was walking by about what happened, she got me someone who finally gave me a solid and correct answer: that what I wanted to do from the very start was impossible to begin with. I started my conversation with him from scratch, and it took us 5 minutes to reach this conclusion because I had a very simple ask, but I had spent the last 5 hours, my entire morning, standing around, being misguided and passed on from one person to the next for no more than a few minutes of conversation each within the 5 hours of the visit. No apologies, no acknowledgment, no accountability for any glaring mistakes. Just do whatever they say and if it's all a total waste of time in the end, oh well.

Want to stress that the thing that made me ultimately write this review was not just this visit, but my last SEVERAL over the course of months were like this. I can go in there and RELIABLY expect to be given wrong information, and I have to prepare in advance to make sure I explain my problem clearly, but when you're dealing with people who don't really care and just want to resolve your problem as soon as they can and clock out, then you can't expect genuine help or care, especially for very easy questions let alone something a bit more specific.

If you're looking to BUY something and spend that sweet sweet money so that they can have it, their sales reps are raring to go with their undivided attention. If you need to know how to change your screen sleep timer from 2 minutes to 3 minutes, they got you covered. Anything else? Total incompetence and zero accountability,...