Apple Carnegie Library — Local services in Washington

A very bad experience at the Apple Store which has left me with a non-functional iPhone for the next three days and no functioning phone number. This occurred because a staff member communicated very poorly. There were also some other issues with the overall customer experience which were not as devastating to my ability to perform 21st century tasks over the next 72 hours as the lack of a usable phone but nevertheless are worth noting.

I went to the store to trade in my old iPhone 15 and pick up a new iPhone 16 through the iPhone Upgrade Plan. I had pre-booked the appointment, and the new iPhone 16 was in a box with my name on it when I arrived. This was consistent with my previous several experiences upgrading phones through the iPhone Upgrade Plan. The sales associate helping me informed me that the new phone would be activated as soon as I turned it on. The sales associate asked his trainee to assist me, because the iPhone Upgrade Plan is infrequently encountered at this location. It was to be a learning experience for her. While I was inputting my password into my old phone to disable the Find My function (a necessary step when trading in phones to allow the phone to be erased), he was looking over my shoulder with what I perceived to be unseemly curiosity. Needless to say, I asked him to look away to protect my password. Rather than simply looking somewhere other than my phone screen he left the sales floor entirely. The trainee did not confirm that my old iPhone 15 was erased before she took it from me. She was not told to by the senior associate. I took the phone back and erased it myself. I turned on the new iPhone 16 while waiting for the delete. It was NOT activated. Because my old phone was now erased, the only way to activate my new phone was via 2FA using my phone number. This could not be done because my old phone had just been erased. Therefore, the phone number was not associated with any phone and the 2FA could not be bypassed on the new phone without the ability to receive text messages. A third sales associate contacted T-Mobile to remotely transfer the IMEI to the new phone and thereby allow it to receive text messages. Unfortunately, because of an unasked-for security protocol by T-Mobile, a 72-hour delay was placed prior to IMEI transfer. I was told to go to a T-Mobile store after 48-72 hours (in spite of the delay being 72 hours) to see if the security protocol had been lifted and the IMEI transferred. I now have no phone for 48-72 hours.

In summary: because the first sales associate a) incorrectly told me that the new phone would be activated as soon as I turned it on and b) did not check this or ask his trainee to check this before I turned in my old phone, I have no phone for 48-72 hours and will have to spend likely 30-90 minutes (estimate based on prior experience) at a T-Mobile store on top of the 60 minutes I already spent at the Apple store.

While the 72-hour wait is not related to Apple policy, it would not have been an issue if the sales associate had confirmed that the new phone was activated OR had activated it on the spot before accepting the old phone for trade-in. I would simply have continued using the old phone until the IMEI transfer, and returned it using a prepackaged shipping box (available through the iPhone Upgrade Plan) OR by handing it in at a store until confirming function.

I hope this write-up will help avoid future mishaps of similar nature. This episode has left me greatly inconvenienced and my confidence in the quality of Apple associates...

This review is based off 2 incidents from the Genius Bar staff at this specific store. One with my husband and one of myself. I’ll start with my husbands experience. This store wanted to repair an issue on a new iPhone 10s and instead of exchanging it (it was under warranty), they replaced a part of the phone that ended causing more issues on the phone such as the microphone not working bearing it worse then before the “fix”. A total mess.

Now my 3 day ordeal with this particular store comes in. I had an iPhone 11 Pro Max with a camera issue. I got a black screen at random times and did screenshots and screen recordings of the issue. First day, I came in and they couldn’t reproduce the issue and was asked to erase my iPhone and set it up as new. I reluctantly did that with huge hesitation. That reluctance was valid as the issue persisted. I called Apple Care ( I have Apple Care +) and they said I should be able to get my device swapped out. They notated my account and day 2 of this mayhem starts.

Day 2: I come in and I present them a case ID # and they claim I can’t get a replacement because “they don’t do never that until something is fixed” and was offered a camera replacement and yet ANOTHER day of work being taken off. I kindly rejected the offer and asked for a supervisor . That manager was mildly aggressive with his approach and practically said “I don’t care what Apple Care says, I won’t swap your phone out”. I ask for a higher manager. He states that they are not in the business to swap out phones and that while my inconvenience was unfortunate, he also didn’t care what Apple Care said and offered some kind of “express return” which he said would cost 500.00. Other customers around me were in shock and told the rep to help with a proper solution especially with such a new product. Customers around me were very uncomfortable. The last manager tried to come off sympathetic but came off uncaring, deceptive and completely ridiculous. I couldn’t with the amount of ignorance. I’ve had iPhones since the 3GS and have never had this kind of experience. I left and immediately called Apple and the customer relations team was NOT happy about this insane issue. They again noted my account and fixed the issue promptly. This specific stores Genius Bar is a disaster and needs to take several steps back to respecting a customers time and request.

Day 3: Issue finally resolved with a much more...

2/25/22

SEEN BY ALEX FOR NEARLY AN HOUR! Malik came after I ASKED FOR SOME ONE ELSE TO VERIFY the information she wasn’t sure about.

After multiple attempts to trouble shoot, She came back and asked if I had my phone serviced at any point, to which I responded I hadn't.

Moments later, I noticed she had an attitude about responding to any questions I had. Other things of which she said she did not know.

I then calmly asked her to get someone to verify the information, then she flung her hands at me and walked away. (disrespectful)

I said nothing as I waited.

The issue I had was, apple had told me, over the phone, how many days of applecare I had left for my device (180 days)

The agent also told me, upon booking my appointment, that the resolve will be to come and get a phone swap.

Further on I understood that option, but I wanted my data saved.

the employee , Alex, returned with Malik to address the matter, as he only had a partial understanding of what was going on, he attempted to see how to resolve it. I listened to him and I then told him I was not impressed nor pleased with the way she (Alex) was talking to me and her gestures ( body language ) and demeanor were quite rude. Alex proceeded to calling me HOSTILE !! to my face with Malik present.

I was insulted even more so at that point. Her words were reckless and careless. There was no indication from my end that I was even displeased with her entire demeanor prior. I had offered her the benefit of doubt as to maybe having a bad day or hating her job for that matter. non of that really mattered to me. But when she started name calling ( Hostile), and suggested that I were and issue I was severely offended at that point and I politely asked to not have to deal with her again.

Kia was helpful and understanding and very helpful when she came to handle the issue and gave me a better understanding of what was going on. she quickly offered solutions after carefully looking into the matter, she was very respectful and apologetic toward the entire situation.

This boils down to having people who are properly trained and understand the product as well as proper customer service ethics. I give this overall experience 2 stars and that Is generous.

I WILL NOT FAVOR RETURNING TO THIS PARTICULAR STORE.

ALTHOUGH Kia gets 5 stars. and I am grateful she was...