Re: a personal rant on Apple and their customer nasty behavior

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

________________________________________
From: Patrick Wagstrom [patrick () wagstrom net]
Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2008 9:16 AM
To: David Farber; mis () seiden com
Subject: Re: [IP] Re:   a personal rant on Apple and their customer nasty behavior

If you compare the situation with the iPhone 3G to other consumer
electronic products that are in high demand, the situation is arguably
better for the 3G.  Let's take the example of the Nintendo Wii, which came
out in November 2006.  On launch day scores of people lined up at my local
Wal-mart waiting for hours (there were about 60 people in line when I went
by at 2pm) -- at 9pm they were told that the store only had 34 units.
Customers hoping to get a Wii from GameStop, the largest video game
retailer in the US, were out of luck because all of their systems were
pre-sold.  The lines at Best Buy were crazy -- people lining up days in
advance and generally being ignored by store staff.  Horror stories
circulated around the internet about store employees doing truly bizarre
things to people in line (musical chairs for line spots, 100 yard dashes to
the store).  It was clear that most stores hadn't learned from the
PlayStation 3 launch just 2 days before.

Throughout the holiday season 2006 the systems were nearly impossible to
find.  If a store advertised the Wii then you could be sure a line would
form outside that store and that it would probably be full by 5am.  Finding
a Wii was really hit and miss that involved calling dozens of stores only
to find out that no one had any in stock.  Web sites sprung up to track the
availability of the Wii at online stores -- as if any would ever get them
in stock.  It seemed the best way to find them was to figure out when a
store might get shipments and then start camping out in the store waiting
for them to bring out new merchandise.

Throughout 2007 the situation did not improve.  Supply was constrained.
Any store that advertised the Wii would find a long line well before the
store opened.  I picked up a Wii for my father for Christmas the day after
Thanksgiving (more than a year after they first hit the market)-- after
getting in line 2 hours before the local GameStop opened.  It was a
freezing cold morning in Pittsburgh.  The staff were inside about an hour
early but were careful to not make eye contact with us as they entered.  I
was number 20.  There were 20 Wii's in stock.

To this day it still is difficult to find Wii's -- I'm always amazed when I
walk into a Target and see a system on the shelf.  The easiest way to find
one is as a "bundle" -- which means you'll undoubtedly get a bunch of stuff
you don't want, but that's what the market has determined is profitable.

Let's compare this to the iPhone 3G sales and the two companies selling it,
Apple and AT&T.  AT&T is a bit easier and directly addresses Mark's
concern.  You can walk into an AT&T store, pay for your iPhone and get an
iPhone at some later date through their direct fulfillment plan.  No line
waiting.  They just give you a call when the phone has come in.  Simple as
that.  If you don't like lines, wander over to AT&T and wait a few weeks.

My experience picking up my iPhone 3Gs was actually quite good.  I arrived
at about 8:30am the day after I checked online and found out they would
have 3Gs in stock (about a week after they came out).  While waiting in
line the employees in line were greeting us as they came in and out of the
store and generally making small talk -- acknowledging the customer --
that's amazing.  The store opened at 10am but seeing as it was getting hot
in Pittsburgh that morning they let us in to wait inside at 8:50 and then
just decided to start selling us phones.  I was number 5 in line and they
only had 4 reps selling phones at the time, so I had a brief wait, but was
in and out with 2 line transfers from Sprint by 10am.  While waiting in
line the Apple concierge was confirming what everyone wanted, making sure
enough would be in stock.  She also went over what people needed to do to
pre-qualify for the iPhone.  As I left they started to distribute water to
people who were waiting in the sun.

So before everyone gets in a tussle because they can't just walk into an
Apple store and get what they want exactly when they want it, let's keep
things in perspective.  Given a short supply, Apple is doing a great job --
even opening up almost all their stores at 8am (2 hours early) for iPhone
3G sales.  For many people that means you can get up in the morning, drive
to your Apple store, and be out before 9am.  If you're having problems
getting one, blame the people who are willing to wait in line and check the
website nightly, because Apple's service has been far better than the
alternative.

--Patrick

David Farber wrote:
> ________________________________________
> From: mark seiden-via mac [mis () seiden com]
> Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 4:10 PM
> To: David Farber
> Subject: Re: [IP] a personal rant on Apple and their customer nasty behavior
>
> yes, the whole thing is annoyingly dysfunctional, particularly given
> that i'm a current
> cingular customer with a windows mobile phone i'm ready to throw at
> the wall.
>
> last night i had a similar experience at the burlingame, ca apple store.
>
> a woman walking out said she only waited half an hour ("not bad").
> there wasn't a long line.  but i hungrily decided to go to dinner first.
>
> wrong.
>
> when i got back, there was no line, and nobody was making eye contact.
>
> when i finally got someone's attention, they said they were sold out
> for the day.
> there wasn't a sign or anything.   "if there isn't a line that means
> we don't have any".
>
> of course, there's no way to pay for one and come back the next day
> and activate and
> pick it up.  you need to make n trips, for an unknown and possibly
> large value of n.
>
> at apple.com, they have a way to check ("after 9pm") if your store
> will have stock the
> next day, but it's useless.
>
> so i decided to try the att store instead.   the web site says "phone
> first" to make sure about availability.
> but when you call everyone is busy serving customers, so there's no
> way to talk with anybody
> at the store.   unless maybe they are sold out.




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