Project 3 Apple Centre: Customer Service Sucks?

I had been waiting to buy a new Apple for quite a few months now. I had my eye on a new model just released in the US. I had been checking things out in various Apple shops around Cape Town and generally doing research. A switch to Apple would be quite a big step after using PCs for many years, so support from the shop was quite high on my list of priorities. Price was also a strong consideration.

Project 3 in Claremont had several new Apples on pre-order. When one came in, I asked a guy there (coloured man with glasses) to keep one for me. (It takes a while to get all the money together!) He was quite reluctant and was only able to keep it a few hours - not long enough to get the finance sorted out. I asked him to put my name on the waiting list for the next batch, which he did - taking all my details - and he promised to call. More than a week went by and I heard nothing. In the mean time I got a call from another Apple shop saying they now had one in stock for me. I was really pleased. They kept it for me for a few days. There was no problem about that and that impressed me a lot. Finally, with no word from Project 3, I took the plunge and bought from the other shop. It was a few hundred Rand cheaper too.

I found some strange bugs on the computer - software and hardware. I was near Project 3, so I strolled in there and had a look at their demo machine. You never know, I might have bought a bad one. Their machine had the latest software update and I saw it also had the bugs. I decided to check if they knew anything about these. The shop wasn't so busy and the guy said he didn't know about the bugs. I felt pleased to bring it to their attention, especially since Apple had just released a new build. He went off to "tell Alan about it". He also asked me where I bought my computer, which I found an odd question.

Another guy came along. He introduced himself as Alan Goldberg. He was quite unfriendly and started sounding off, saying I had not bought my Apple from Project 3 and "how could I dare to come in asking questions". I tried to tell him I gave up waiting for his guy to call me, but he wasn't going to listen. He said they HAD stock last time I came in "spending hours of his staff's time asking questions". The jist of the lecture was that since I didn't buy the damn thing from their shop, I wasn't allowed to ask questions!

Am I the only one who thinks this is a 'sukkie' attitude by what they call an 'Apple Centre'? The idea is that you get advice and support from whatever dealer that is authorised to stock these - or so I thought. It just so happens that I have a relative with an old iPod due for an upgrade, another friend keen on buying a new 20,000 Rand MacBook Pro laptop. I also had my eye on some software, magazines, and a scanner. Where does Mr. Goldberg think we will buy those??

An old Chinese proverb: "Man without smiley face not open a shop."

Rather buy @ digicape

I too had a problem with those *&^%ers, I ordered a black monitor, and they brought me a ugly silver colour one. It was a woman who helped me, her name started with N. IMO they are lucky idiots. rather go to Digicape, they have good service and can give discount. digicape.co.za and buy the way their may be a 17" Macbook in April - i'm waiting for that

Sorry to hear about your experience. I have generally had good experiences with them, but I suppose this varies. I must admit that they are not as friendly or helpfull as the official apple shops (Such as the waterfront) though

JStrike said:

Sorry to hear about your experience. I have generally had good experiences with them, but I suppose this varies. I must admit that they are not as friendly or helpfull as the official apple shops (Such as the waterfront) though

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Is the one at the waterfront an official apple store owned and managed by Apple or a reseller?

bwana : It is owned and managed by Core as an "official" store, much like zastore is the official apple online store for SA

JStrike said:

bwana : It is owned and managed by Core as an "official" store, much like zastore is the official apple online store for SA

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I'd have to debate that - have a look when you go from the official apple SA site (http://www.apple.com/sa/) to the store -

Please be advised that ZA Store is operated independently by ZA Online Store Pty (Ltd) as authorised by Apple South Africa.

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Seems like a reseller to me. I'm in no way knocking Core - I think they do a bang up job.

Not really relevant to discussion but it might be of interest to people who own old Macs or PC's

Consumers can get up to R3000 cash back for old computers

Apple’s resellers in South Africa give customers up to R3000 cash back when they buy a new Mac and trade in their old computer.

Johannesburg, South Africa, 20 February 2006 – Apple IMC Southern Africa today announced a new campaign that offers customers that buy a new Apple computer up to R3000 cash back if they trade in their old computer, irrespective of whether it is an old PC or Mac.

“We thought it would be a really great idea to monetise the old computers that people and businesses have sitting at home or in the office, and for which they no longer have any obvious use. This way, we have made it even more attractive for people to switch to Apple, or upgrade their existing Macs”, according to Greg Hill, the Apple Product Marketing Manager in South Africa.

The cash back depends on the new machine that the customer wants to acquire. Towards a Mac mini the customer would get a rebate of up to R750, for an iBook also up to R750, for an iMac up to R1000, for a PowerBook up to R2500 and for a Power Mac up to R3000. The only requirement is that when trading in a PC the machine needs to have at least a Pentium® III processor.

“In addition to bringing in their old computer, the only other thing that people have to do is register their personal data and the details of the computer that they want to trade in online at www.tradein.co.za, and we will send them a coupon via email, which they can then redeem towards a purchase at every participating reseller in the country”, said Greg Hill. “It is critical that interested customers get the coupon first so as to make sure they do get the rebate at the point of sale”.

Even people for whom it would be problematic to bring in their old computer to a reseller site can participate in this promotion. They are equally entitled to a rebate, albeit 75% of the regular one, by disclosing the make and model of their old computer on the registration site, and selecting ‘I want to keep it on the site’. They will also be sent a coupon, which they need to present at the point of sale when buying a new Mac; no old PC or Mac has to be brought into the store in this case.

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Thanks for that - defiantly going to look into that.

An open letter to Alan Greenberg.

Dear Alan ([email protected])

Our encounter this afternoon prompted me to post the story on a popular local newsgroup called www.adsl.co.za. I wanted to share my experience, and at the same time, ask other IT people what they thought of your dealership. I feel that your attitude was wrong. I was very pleasant and polite in my approach to you and genuinely thought I was helping by sharing information about a problem that was important to me. Your assistant was blissfully unaware of the serious flaws in the applications I showed him. You claim to have known "all about the problems" so may I suggest in future that you share this information with your staff. This is not the first time I have found them lacking in knowledge and grossly deficient in customer skills. To employ a policy of asking all customers whether they purchased a product in your store before answering a few questions is pushing the boundaries of common sense and decency. I believe this makes you look greedy and will not persuade anyone to buy. Over the years, I have visited all the Apple dealers in Cape Town and in London, and have never experienced such behaviour. I must admit that staff in Micro Anvika (London) can be a bit impatient, but with a store so busy you can't move, it is hardly surprising.

I hope that other potential customers are forewarned of what to expect from Project 3, a supposedly 'official' Apple Dealer. You will find my side of the story on the forums in some detail. I know you are a contributor to several Mac groups, so I'm sure you would like to log in and put your side of the story.

Regards
@WatchDog

@WatchDog - psst - its called myadsl.co.za or mybroadband.co.za

BTW - if you've got a genuine gripe it's good that you're drawing their attention to it.

I took the liberty of sending the shop a little note in case he didn't see it. It would be interesting to see what he says. It's a *** thing to say to a customer!

An old Chinese proverb: "Man without smiley face not open a shop."

Aaw man. Wish I could explain this to you simply - and it's been awhile since I've been in the industry but seemingly nothing has changed. I'll explain how it was then: There are only a finite number of machines coming into the country which get distributed amongst all the 'Qualified Resellers.' SA rates low on Apple's radar - so the machines dribble through - and get distributed in some mysterious alchemical way by Apple SA - as in who gets machines and who doesn't - and when. A recipe for touchy dealers already.

Then - the average mac sale is a drawn out affair - a dealer can invest a lot of time in 'customer relations'. Now of course this potential customer is talking to a few Apple dealers - who may or may not have machines - and to whom every sale is important - it is their bottom line - not Apples - and they are all in competition - with limited stock. Some are the odd R100 cheaper too.

The customer then decides to go with 'the opposition' - a different apple dealer - and then still has the cheek to walk through his door seeking 'support.' Laughable and sad. What is worse is people who already own Apples - which they've bought off you. Then they switch their purchasing 'for a couple of hundred rand less.' The original dealer is left in a situation where he has invested much in a customer - telephone support (non-paid!) and physical support. And for all this the customer buys a machine for a few hundred rand less... well - go speak to that dealer then - don't waste my time!! On top of all this you have dealers who have been in the game for years - and get undercut by some 'fly-by-night' for a few hundred rand less - then the customer expects them to give support when the fly-by-night disappears. Don't waste my time!! If you don't buy the machine from me don't walk through my door. Then you have the grey imports. All of which is expected to be supported by the long suffering 'official mac dealer'. And the competition amongst mac dealers is intense - mainly because there are an infinite supply of dealers (apple used to award licences in a seemingly arbitrary way) - but few machines. And to top it all - the markups are minimal for the dealers - grey imports and semi-official imports are rampant. - all of which says - if I didn't sell you the machine don't bother talking to me - because you will inevitably cost me money in support - when your semi official machine needs support - or the other mac dealer has disappeared. You are buying into a cult. I no longer have the fever. One thing for sure - and I know we'll get the screamers: nothing beats the pristine beauty of a mac - and a pc will never do the equivalent work or impart the same zazen. But you have to believe - 'cause the path ain't all smooth (neccesarily.) A mac is the equivalent of a fine samurai sword -. So yup and sorry - your mac dealer was just having a long suffering day.

Can you hear something?........

......that's the smallest violin in the world, playing just for you WATCHDOG! If i go to car dealer "A" with an issue i have with a car i bought at car dealer "B" i would be told to go back to the place i bought the item, not so?
If i spent time visiting ANY dealership several times not having bought anything there at all, ranting about how crappy and/or buggy the product is (the bit you left out !), taking up people's time who could be helping paying customers, then i am sure that i too would be given a cold reception.

I've had various experiences good and bad at the various Apple Centres in Cape Town. Apple Computer does not hand out "Apple Centre" status willy nilly. Both Project 3 and Digicape are professional Apple Resellers and professional Apple Service Centres, While Apple Centre Waterfront is purely about sales.

There's always 3 sides to every story (mine, your and the truth)

Give Project 3 a break- they offer free lifetime telephone support for their customers, as well as free training on Saturdays for people willing to learn. They are a generous bunch who for obvios reasons have to ensure they are not abused for there way of doing business.
An aquaintence of mine works there and they deal with a lot of people on a daily basis. They do a sterling job in my opinion.

I love the Mac Platform and i'd rather spend my time doing better thing than moaning like a little girl about how life is unfair.

So please get off of your high horse of self-entitlment and move on already.

May your days be filled with light, joy and Macs.

Can you hear something?
Is that the sound of Mac supplier kissing his own ass?!

McFlack - you have obviously no idea of what PROFESSIONAL means.
McFlack = Alan Greenberg?!

BTW - your post is not portraying Apple Centres in a positive light. Let me explain. The impression that I get from you post is: Welcome if you are a buyer and **** off if you are not.

Now, you have a nice day!

Wow!

Tomasz-London
Senior Member is obviously a senior member of society and pretty grouchy by the sound of it! No i am not Alan! HA HA. That's f@*!ing ridiculous.I am just supportive of the Mac platform and the resellers in this country who do it right. Do you use a Mac Mr.Tomasz-London? or are you an annoyed windoze user or recent switcher?

Well at any rate you are obviously really pissed about something. Maybe you'd like to tell us more?

@McFlack, your lengthy post is purely based on YOUR opinion and or experience, just as Watchdog's is based on his opinion and experience.

Firstly, the fact that you have an "aquaintence" working at this specific store, makes you biast from the word go.
Secondly, the fact that you created a login purely to reply to Watchdog's post, tells me that you were tipped off, most probably by your "aquaintence" about this post, and asked to reply to it ...
Which brings me to my last (for now) point: You reckon their are three sides to a story right, so how about Watchdog's, the shop's and the truth (whether it is the shop's version or Watchdog's version). Where the **** do you fit in?... The shop manager/clerk asking a buddy to respond to a post about their crap service? Come on, can it get any worse than this?

From his reply it sounds like he is likely connected to Project3. There was another shifty coloured dude there with glasses - the one who didn't know anything, who didn't bother calling me back - the one who sneakily went to the manager to tell him I hadn't bought it there. My guess it's him. Well I hope he does his homework in future. As a techy you should be on top of things and know your product well - then you can be forgiven for being a bit arrogant.

I can't say I'm impressed with their response (or lack thereof)! Alan - Why not just come clean, step up and be a man and admit you didn't do the right thing. I'm sure everyone would understand. As it stands, you have already lost business.

Tomasz & LandyMan = spot on, thanks!!

personally i really cant see why it is nessacary for everyone to act like 10 year olds.If you have a problem with a shop or person rather go to the head of the problem,than posting behind their backs.is it gonna give you personal satisfaction calling someone a "shifty coloured dude there with glasses" or repetedly spelling out ALAN GOLDBERG.

And i am sure that if you asked them if they could take your mashine into their workshop and have a look at it they would have done it?

WatchDog said:

From his reply it sounds like he is likely connected to Project3. There was another shifty coloured dude there with glasses - the one who didn't know anything, who didn't bother calling me back - the one who sneakily went to the manager to tell him I hadn't bought it there. My guess it's him. Well I hope he does his homework in future. As a techy you should be on top of things and know your product well - then you can be forgiven for being a bit arrogant.

I can't say I'm impressed with their response (or lack thereof)! Alan - Why not just come clean, step up and be a man and admit you didn't do the right thing. I'm sure everyone would understand. As it stands, you have already lost business.

Tomasz & LandyMan = spot on, thanks!!

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Post negative feedback about them on hellopeter.co.za and maye fire off an email to Mac in the US explaining how the idiots are buggering up their good name.

I'mm on your side. If i have my car repaired at garage X and afterwards goto garage Y for advice they always give it. That's what makes good places stick out from K@K ones. The extra mile that you're prepared to go to to help a prospective client.

It's worked for my gorlfriend who is an estate agent.

My gf was looking into buying an apple... but if this is how apple shops, and apple people behave... I think we will stick to MS and normal laptops.

If I had been speaking to Mr Alan, I would have told him exactly what I thought of him. Anyone who is that incosiderate about assisting or information should not be taken seriously.

Im seriously disgusted and dissapointed by Apple reps and the support around it. Ill say no to Apple thanks.