
Why Apple's in Store Pick Up Policy Sucks - rrothman1
The big mistake that I made was calling ahead to order a laptop.<p>I walked into an Apple store 15 minutes after booking an order over the phone.  While I had fully paid for a new Macbook Pro Retina, it was being held hostage by &#x27;processing&#x27;.  Many associates were ready and willing to sell me a laptop out of their available stock, but none could, would or seemingly had the authority to grab mine before its &quot;official release time&quot;.<p>My net promoter score on this shopping experience could have been a 10, but instead it was just a zero.  I was literally punished for having ordered ahead.  And why?  Seemingly just so that I could receive (after a wait) the same standard product that had my name printed on a sticker.<p>I was able to walk out with my laptop after 40 mins (yes 40 mins even though there was no wait to speak with an associate), but not until asking to speak with a manager directly was my situation given any sort of urgency or real consideration.  Seems that everyone&#x27;s standard response was, &quot;you just have to wait until you get an email saying your order is ready&quot;.<p>Associates should have access to orders that are placed for same day pickup.  If a customer waits in line to speak with them, they should be able to take the order number and go retrieve your computer (especially if it is just standard stock) without any modifications.   To do anything other than this really sets a crazy standard within their stores.  Essentially it creates a culture where folks who have paid in full prior to walking in are treated differently.  Unfortunately, this different type of treatment is not fun, nice or even remotely close to a positive buying experience.    If you can&#x27;t figure this out, I would suggest that you don&#x27;t accept same day pick up orders for standard items in stock.  Maybe instead you could just allow people to reserve a product and then swipe to buy in the store through an associate.
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rrothman1
Anyone else have a similar experience?

