03/03/2008, 3:00pm, EST
Monday, March 3rd
Bellevue Square Genius demeans woman customer
Apple stores are not immune to one of the most common retail woes, after the Genius at the Bellevue Square store in Washington State alienated at least one female customer. Electronics retail locations typically exhibit a trend of believing women to be less technically competent than males. A woman identified as Anjela went into the location with the intent of buying a MacBook Air, but was received poorly when the Genius, Bill, chose to neglect her and speak with her husband.
"Well, first of all, Bill DID NOT LOOK AT ME," Anjela recalls of her visit, when Bill was first called over. "He did not greet me. He greeted my husband, introduced himself, and shook his hand... and completely ignored me. He didn't ask my name, what we were there to buy, or who the new computer was for. He did not make eye contact. He simply behaved as though I were not there, and steered my husband through the crowded store -- ignoring me and leaving me behind."
Anjela made Bill aware for whom the computer was purchased for, but the "Genius", as she puts it, continued to push the extended AppleCare warranty, discounts that are available, and so on, to her husband.
After the employee refused to acknowledge her presence, Angela left the store, with her husband following soon after.
"If I decide to get myself a MacBook Air despite all this," writes Anjela, "and right now, I'm not sure I will; if Bill's attitude was typical of what I'll face should I need technical support or any other sort of customer service from Apple, I don't want any part of it -- I certainly won't be going to one of your stores to be ignored by an employee; I'll be ordering it online."
Filed under: industry, Apple
Other story tags: MacBook Air, retail, store, Genius, Bellevue
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be an adult ask; to see a manager, calmly explain your issue with bill and move on with your life.
Apple tells all of the geniuses to ignore women. It's part of the training. They also rape teenagers too.. but only in the SoHo store.
I just called the Bellevue store and no one named Bill works there.
Lets not flame either the reader or the store, but if this is a Macnn original, it might be good for Macnn to say where this story came from(and still preserve the submitter's anonymous identity)
That said, this chick sounds high maintenance. If it did go down the way she says it did, maybe the Genius was just intimidated to be in the presence of such a Goddess, and talked to the husband be he was less intimidating. Whatever.
If she was truly offended, she should have asked to speak to a manager.
We can sit ehere at our computers - typing away and pondering all sorts of scenarios that might have played out on a rainy day at the Apple Store with a punk Employee named Bill_
BUT the reality is that none of us were there - no one gives a shit unless this happens on a major scale and we all know that none of the retail employees have any more knowledge about the products they sell than a newbie at a hacker convention_
All in all Apple's customer service is tollerable at best_ They have their good days and they have their bad days like any other retail chain_ Which by the by folks is the keyword - RETAIL_ True I expect the quality of service to be a smidge better than walking into a Wal-Mart or Best Buy for that matter - but come on_
And if she is smart - she'd follow thru with her threat and order the damned thing online - as they do have a live chat feature and if the person you are speaking with doesn't have an answer for you then they can usually find someone who does have the answer_ And they typically are smarter than their Apple Retail Store counter-parts_
They don't do sales_
They are "specialized" tech support_