Apple Pentagon City

Reviews 3

RA

Rachelle Watanabe

On May 18, 2014, I went to the Apple store at the Pentagon City Mall in Arlington VA. A week earlier, I dropped my work phone and cracked the face glass. When I entered the Apple store, a female associate greeted me and asked what type of assistance I needed. I informed her about my cracked face glass on my iPhone 4S. I wanted to know if it could be fixed. The associate asked if I had apple care on my plan and I wasnt sure because it is a work phone. She took me to the closest computer and checked what type of apple care plan and warranty I had. She used the serial number on the phone and to look up the information. After a moment, she informed me that I have Apple care and that my phone is eligible to get fixed for $49.95. I told her that that was great and informed her that I would have to schedule to get it fixed. The next morning, I emailed my work HR department to get approval for the fix. Relaying the information I learned the previous day from, I got an approval to go ahead with the fix and immediately scheduled an appointment at the same Apple store. The appointment was scheduled on May 25th at 10:00 am. When the day came, I went back to the Apple store and was assisted by a male associate named Floyd. He asked me what the issue was with my phone and I told him what happened. I also informed him that I was at the store the previous week and was prepared to pay $49.95 to get my phone fixed. He then asked me to unlock my phone so he could get the serial number. Like the associate the previous week, Floyd pulled up my information in the system. However, unlike the previous week, Floyd informed me that because I do not have “Apple Care Plus” it would cost me $199.99 have my phone replaced. I told him that I believed he was mistaken because of the information I was given a week earlier. I also told him it seemed wasteful to have my phone “replaced” for a cracked face glass. Floyd dismissed the information that the other associate told me and insisted that the other associate was “not supposed to provide any information or any pricing until I speak to an actual technician.” I was quite upset because I relied on that information and spent significant time getting approval for the fix. I told him about the work approval to get my phone fixed and the fact the he gave me different information, beyond the scope of my work approval. Floyd was un-phased by the fact that one of his co-workers gave me the supposed incorrect information. He kept insisting that my only option was to pay $199.99 to replace and upgrade my phone. I was shocked by the misinformation, especially from an Apple store, which usually has a reputation for quality customer service. The experience left me without a solution for my broken phone. My work only authorized the $49.95 expenditure, and clearly, $199.99 was outside the scope of that authority. I feel that I was lied to, lead on, and tricked by the Apple store staff. I still don’t know who to believe, the first associate or Floyd. I also feel suspicious because Floyd kept pushing me to “upgrade” my phone at the $199.99 price. His tactic felt like a pressure tactic I had experienced before at those cellphone kiosks in the mall. It was uncomfortable, and because I was told two different things, I don’t not know what to believe. All I wanted was to replace my screen for $49.95. The cart outside the apple store offered to do the replacement for $65, but I don’t want to void my warranty. What is a person suppose to do in a situation like this? I am certain if I had my phone fixed on May 18th, I would have gotten the service for the $49.95 quoted price. Now, I have had a broken phone for two weeks, and an Apple Care plan that apparently can’t be used for replacing a piece of glass. I give the Apple store at Pentagon City two thumbs down for this service and experience.

GE

Geoff Moore

OK if you want to buy an accessory or hang out with all the wanna-be hipsters, but NEVER bring something to their "Genius" Bar. I brought my brand new MacBook here to have the malfunctioning headphone jack looked at. The first "genius" that looked at it was very nice, although not very knowledgeable. After doing all of his normal checks, he had no ideas about what the problem could be. He disappeared to the back room for about ten minutes, after which he returned and informed me that he had just learned that they can in fact replace the headphone module without replacing the entire logic board and that that was probably the best course of action. Although I wasnt super confident in their ability to replace the headphone module, I agreed to wait two days until they could get the part in and let them replace them. After the fourth day, I called to check and was told the part was in and I could come quick drop the computer and it would be ready in 48 hours. After a day and a half, they called to ask me for all of the information I had already given the first "Genius". A day after that, They called me to say that they couldnt find anything wrong and the only thing left to try was to erase the entire computer and re-install everything. They were not going to replace the headphone module, which was the only reason I had brought the computer in. I had already had it diagnosed. I just needed it fixed. This is when I called Apple support and spoke to a senior technician who confirmed that there was no way given the circumstances that erasing the computer would help anything, and that replacing the headphone jack would be the right thing to do. Bottom Line: I would not trust the genius bar here with an Etch A Sketch, let alone my very expensive computer.

A

A Private User

I made the switch from PC to Mac three years ago, and dealing with this store has been the only bad part of the switch. Its my neighborhood store, so naturally its the first place I would think to go for Apple products and customer care, but over time I have learned that the convenience is offset by the horrible, horrible people who work there. The stores managers are probably to blame. They are uniformly rude and condescending, and I cant imagine its any fun working for them. But the staff are, by and large, no better: every single staff member Ive talked to has acted like the worst kind of computer snob. Apple has an in-store training program called "One to One". When I switched, I signed up for it - I am very familiar with PCs, and wanted to get familiar with Macs as quickly as I could. The in-store trainers at this store werent interested in answering my questions or teaching me anything; I was just an opportunity for them to laugh at someone who didnt already know everything about Macs. Eventually, I decided I wanted my money back, and asked for a refund for the training sessions I had paid for in advance but not used yet. This turned into a fight with store management that I had to escalate to the corporate level. Not Apple customer care, mind you - the corporate offices had to get involved to force these people to refund my money. I have to say that this store really stands out in my experience with Apple so far. Generally, Apples service online, on the phone, and even in other stores is really, really good. But this store is simply staffed by jerks, and the company should do something about it if they dont want their reputation damaged.