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Memo to Apple: Respect Your Resellers
An anonymous reader writes "As Apple opens more and more stores across the country (they are going to hit 88 by the end of 2004, according to top Apple retail honcho Ron Johnson), small independent dealers claim to be taking it in the shorts: five are suing Apple for all sorts of nastiness. Here's an interesting prescription for how Apple can make things right with its resellers and still open lots of shiny stores for the masses."
Not only the aesthetical aspect of it.
But the nearest Apple distributor near me is CompUsa.
Now I can take my iPod there if I have a problem (I didn't buy it there) ORRR I could goto the apple store where not only do they know what they are talking about (or seem to more than CompUSA droogs) But there is little to no bad attitude when I'm in there.
It may not be much but it's why I'll drive 30 extra minutes to the Apple Store than to CompUSA.
"It'll destroy you if you try to make it mean anything to anyone but yourself." - Henry Rollins
Since there is no Apple Store in Alaska, I did have to go to the local Mac shop to get a new Yo-Yo since mine died. Since they have a 1 year warranty from date of purchase, i called Apple, they faxed me my proof of purchase, and I went to the shop, and got me a new one for free (3 day longer and It would have cost me something). Apple vendors don't make much money from doing warranty repairs, especially if they are sent to Apple for the fixing. As for finding where the closest Apple shop that's easy, Store Locator. Support your local Mac shop, unless they are a bunch of egotistical idiots, then go to the most knowledgeable shop near you. (In my case, surprisingly enough, CompUSA)
"This is you left and that's your left. This is your right and that's your right. You're gonna die!
I am pretty sure that the iBook I got a while back was covered from the date of purchase. Because I had bought it in November and didn't get the AppleCare extended warranty at the time. Then, when my warranty was running out, I decided to get the extended warranty, and checked the date it was originally purchased and I extended the warranty within a few days of that date, and it went through no problem, nothing about my warranty already being up.
If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. -- Carl Sagan
My experience has been from the date of purchase.
Anyway, if you're buying a Powerbook you should be buying the extended warranty. I wouldn't advocate warranties on desktop systems or displays, but on a laptop it's just a must-have... Laptops in general have far, far worse reliability track records than desktops.. check consumer reports.
I always know of at least 5 people that are futzing with laptop problems at any given time.. mostly Dell, but that's because most people I know have Dells (oh, and Dell service SUCKS now).
My iBook has been trouble-free for the two and a half years I've owned it, but I cannot say the same of the batteries.... and at $130 a pop, it's not hard to imagine applecare being worthwhile over the span of 3 years... Hate to say it, but odds are a laptop extended warranty will pay for itself, assuming you keep your gear for long enough.
-reid
Apple started my PowerBook warranty from the date of manufacture. What else could they do? They had no way to know when the retailer sold it to me. They did change it to date of purchase after I faxed them the dated receipt.
What MacAdam is complaining about, I think, are (a) the unrealistic default start and (b) hassles with Apple process to adjust the start to "date of purchase." And on those points I agree. No retail venue short of a used car dealership places as much bureacracy between itself and its customers as does Apple.
I am an apple reseller. I work for a campus store where we sell Apple computers and a few other things here and there. I can't count the number of sales we have missed out on because we don't keep them in stock. But, being the size we are, we really can't afford to buy a bunch of computers and hope that people buy them. And with warrenty stuff, we can't even help people. If I can't fix it by myself really easily, I have to say "Here is the number, you will have to call them." And, I have to have a smile when I say it. It does't work. It would be fantastic if we could have a nice Apple front and have some things in stock, and a Genius Bar would be awesome. I know a lot of people who could do the job.
Got a problem? Call a monkey!
There are exactly two Apple resellers within 50 miles of where I live -- a CompUSA and a small-time shop, both of them about 30 miles from my house. There was a third, a few years ago, that was about 10 miles away. I called them once, asking for information about buying a replacement power adapter after the cat chewed on the wire of my old one. Suffice to say, they were no help at all -- and I ended up ordering via the online Apple Store. Now the reseller shop I called is out of business, and I'm not surprised one bit.
The simple fact is, buying direct from Apple gets you much better service, on average. Like the parent says, there might be a few good ones out there, but the rest of them probably deserve to go out of business -- assuming they don't improve, anyways.
IBM made the G3's (which Apple just recently took out of their iBook line.) and makes the G5's, which are in Apple's current desktop line.
When was this that this idiot thought Apple would never release a computer with an IBM processor in it? Apple and IBM have been working together on processors since the mid 90's.
'Sensible' is a curse word.
Yes but you don't go to Fry's if you have a question...about anything. The Apple Stores are much more end-user/switcher-friendly.
I live ze unknown. I love ze unknown. I am ze unknown.
We have a couple Mac retail chains around here. One of them is exactly as you described it -- overpriced crap, ancient used Macs, only one or two modern systems in stock, one copy of Panther (which had been opened and installed by the staff on their personal machines), and rude to boot. The software was, nearly without exception, from two or three years ago.
The other is gorgeous. They usually have every model on display (last time I was in, they were missing the 15" Powerbook), set up in the same kind of way as a "true" Apple store. They've got a MIDI music station, an MP3 music station, a digital video station. The owner cut his teeth selling a batch of the original Apple computer. Most of the salesmen have been around nearly as long. I can ask obscure questions and they've got answers, and they know how to solve problems cheaply. When you upgrade, they clone drives at a minimal cost, and if they can't manage it you don't get charged.
Guess which store has gotten about $5,000 worth of business this year?
By alienating folks like Verga and Armes, who have been the backbone of Apple's distribution network for the past 30 years
I read that, blinked, checked my calendar, and sho' nuff, it hasn't been 30 years. It's hard to take gratuitous embellishment seriously.
"Other bands play, but Manowar KILLS"
Since there are so many posts about how horrible 3rd party Apple dealers are, I just thought I'd mention that I had a really good experience with Tekserve, an Apple shop in New York City. I bought their last lcloseout TiBook last January, and they were very savy and easy to deal with.
To put another spin on MacAdam: they've been a smug, unhelpful shop with unconscionably high costs since I've known them (sometime in the mid-to-late-1980s). I've been a Macintosh owner since 1984, but was in Boston for the early 1980s.
:-) I haven't come across any of them.
MacAdam's niche was in a pre-Internet time, when comparison shopping was difficult. Plus the incredible hourly fees they charged businesses for set-up and basic administration. And the utter contempt and lack of attention to anyone not looking to purchase a complete system then and there. Plus shoddy sales and technical help, and miserable phone-side manners. Grrrr.
Now that we have the Internet, and we can find a better price-point, and businesses can find competent help at a better price, MacAdam has spent what's left of its karmic capital whining and suing Apple.
I'd have to say almost the same about the CompUSA on Market Street, a few blocks away from the new Apple Store. Great with a captive audience, obviously clueless and expensive when compared with other resources.
We have other ARs in San Francisco, some of whom STILL overcharge the elderly and uninformed in their neighborhoods. It rankles.
They may have been some extraordinary ARs, but in my twenty years of Macintosh ownership (and I've owned a few
If MacAdam, or CompuTown or CompUSA, had been there for those of us trying to keep our Macs at home and our Mac networks of the office running, rather than focussing only on gouging us for every little thing along the way, we might be there for you.
I can't count the times I've been infuriated by how Apple Resellers have treated me or others. When MacAdam closes its doors it'll be of little detriment to anyone but the owners and employees.
I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there. -- Richard Feynman
Want to echo this.
Tekserve has been an amazing Apple resource in NYC for over 15 years. I bought my Powerbook from them. Their tech department is legendary. I would trust their word over Apple (especially about things like Logic Board problems, etc.)
So, whether Apple is doing anything predatory or not, they could hardly help but displace the third-party stores.
This is not true. A lot of 'mom and pop' stores have built up significant reputations in their community and companies in the area will go to them because they've accumulated quite the expertise over the years.
Going to an Apple Store is never going to net you expert help. The staff there are about as good (bad) as Best Buy and are paid comparatively.
Real professional resellers I know say their business has actually done better since the Apple stores, as the interest in Apple has grown and they still have the reputation, so people still end up contacting them for the big jobs.
Which is what I would do too. Our reseller is 'outtasite' and we might walk by an Apple Store, but we'd never buy anything there. Not only do we want to support the local businesses, but we know we get qualified help there - something we would never get at an Apple Store.
I have been in only 2 third party dealers for Macs (4 in general) and honestly, I WONT step foot into them again... I have plenty of good third party places that work off a website and sell reconditioned macs, there is CompUSA, there are 3 Apple stores near me. PLUS I get a education discount that only my school can give me........ WHY WOULD I WANT TO GO SOMEPLACE ELSE?
"Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."
At...Frys, on the other hand, they can listen to you...
That's a nice theory but, honestly, have you ever talked to a salesperson at Fry's? They're helpful if you aren't able to read the feature list on the box because that's pretty much what they do. Otherwise, I've found that they make great doorstops.
I live ze unknown. I love ze unknown. I am ze unknown.