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GRRR.. I really don�t like Apple!


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So I decide to take 45 minutes of my life and drive over the apple store and check out the iFi after phoning in and making sure they had it. I get in the store and its crowed as hell. I did not see the iFi on display anywhere, but I did notice they had all the regular iPod speaker systems on display on a huge table! They had the bose sounddock and the Altec iM7 and the JBL onstage. I played with them all, the bose was about as wild as a Saturday night bingo game in the cafeteria of a retirement community, it was pretty weak for 300 bucks but I had already heard it and knew what to expect. The onstage was similar, but off key! It had no bass and over exaggerated high end which made it seem very edgy and harsh. It was very annoying and I begged for it to be turned off. The iM7 was sort of the opposite of the onstage which over exaggerated the mid bass and made it very boomy. Its midrange was shadowed by this unnatural boom in the 100hrz area... I did not like it.

Where was the iFi? No where to be seen on display or even in the box. There was plenty of room next to all the other speakers. I waited around for about 25 minutes to get one of thoes *******s to help me. I asked a few of them who were running around and they gave me rude short answers.. something to the extent of.. "I'm busy. I then got in line and waiting like I was going to pay for something, and that seemed to work. When I got to the front of the counter I asked where the iFi was and young guy.. who was fairly nice, said he did not know what it was. I explained it was a Klipsch speaker system and he directed me to the Promedia 2.0's. I said no, this was not a Promedia system, it was an ipod exclusive system. While he was on the radio I told him I wanted to hear the system because I would lay down 400 dollars for it otherwise. He said "oh we cant let you do that if its not on display." Being disappoint, yet polite I said thank you anyway and left.

Now... who in their right minds would expect any customer to pay 400 bucks for something that they can't even see! Everything in the Apple store is on display.. that's the entire point of the apple store! Furthermore, no one even knows about the iFi, not even the store employees. When I called in, they lady had no idea and she had to look it up! So how are customers, who are supposed to be less knowledgeable about a products, supposed to guess a stores backroom inventory? No one in that entire store knew what the iFi was or had even seen one before. That store won't sell a single unit if they dont put it on display and they wont even sell it to someone who knows what it is if they can't hear it!

Amy or Andy, I don't who is in charge of distribution, but there were hundreds of people passing through this store today and Im sure a few would have bought the iFi for Fathers day! But that won't happen this year in Walnut Creek, CA, which for your information probably has the highest concentration of wealthy shoppers in the country.. This is a major let down for me.

Here is the store, you can tell em what I said.

Apple Store Walnut Creek

(925) 210-2020

1129 S Main St

Walnut Creek, CA 94596

On a positive note I went and played with the 2.0s. I was highly impressed with the volume and bass these things were able to achieve! I was expecting a lot less from the low end so when I heard them I became excited! I turned the apple up to full volume, then I turned the 2.0s up to full volume.. and they did not distort and rocked pretty damn hard. Very good midrange and treble! They far better and more accurate than any of the iPod speaker systems and they were a lot less money! Kudos to Klipsch for those speakers, Im still waiting to get a fair trial for the iFis

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Thank you for letting us know. I will pass this along to our sales rep for Apple Stores.

Keep in mind that we have only released a limited quanity at this time, and it will take a little while for the stores to have adequate stock and maintain a display unit.

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On 6/19/2005 2:00:02 AM Blackmesa wrote:

understood.

I should also say that the walnut creek store is a full apple store, not a mini one.

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Listen a full apple store is not a full apple store. There are 4 tiers of apple stores. Makes sure you do not go into a mini or a 30' store denoted by the size of the width of the store. A 45' store is a supposed full store. Then there are flagships. Flagships are flagships.

On another note. I sold both ifi's on friday. One was promtly returned after he said he talked to the technical support of klipsch. The volume would not adjust right. Though the man was referred to another apple store to pick it up. I converted both people looking for the bose sounddock to the klipsch ifi atleast.

Also my store does not have the paper description on the back acrylic as people ask for the price and think they are 99 dollars cause they see the ultra 2.0 on the bottom. Also 007 remember this your comment about putting 4 big ones "rolls eyes" are a joke at the apple store. I bet you honestly the one that you said at the POS "point of sale" wanted you to get out the line so they could get real customers. Also I bet he made fun of you to be quite honest. For a person to lay "4 big hundred dollars is nothing" My "ADS" averages is the 2-3 grand and to be quite honest your sale would have dropped my ads. Also when did you go on a weekday? expect alot of people. We averaged 100 people in the store at any given point on this sunday.

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On 6/18/2005 5:27:31 PM Blackmesa wrote:

Now... who in their right minds would expect any customer to pay 400 bucks for something that they can't even see! Everything in the Apple store is on display.. that's the entire point of the apple store! Furthermore, no one even knows about the iFi, not even the store employees. When I called in, they lady had no idea and she had to look it up! So how are customers, who are supposed to be less knowledgeable about a products, supposed to guess a stores backroom inventory? No one in that entire store knew what the iFi was or had even seen one before. That store won't sell a single unit if they don’t put it on display and they wont even sell it to someone who knows what it is if they can't hear it!

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umm our bose sound dock is broken on top of the high pitched squeal it made before it died and the fact that they put their own proprietary music on to not allow a honest side to side comparison. But we still sold 50 of them this father's day

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"Everything in the Apple store is on display.. that's the entire point of the apple store! Furthermore, no one even knows about the iFi, not even the store employees. When I called in, they lady had no idea and she had to look it up!"

No and NO!!!

I know about klipsch and promote it so far as my friends ask if I secretly work for klipsch.

Also the fact that the phone support is whom? The least experienced since they usually are new hires since they do not have the experince to go on the floor to sell. You point is she had to look it up? gee I wonder why cause there not klipsch fanatics. Look at it from their point of view, they don't really know klipsch or what kinda history they have. They know more about BOSE. We got phone calls for the ifi and our phone girl asked around and luckily I knew the answer. She actually went what is a ifi to everyone. Don't mind them since the experienced people are on the sales floor.

Also no everything is not on display in the apple store. Notice what usually is displayed is there for a reason "cough". Wonder why the bose is in the middle and not in a corner. Wonder why certain software are on all computers. Why does each apple store look like a mirror image if you goto their repected tiers. Gee why does this product stand out above the others. etc etc

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well jay, may I recommend reading my entire post before replying.. that wau you dont have to write 4 separate replies each time you fly off the handle about sometimes immaterial I said.

Anyway, I'm you honestly think 400 dollars is petty cash, perhaps you're being paid too much for your job.

50 to 1 is amazing (bose to Klipsch sales). I absolutely hate the sounddock...I can't believe how uniformed people are. I would be shocked if a sounddock cost more than 20 dollars to manufacture... simply amazing.

We need someone like you at our apple store to promote klispch.. And no, the guy did not laugh at me for saying I wanted to hear it first, he simply did not care. And to be honest, I had already heard it, and I was not in the market for it because I Have no use for it. I simply wanted to hear it in a smaller room (yes the apple store was tiny compared to compusa). I have no idea if this store is a flagship whatever store. Its pretty big. I did not get my tape measure out --Im sorry, jesus Christ!. Here is a picture of it so you can see for yourself it was not small

walnutcreek_vert113004.jpg

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haha I agree I hate going to an apple store it's always overcrowded and they don't have the staff to help their customers. I don't care if its a flagship to a mini store, the store should have the ifi system to try out! The mini store located in my mall has 4 other speaker systems on display... they need to make room for klipsch's ifi... it would promote the ipod so much more with the sound it produces.

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On 6/20/2005 8:17:23 AM updawg wrote:

haha I agree I hate going to an apple store it's always overcrowded and they don't have the staff to help their customers. I don't care if its a flagship to a mini store, the store should have the ifi system to try out! The mini store located in my mall has 4 other speaker systems on display... they need to make room for klipsch's ifi... it would promote the ipod so much more with the sound it produces.

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Understaffed..... yeah on weekends when everyone else goes to the mall. Try going on a weekday when it is dead. You cannot hire 100 staff for days when there are 2 people in the store. Also yeah well you know what it is actually klipsch that chose not to put the ifi in every store. If you read my *cough* you may have gotten it. My 45' store has a staff of 50 and we're understaffed on weekends when everyone is in.

for 007:

no we are not overpaid but you are not a target customer. Also the bose sound dock was not 50 to 1 it was 50 to none on sunday. Also most people who buy the bose sounddock come in and don't ask questions about the bose but ask 10 minutes worth on ipod cases. Money is not an object to them but they rather have just the best. In that case bose brainwashed them enough to think they sound the best. I rarely to be honest think many people heard the best sound systems as sound systems are more like you have to know someone personally to see or hear it. As not with cars you cannot transport your speakers around. Can anyone here really tell me they heard a pair of wilson alexandria's with some mark levinson number 33 amps? or did they ever hear the Krell inferno with 4 MRS and 7 MRA? or how many listened to the Klipschorns and some great tube amps to compare to the bose sounddock? Hell even compare to the famed 901's, the best bose has to offer. BTW some of the people who come in to buy the bose sound docks at the register pull the black american express out. If you get my drift, that means they can probably afford the Krell, Klipschorns, and Wilsons. For those who do not know what a black american express card is. It is called the Centurion card basically looks grey to black with the same style as the rest. American Express will send it to you when they think you are ready and you cannot ask for it. To gain the card it is rumored that you need to spend more then 100,000 a year and to keep it you need to spend the same.

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On 6/18/2005 10:56:49 PM Amy Unger wrote:

Thank you for letting us know. I will pass this along to our sales rep for Apple Stores.

Keep in mind that we have only released a limited quanity at this time, and it will take a little while for the stores to have adequate stock and maintain a display unit.

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Umm amy to be totally honest we recieved 3 and one went on as the floor model. But the size of the box impedes the amound we can keep in stock. In the same size as the two boxes were we could have kept 16 bose sound docks. And to be totally honest they were not fly off the shelf items. We sold two after about 10 days and one was brought back with a faulty dock volume control. Out back room is very big and yet we had alot of trouble finding adequate space to place them.

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That's not a small apple store, but it's also not a very big one:

http://www.neekole.com/gallery/albums/sfapplestore/DSCN4637.jpg

^ That's a big apple store :]

What you went to was a medium-ish one, I think there's bigger, either way it doesn't matter they're not mini stores and thus should stock these things if they're available, and that's where it gets flaky..

The iFi just came out about a week ago, Amy didn't seem too terribly surprised they didn't have it on display and nor am I really, but the thing that gets me is they said they had them when in reality, they did not.

I'll also vouch against Jay here, except for SF (which had a rather long line), Bay Street was very lousy in service. The manager was a bit of a guy you had to haggle to get what you wanted out of (if you could find him), and when waiting for service once I saw several people walk in, want to buy something, ask for help (once, twice, loudly?) -- then leave because everyone was so busy.

This is where things boggled me. They had one person at the sales counter and another at the "genius" bar helping some not too terribly smart woman reinstall the OS on her powerbook. While I'm not saying that these people should have been "overworked" any harder, what the other staff people were doing was pretty screwy, they were either walking around, simply not present (hanging out in the back perhaps, I know they weren't helping anyone because they weren't even there to help and nobody was waiting for them), or just not in the store (I saw a few walk out from time to time, who knows if on break or not).

That's not just bad service, that's bad "teamwork" if a store has it. Leaving your coworkers to fend for themselves when there's too many people (on a fricken saturday), and people walking out on the store because there's nobody to help them purchase something is screwed up. I do hope Bay Street's fixed their problems with handling customers, but I have my doubts if Walnut Creek is having that problem too now.

And I'll agree, "regular" stores are fairly large, definitely large enough to stick the klipsch system near a sound dock or whatever, shoot in SF they had a few sound docks laying around so that just furthers my point.

Another screwed up thing with your logic is that just because rich people buy it, doesn't mean it's good. If you're spending over $100,000 a year on stuff, that doesn't mean you're a wise purchaser. To top it off, I've seen/heard of sound dock purchases for a different reason, the IFi is more like for a bedroom setup or somewhere else that you have the room for 2 large speakers and a subwoofer and want really good sound, the sound dock (to some people) is for bathroom audio.

Granted that, I was surprised how loud the dang things get, and no I don't think they make them for $50, R&D aint cheap for stuff like that, even the little $150 altec docks are pretty impressive to this one... but I wouldn't say that they're any better (or even comparable) to the klipsch system. The klipsch stuff is very high quality, will make very high quality sound, and well if you have the space, is a much better deal.

Aside from all that, I have GMXes on my powermac's setup and wouldn't change them for anything 'cept ultra 5.1s (if I could afford them), or some kinda 5.1 ifi-like setup, but I don't think I could really put that much into the sound of my setup anyway (college makes things tricky lol).. still don't care for apple's retail stuff ... yet.. maybe when they prove themselves to me :)

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On 6/20/2005 10:11:15 AM OoTLink wrote:

That's not a small apple store, but it's also not a very big one:

^ That's a big apple store :]

(only a 45' store)

What you went to was a medium-ish one, I think there's bigger, either way it doesn't matter they're not mini stores and thus should stock these things if they're available, and that's where it gets flaky..

The iFi just came out about a week ago, Amy didn't seem too terribly surprised they didn't have it on display and nor am I really, but the thing that gets me is
they said they had them
when in reality, they did not.

I'll also vouch against Jay here, except for SF (which had a rather long line), Bay Street was very lousy in service. The manager was a bit of a guy you had to haggle to get what you wanted out of (if you could find him), and when waiting for service once I saw several people walk in, want to buy something, ask for help (once, twice, loudly?) -- then leave because everyone was so busy.

(umm of course you need to haggle to get what you wanted with a manager. Remember any place is a corporation. Managers are given quotas. Given certain prices they can give. They will not give you something that is under the corparate guidelines. Also well we can service one person at a time. The person we helped waited just as you sir! you are no different)

This is where things boggled me. They had one person at the sales counter and another at the "genius" bar helping some not too terribly smart woman reinstall the OS on her powerbook. While I'm not saying that these people should have been "overworked" any harder, what the other staff people were doing was pretty screwy, they were either walking around, simply not present (hanging out in the back perhaps, I know they weren't helping anyone because they weren't even there to help and nobody was waiting for them), or just not in the store (I saw a few walk out from time to time, who knows if on break or not).

(Did you bother to buy procare? maybe because she brought the procare she got better service. SO MISTER BIG MAN WANTING EVERYTHING BUT NOT WANTING TO PAY FOR IT) Also these people are just like you people. Meaning they get breaks, maybe they had a bad day, maybe they have a headache. I cannot comprehend that you believe we are machines and become your willing slaves as you step into the store. Goto bestbuy and try and find anywhere near our service. You will find a 16 year old that will not give you a straight answer. Also do you really like it when you walk into a store and the sale's person goes do you need help? answer "just looking". Now put it into a teenager or another type where it might be percieved as stereotypical that the sale's person is asking you because he/she thinks your going to steal something. We will help you when you ask us. Just find a person with a black shirt. They will help if you ask or look confused. Other then that you can browse without being harassed into buying something. Also yeah we are allowed breaks to get soda and such)

That's not just bad service, that's bad "teamwork" if a store has it. Leaving your coworkers to fend for themselves when there's too many people (on a fricken saturday), and people walking out on the store because there's nobody to help them purchase something is screwed up. I do hope Bay Street's fixed their problems with handling customers, but I have my doubts if Walnut Creek is having that problem too now.

(If a person leaves because no one helps. Did you ever look at it the other way? I try to help everyone but if one leaves, they chose to because of choice. I cannot hold them back and say to the customer that I am helping. Well that one wants to buy something and I want to help that one out cause my sales goals are better. How insulting is that to your customer. At that point if I were that customer I would leave. Put it this way, our weekends are the greatest point of business as with most retail stores. Yes we are understaffed but the fact is you must work x amount of hours to work at most stores. If we hire just weekenders they would not meet the standard in knowing what happened that week, they would not know new products, etc etc. Also with the person that one apple store employee is helping, what about that person? did they not wait also? what just because you are impatient means you need better service? That is just rude. I know many customers when they have a broken ipod or computer be put into the genius bar and told that the wait is 3-5 hours (usual on weekends) Then they go I want to talk to the manager. OK fine then the manager goes and says the same thing that those people on the list waited just like you. End of story. But then they go well put me in cause i'm more important. NO SIR OR MADAME YOU ARE NOT. I remember once a person said I would scream and did and that got no where. Even other customers told her to STFU and leave.)

ALSO ON ANOTHER NOTE WHY DOES EVERYONE THINK IT'S COOL IF YOU DON'T HAVE A MAC TO BASH IT AT WILL. WELL HERE'S ONE FOR YOU, YOU HAVE THE CHOICE NOT TO BUY IT. BUT DON'T BASH SOMETHING YOU DO NOT KNOW. WE TRY AND TRY BUT IT SO EASY TO BASH APPLE SAYING "IT'S IPOD SUCKS BLAH BLAH BLAH" WELL THEN JUST DON'T BUY IT. Also I have recieved numerous emails saying how I helped customers out and so forth. So atleast I know I am doing something right.

And I'll agree, "regular" stores are fairly large, definitely large enough to stick the klipsch system near a sound dock or whatever, shoot in SF they had a few sound docks laying around so that just furthers my point. (SF IS A FLAGSHIP STORE PERIOD. THEY HAVE THE SPACE AND RESOURCES HECK THEY EVEN HAVE THEIR OWN FLOOR PLANS SINCE THEY ARE A BIGGER STORE.)

Another screwed up thing with your logic is that just because rich people buy it, doesn't mean it's good. If you're spending over $100,000 a year on stuff, that doesn't mean you're a wise purchaser.

(NO BUT ATLEAST THEY CAN AFFORD TO MAKE MISTAKES. WHY DO PEOPLE BUY FERRARI'S WHEN THEY WOULD BREAK EVERY 1000 MILES AND REQUIRE THOUSAND OF DOLLARS TO FIX. HELL THE MOTOR OIL REQUIRE TO KEEP THE WARANTEE ON A FERRARI IS A RARE SHELL MOTOR OIL THAT COST 30-50 DOLLARS A QUART WHERE THE SMALLEST FERRARI ENGINE USES 8 QUARTS. TO THOSE PEOPLE WHO BUY FERRARI AND TO ANYONE IT IS HIGHLY IMPRACTICAL AT ALL. IT HOLDS USUALLY 2 PEOPLE, EATS DOUBLE THE AMOUNT OF GAS EVEN COMPARED TO A SUV, INSURANCE THROUGH THE ROOF, AND USUALLY ONLY DRIVEN AS A WEEKENDERS CAR. NOW TELL ME HOW GOOD OF A PRODUCT A FERRARI REALLY IS. IT IS NOT ABOUT PRACTICAL OR WISE DECISIONS BUT MORE OF WANT. I BET YOU WANT DUAL 30" SCREENS AND A 2.7 GHz FULLY LOADED BUT CAN YOU AFFORD IT?)

To top it off, I've seen/heard of sound dock purchases for a different reason, the IFi is more like for a bedroom setup or somewhere else that you have the room for 2 large speakers and a subwoofer and want
really good sound
, the sound dock (to some people) is for bathroom audio.

(GOOD LUCK WHEN IT BREAKS.... BUT ON A SERIOUS NOTE THE IFI IS TOO BIG A SYSTEM FOR MOST HOMES AND I WILL AGREE THAT IT IS HARD TO FIND SPACE FOR THAT SUB BEING THAT THE SUB NEEDS TO BE CLOSE TO THE DOCK SINCE THE DOCK IS LIKE 6 FEET LONG ONLY.

Granted that, I was surprised how loud the dang things get, and no I don't think they make them for $50, R&D aint cheap for stuff like that, even the little $150 altec docks are pretty impressive to this one... but I wouldn't say that they're any better (or even comparable) to the klipsch system. The klipsch stuff is very high quality, will make very high quality sound, and well if you have the space, is a much better deal.

Aside from all that, I have GMXes on my powermac's setup and wouldn't change them for anything 'cept ultra 5.1s (if I could afford them), or some kinda 5.1 ifi-like setup, but I don't think I could really put that much into the sound of my setup anyway (college makes things tricky lol).. still don't care for apple's retail stuff ... yet.. maybe when they prove themselves to me
:)

(YOUR WELCOMED TO COME TO MY APPLE STORE AND I WILL TREAT YOU WITH FIRST CLASS RESPECT EVEN IF YOU BUY AN IPOD CASE)
1.gif

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Please do not bad mouth Apple Stores here on our forum. We have a great relationship with them, and have been nothing but helpful since we began working with them quite a while ago.

I always have a good experience when I visit one. There are good and bad employees everywhere....the bad ones usually get weeded out eventually. If you've had a problem with your local store, I would recommend you contact their management to make sure the problem is rectified.

If the problem is with how are products are displayed, that is something we can help with, and would appreciate you letting us know.

Thanks, all!

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On 6/19/2005 11:08:37 PM Jay481985 wrote:

On another note. I sold both ifi's on friday. One was promtly returned after he said he talked to the technical support of klipsch. The volume would not adjust right. Though the man was referred to another apple store to pick it up. I converted both people looking for the bose sounddock to the klipsch ifi atleast.

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Hi Jay,

Thanks for the sales!!

I did a little research on the return you mentioned, however, and it turns out that no one at Klipsch had spoken to a customer with volume adjustment issues that resulted in a returned unit. We did talk to someone on Friday who was having trouble adjusting the volume until we pointed out that the volume worked like a dial and not a push button. He said he felt silly, but all was resolved. I wonder if he was the one who returned the unit, and THEN called when he couldn't get the replacement to work? I can't figure out any other answer.

At any rate, our sales rep did contact Apple to discuss the display issue, and here's what he told me:

I spoke with the assistant manager today regarding the post on our forum. She told me that <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Walnut Creek is a unique store to Apple in that the stores layout is totally different then any other store. She told me that due to their unique layout she has yet to see a request from corporate to place the iFi on display. They did however sell two units, and shes certain the iFi will be a big hit. I told her where the iFi was placed in other stores and she told me that she would work with her staff to get it on display. I then contacted a manager at Apple Corporation and left him a message to help us get the iFi on display in the Walnut Creek store. Please continue to bring things like this to my attention and we will address it with Apple right away.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

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Ah, sorry to have started a fight there >_>

Jay, I know darn well that when you want something enough you can have it, my current powermac cost about what a dual 2.7, a 30"er, and a 23"er cost altogether. Having said that, I bought that stuff 4 years ago so I got a dual g4 powermac and 22" display :)

Anyway, procare didn't exist at the time, it would be nice if apple had a seperate counter for hardware service than the one used for "software advice" if ya know what I mean, but again, only an idea.

So Walnut Creek is a bit different :) I guess that explains it, hopefully I get to try one of these speaker sets soon so I can brag about how great they are :D

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