Apple discourages spontaneous buying?

BarkingGhostar

Diamond Member
Nov 20, 2009
8,409
1,617
136
Yesterday and today I tried to buy an iPhone from two different Apple stores around Atlanta. In both cases they had plenty of the exact product I was looking for and I wanted to buy the item outright. Only problem was I needed an appointment to hand someone my credit card and in return hand me the product. The product was an iPhone SE 2nd Gen. Yesterday's experience happened around 1PM. I was told I needed to make an appointment for 7:15 or 7:30PM. I declined. This morning I get up at 6AM and see another store, halfway across Atlanta, with the same item in stock. I drive there. Their store isn't busy and there are at least four red shirt associates standing around doing nothing. I try to buy the item, but once again am told I need an appointment and the first available is 5:30PM this late afternoon. I declined again because I'm hopping on a plane in the early morning and didn't want to be sitting on the other side of the city waiting for a red shirt to stop socializing with other red shirts before handling me.

In both cases I asked why I needed to be 'parented' for something like this. I was told scheduled appointments each come with the customer's initial purchase, but they have to reserve the [remote] possibility that appointment customers might but one or more units of every single Apple product in their store and they get priority over people there and now holding plastic and cash. On a remote chance? I ask how many people have scheduled appointments with paid-for items that have been removed the store's inventory and for this particular product they said "none." WTF is this kind of retail madness? The silver lining in all of this is that Apple has done a wonderful job on making sure I do not spend my money on their product. LOL :cool:
 
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BarkingGhostar

Diamond Member
Nov 20, 2009
8,409
1,617
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BTW, I should also add the following. I can go online and buy the product for pickup, but I am not allowed to pick the item up before everyone else picks up their products first. This also doesn't seem like the above 'remove possibility" notion is even true. So, I can buy it, they can sell it, but I cannot have it until they say I can have it. Its not about how long it takes to gather the product, but that I am required to be parented in some sort of up-sell experience before being allowed to take the paid for item out of the store.
 
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Ajay

Lifer
Jan 8, 2001
16,094
8,109
136
Covid. Ran into this issue recently. No problems in the past. That, or, Apple has lost their freaking minds again.
 

BarkingGhostar

Diamond Member
Nov 20, 2009
8,409
1,617
136
I did not experience this last June when I bought an iPhone. This is something completely new.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,548
10,171
126
Think of it like a fraternity hazing. Welcome to the (Big) Brotherhood of Apple! Queue at the velvet ropes...
 

ultimatebob

Lifer
Jul 1, 2001
25,134
2,446
126
Why don't you just order the phone from your cell phone carrier like most normal people do?

If you're like me, they're probably offering some awesome trade in deals on your old phone and you can get it far cheaper than what the Apple Store is selling it for. In my case, I basically got a "free" upgrade from an iPhone XR to an iPhone 13 after getting an $800 trade in.

At this point, you've already had a chance to play with one. Why go back to the store?
 

BarkingGhostar

Diamond Member
Nov 20, 2009
8,409
1,617
136
Why don't you just order the phone from your cell phone carrier like most normal people do?

If you're like me, they're probably offering some awesome trade in deals on your old phone and you can get it far cheaper than what the Apple Store is selling it for. In my case, I basically got a "free" upgrade from an iPhone XR to an iPhone 13 after getting an $800 trade in.

At this point, you've already had a chance to play with one. Why go back to the store?
Carrier didn't have it in stock.
 

Ajay

Lifer
Jan 8, 2001
16,094
8,109
136
From now on I'm just going to order online and do the setup myself. I did that recently when I switched carriers (Verizon -> Xfinity Mobile) and got $600 off my iPhone 12. I had to set it up myself and it wasn't a problem (aside from having to use some alcohol to clean the sim card). 5+ years ago, having the Apple store setup a phone worked better, but they've fixed that. Let the lemmings enjoy the personal touch of the Apple store experience :rolleyes:.
 

GodisanAtheist

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2006
7,138
7,632
136
Carrier didn't have it in stock.

- My guess is this.

They just don't have a lot of stock right now, so they want to give priority to "big ticket" apple customers who won't just buy the phone but will buy a ton of add-ons and apple care and other stuff with it, or at least will be forced into a situation where the rep has an opportunity to introduce items for sale.

Drove by my local Ford dealership the other day and was shocked to see their giant lot mostly empty of vehicles, undoubtedly the result of any number of supply chain issues. Figure different businesses are dealing with the shortfalls differently. I have read that some massive markups on vehicles are so dealerships dissuade out of towners from driving 150 miles to buy. Would rather sell their truck to someone local who will bring it in for servicing and keep the income flowing, rather than some out of towner who will never be back after their initial purchase. Same deal.
 

BarkingGhostar

Diamond Member
Nov 20, 2009
8,409
1,617
136
From now on I'm just going to order online and do the setup myself. I did that recently when I switched carriers (Verizon -> Xfinity Mobile) and got $600 off my iPhone 12. I had to set it up myself and it wasn't a problem (aside from having to use some alcohol to clean the sim card). 5+ years ago, having the Apple store setup a phone worked better, but they've fixed that. Let the lemmings enjoy the personal touch of the Apple store experience :rolleyes:.
I was going to do the setup myself, just like every phone before it. I was able to order it online, but they still would not let me have it in time--I had to wait. That is what is wrong with their retail sales design these days. Needlessly waiting. They could have filled a vending machine and and achieved much better sales success unless their goal was to up-sell you.