NY Times compares Apple and Sony retail experiences

Here are the sites of those liquidators: http://www.spintradeexchange.com, http://www.goldensurplus.com, http://www.auctionbidmart.com, http://www.selltestequipment.com - check them out!

Im just curious what is the best route today when wanting to buy a computer? Do you go to a reseller like Best Buy or Circuit City? Do you go straight to the manufacturers website? And then theres the liquidation houses like A-ZComputer Liquidators, Golden Surplus, Auctionbidmart.com, and Applied Quality Test, Inc.

Apple nows how to do it!

Andrew Hillman

Jonah, I'm shocked that you would question the factual accuracy of Mr. Stross of the NEW YORK FRICKIN' TIMES. Shame, sir!

:-)

(Most press reports do call the Tysons Corner store the first store, likely since it's on the East Coast and would have opened, chronologically, several hours before Glendale.)

Technically the one in Glendale opened the same day as the virginia one, and if you look at apple's webpages about the stores, the Glendale one is referred to with the number 1, while the virginia one isn't...

Link above doesn't work. Search for "s-video" in the Mac Pro discussions on Apple.com. Lots of posts.

@JeffDM - Actually, you can't with the default nVidia card. We bought the adapter, then looked it up in the discussions when it didn't work. They don't advertise this. You have to upgrade to the ATI card (which is 400 dollars on its own).

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=3533073&#3533073

@others - The Mac Pro is advertised as the most configurable Mac ever and Apple is reported to have high customer service. When someone is paying 3k for a machine AND switching to your product "on a moments notice," you would think someone would help out a little. I mean, this thing comes with a "standard" 10% restocking fee, so even if it didn't work out for some reason, that's 300 dollars to "rent" a machine. I guess I just expected a little more from Apple, otherwise I would put them on par other retailers.

Besides, this is not something that sets them back a lot - what's the difference between Apple swapping out RAM or hard drives at their main facility and doing the same thing at the storefront? Swap out a drive or RAM a couple times, then send the stuff back to the factory in a bulk shipment. Wouldn't the extra cost be worth it to have satisfied customers instead of ones with a tainted first impression of Apple? Isn't the Apple Store an extension of the online store? Isn't that a little misleading if you can configure a machine online then say, "I don't want to wait for shipping, I'm sure glad Apple has a store down the street I can go to and get this?" Perhaps a little clarity for the average consumer would be nice.

As for the customer service experience, the guy who "helped" us barely knew what he was talking about. He also went to check on something for us then didn't come back for a long, long time. When we asked him about a feature in iMovie, he played around with it on the computer a little and scratched his head. I've had similar experiences with "geniuses" when getting my MBP repaired or looked at, though some of them are smug and barely do anything to actually "fix" problems, too. Not saying there aren't good people there, but it's not any different from a regular store in my experience. Just better designed.

Walking into the high traffic location Sony Style store here in San Francisco, and the Apple store is a night and day experience. I walk into Sony Style, everything's neatly boxed, no real guidance, no one really to talk too (2 sales reps usually annoyed or smug about questions, and the occassional demo rep before you walk in from the top level). They have usually 2 or 3 security guards chit chatting and looking dead at you. I walk in there, not one person talks to me unless I ask, and it's a mix of thousand dollar flat screens or Blu Ray/PSP videos in one rack (including a small bargain bin).

Sony's stores plop their products on display, and figure they'd sell themselves. They care nothing for the customer service experience - or if they do, they're not listening.

I second their website, it's a disaster to shop through. I've specifically not purchased items because of that mess.

I believe Sony stores will always fail for two key reasons:

1) Unlike Apple products, you can often buy Sony products on sale or for a discount elsewhere. Hence by going to the Sony store you KNOW you will be paying top dollar. At an Apple store, you know you will be paying the same price as anywhere else.

2) Sony has a HUGE catalog of products and no store will ever be able to stock even a fraction of them. By contrast, Apple's limited range means that if you want a certain iPod or Macbook you know they will have one in store (and one on display to play with).

Just adding a registration-free link to the NYTimes article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/27/business/yourmoney/27digi.html?ex=1337918400&en=9ec3351af133bd47&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss