Menlo Park Apple Retail Store Manager Lies, Apple Corporate kicks his ass
Store Location :
Apple Store Menlo Park
55 Parsonage Rd
Edison, NJ 08837
(732) 321-5506
Apple Employee : Anthony Cuni
Time and Date this incident occurred : 3rd July, 8:52 PM.
Nature of the Issue : Apple shipped me a damaged iPhone and an assistant store manager @ Menlo Park Apple Retail Store (Anthony Cuni) lied that neither his team nor himself were trained to handle such cases. They offered to sell a new iPhone instead!
Course of Action : I called Corporate Customer care and narrated the incident. They promised to enforce / teach them Apple standards. Apple representative apologized saying that the whole point of a retail store is to minimize the repair time. She also confirmed that every Apple employee at a retail store are trained to swap a defective iPhone. Anthony Cuni lied and is going to get his ass kicked by the nice folks at Apple Corporate.
The Complete Story :
I called AppleCare and scheduled a repair (Repair ID : Dxxxxxxx9) for my iPhone 3G white since it started developing hairline cracks on the body. Was very happy with the prompt service. I was shipped a replacement and upon receipt of the iPhone, I noticed even more cracks on the replaced iPhone. I have an array of Apple products and I am very protective of them. I was not very happy with all those obvious cracks on the newly replaced iPhone. I immediately called the nearest Apple store (Menlo Park, Edison) at 6:15 pm but no one answered the call. Tried making a genius appointment but found none for the day. Though the nearest Apple store was about 2 hours away, I drove all the way. I reached the store at 8:52 pm and explained my situation to one of the geniuses in the store. He said no tech was available to diagnose my iPhone. I emphasized the fact that Apple shipped me an iPhone with cracks on the body and all I need is a replacement. I have the whole fedex box with iPhone packaging in it. He wasn’t even interested in taking a look at it. He offered to sell me an iPhone 3GS instead!
I asked for a store manager hoping that he would take a quick look at the cracks on the iPhone and would replace it. Assistant store manager, Anthony Cuni walks in. I rephrased my issue and he outright said that he could not help me since the only genius available is occupied and no one else including himself were trained to swap a defective iPhone! WTF? At that point I saw 3 Apple representatives behind the counter totally unoccupied. After requesting (literally begging him) to replace my iPhone, he says he can “set me up with an iPhone case“. I was shocked to hear that. All I wanted is for him to take a look at the iPhone and replace it.
He then gave me 3 options :
1) Get an iPhone Case. (How would that solve my issue?)
2) Come back another day. (I honestly cannot spend 4 hours driving for a replacement that he could have done on the spot)
3) He initially said he will ship the iPhone and get it shipped. He then said I have to follow the whole setting up repair procedure myself. (The problem is that I cannot wait 4 more days without my iPhone. I already did this week)
I told him that I have been a Mac user for the past 3 years and I own most of Apple’s offerings updating whenever I could afford. He cared less about that!
A list of my Apple products/subscriptions :
- Student ADC
- iPhone Developer
- Mobile Me
- Macbook
- Macbook Pro
- iPhone 2G
- iPhone 3G
- iPhone 3GS
- Airport Extreme
He then says unfortunately he doesn’t know the procedure to swap an iPhone. He says only one tech knows it and is occupied. He was being sarcastic. He went and talked to the genius, had a laugh with him and returned saying that the genius cannot work with my iPhone. The store manager goes to the length of saying “I cannot call a genius employee who is at his home just to help you. I cannot do magic and replace your iPhone”. Those were his exact words. I was still standing there while other people in the store were looking at me. I was so embarrassed. Why the sarcasm in his voice? Is it because I am a hard working student obsessed with Apple products? This is what I get for being an Apple loyalist? This is the first time I walked out of an Apple store sad. The whole experience was so disheartening. 4 hours drive to the Apple store goes in vain 
I will never enter the Apple store at Menlo Park. I will be an Apple loyalist for life though.
I want to make sure that no other Apple customer faces this kind of treatment. Apple is unique when it comes to support, Apple is known for bending the rules to accommodate customer’s needs and incidents like this should never happen just because of a sarcastic, idiotic, stupid ass store manager.
What did we learn? : Don’t hesitate to file your complaints thinking that they may not be heard. All companies (big and small) need feedback from their customers. Keep them updated and they will make sure
