Apple II
Happy post-Thanksgiving Saturday. Unusual day for me to post, but, well, I'm kind of off schedule in a lot of ways right now, as many of us who had the last two days off work probably are!
Wanted to share another experience with Apple (and, no, I'm not on the payroll). My wife and I had planned to go to see a movie yesterday, opting for "Murder on the Orient Express," but were thwarted by our inability to get seats at our preferred multiplex at the time we preferred. So I headed outside to do some yard work, and to run the gasoline out of our lawn mower. My wife used that time to put away her Halloween and Thanksgiving decor in anticipation of decorating the house for Christmas during this weekend.
Anyway, after I got a shower and was ready to do something, we decided, unexpectedly, to go to the mall. I have railed against doing so for some time, but we went with a specific purpose in mind. I had finally decided to upgrade my iPhone 6 Plus and get an 8 Plus, and NOT the newest design, the iPhone X. More on that later.
We could have gone a number of places, but having just done the same thing in upgrading my wife's phone, we knew what to expect at the Apple Store. We also were confident that Apple would have its store well staffed in anticipation of the big Black Friday crowds.
So we made our way to the local mall (we only have one traditional enclosed mall remaining here in Lexington) and were not at all surprised to see parking spaces at a premium. We parked in an area that was not a great distance from the Macy's department store, which is on the end of the building where Apple's store is located, and made our way inside and through the corridors and the many folks bustling along.
Arriving at the store, there were plenty of people inside, but we were also glad to see the number of red-shirted Apple staffers present. I gave my name to the check-in person and only waited a couple of minutes to be connected with Mason, who helped me with my phone of choice. Knew what I wanted, opted to trade in my old device, completed the transaction and moved seamlessly to the set-up area, where I essentially did it myself, despite help being available if needed.
The entire process took less time than to find a parking space and walk into the mall.
My wife had gone to get us a drink and was going to meet me when I finished, and we met and I was putting a new case onto my new phone when it suddenly stopped working. Completely. Luckily, though, we were seated on a bench right in front of the store, so the check-in person asked to give it a look and then Mason and I caught each other's attention, and he moved in my direction to also examine it. Together we deduced that the screen had somehow failed, whether a power issue or otherwise, and he immediately said that we should replace it.
That was the easy part. The hard part was that not only did I buy a phone, but I did so by having my carrier provide the financing, and then I traded in my old phone and the proceeds from the gift card were actually deposited into my checking account. So Mason had to enlist the help of Marty, whom I assume was a supervisor, to undo and redo the multiple transactions involved.
This took about forty minutes, I think, and I probably received more apologies during that time than I ever have during any kind of sales or service hiccup. In the end, I left with a newer new phone, plus some other related perks that I would not have expected but that were provided in recognition of my good humor and patience.
So, as you can see, I'm an even bigger fan of the folks at the Apple Store. Busiest day of the year and multiple people stopped everything to make sure I was assisted until satisfied.
Oh, and why did I end up choosing the iPhone 8 Plus? Several reasons, actually. First and foremost, most of the internal components of this phone are identical to that of the glitzy iPhone X, and they share the same camera, which is a vast improvement over that of my 6 Plus. Second, I've become very comfortable with the larger profile of the Plus phones, and this one is roughly the same size as my 6 Plus, perhaps just a touch thicker and somewhat heavier, but I liked the heft. Finally, I examined both phones closely on several occasions, and while the X is a marvelous design, it just didn't seem to click with me. I didn't see a major difference between the screen quality of its OLED screen and the high-resolution LCD display of the 8 Plus.
So what was the worst part of my Black Friday shopping experience? The thirty minutes it took to get out of the mall parking lot!
Wanted to share another experience with Apple (and, no, I'm not on the payroll). My wife and I had planned to go to see a movie yesterday, opting for "Murder on the Orient Express," but were thwarted by our inability to get seats at our preferred multiplex at the time we preferred. So I headed outside to do some yard work, and to run the gasoline out of our lawn mower. My wife used that time to put away her Halloween and Thanksgiving decor in anticipation of decorating the house for Christmas during this weekend.
Anyway, after I got a shower and was ready to do something, we decided, unexpectedly, to go to the mall. I have railed against doing so for some time, but we went with a specific purpose in mind. I had finally decided to upgrade my iPhone 6 Plus and get an 8 Plus, and NOT the newest design, the iPhone X. More on that later.
We could have gone a number of places, but having just done the same thing in upgrading my wife's phone, we knew what to expect at the Apple Store. We also were confident that Apple would have its store well staffed in anticipation of the big Black Friday crowds.
So we made our way to the local mall (we only have one traditional enclosed mall remaining here in Lexington) and were not at all surprised to see parking spaces at a premium. We parked in an area that was not a great distance from the Macy's department store, which is on the end of the building where Apple's store is located, and made our way inside and through the corridors and the many folks bustling along.
Arriving at the store, there were plenty of people inside, but we were also glad to see the number of red-shirted Apple staffers present. I gave my name to the check-in person and only waited a couple of minutes to be connected with Mason, who helped me with my phone of choice. Knew what I wanted, opted to trade in my old device, completed the transaction and moved seamlessly to the set-up area, where I essentially did it myself, despite help being available if needed.
The entire process took less time than to find a parking space and walk into the mall.
My wife had gone to get us a drink and was going to meet me when I finished, and we met and I was putting a new case onto my new phone when it suddenly stopped working. Completely. Luckily, though, we were seated on a bench right in front of the store, so the check-in person asked to give it a look and then Mason and I caught each other's attention, and he moved in my direction to also examine it. Together we deduced that the screen had somehow failed, whether a power issue or otherwise, and he immediately said that we should replace it.
That was the easy part. The hard part was that not only did I buy a phone, but I did so by having my carrier provide the financing, and then I traded in my old phone and the proceeds from the gift card were actually deposited into my checking account. So Mason had to enlist the help of Marty, whom I assume was a supervisor, to undo and redo the multiple transactions involved.
This took about forty minutes, I think, and I probably received more apologies during that time than I ever have during any kind of sales or service hiccup. In the end, I left with a newer new phone, plus some other related perks that I would not have expected but that were provided in recognition of my good humor and patience.
So, as you can see, I'm an even bigger fan of the folks at the Apple Store. Busiest day of the year and multiple people stopped everything to make sure I was assisted until satisfied.
Oh, and why did I end up choosing the iPhone 8 Plus? Several reasons, actually. First and foremost, most of the internal components of this phone are identical to that of the glitzy iPhone X, and they share the same camera, which is a vast improvement over that of my 6 Plus. Second, I've become very comfortable with the larger profile of the Plus phones, and this one is roughly the same size as my 6 Plus, perhaps just a touch thicker and somewhat heavier, but I liked the heft. Finally, I examined both phones closely on several occasions, and while the X is a marvelous design, it just didn't seem to click with me. I didn't see a major difference between the screen quality of its OLED screen and the high-resolution LCD display of the 8 Plus.
So what was the worst part of my Black Friday shopping experience? The thirty minutes it took to get out of the mall parking lot!
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