Apple iQueue...WTF?
 

Went to the local Apple store to get my wife an iPhone for xmas.

Hi, I want to buy an iPhone for my wife for xmas.

"I'm sorry sir, you cant just buy one, I have to put you into the iQueue."

What do you mean?

"We are busy, I have to make an appointment for you (pulls out iPad)"

But I just want to buy an iPhone for my wife

"I'm sorry sir, we have to put you into the iQueue"

Well, can I just ask a quick question? Can I get the phone activated on xmas day and not right now?

"No, all iPhones have to leave the store activated"

Well, I want her to open the phone xmas day but still use her current phone

"I'm sorry sir, we cannot do that. You can buy a gift card and give that as a gift and the recipient can buy an iPhone, but you have to be in the iQueue to buy one"

WTF!! Are these people serious? I like Apple products, but what a friggen weird experience. Almost like sales robots....all programmed to only do one thing.

Maybe I'll get her an Adroid instead, rather than a cult product.

Every time I've run into someone in an Apple store that makes you go hmm it turns out that they are new.

When I swapped wife's iPhone for her BB they did activate in store but with the sim that was in it.

When I was ready to give it to the wife I swapped the sims.

Problem is the iPhone 4 uses a micro sim so that option is out.

I just don't get the whole "i" thing?

Ah, yes.. iRobot! You will be assimilated! ;)

Hahahah, that's pretty darn funny. Did he really call it the "iQueue"?? Wow.

Yeah, what service provider. I really love my Android phone, this is my second one. There are lots of really good ones out there.

Must be an iPhone thing. I bought my wife an iPad, store was jammed with people, I was in and out with the purchase in 3 minutes.

Hahaha, yeah, iQueue. And the dood kept a straight face the whole time. I almost laughed out loud.

Here you go

"Apple's Apple Store iPhone/iPod touch app received a update that allows employees and customers with a way to wirelessly check-in to retail stores. Employees utilize an app called "Concierge" that sends push notification when a customer with a reservation checks-in to Apple Store via their iPhone. In Concierge, employees are able check an iQueue that establishes customers they're waiting on and what times they checked in. A separate app called Scout gives managers ability to establish room by room locations within the store for accurate, close proximity check-ins."

I switched to AT&T last year to get my wife an iPhone for Xmas. I told the order taker that I didn't want to activate it until Xmas Day, so my wife would still be able to use her current phone. They said no prob. and I got the iPhone in early December. They activated it as soon as I ordered it and I got a bill for it. I called to complain and they credited it.

I've been in and out of the Apple Store in minutes - they generally have plenty of staff (and they are always crowded), and they can take care of stuff quickly. With the phones I think it has to do with them wanting to actually make sure stuff works right and the activation is seamless. They got burned by AT&T's incompetence so they stay hands-on. As for the iQueue name...it's part of their branding. At least you can go to a physical location and talk to a real person if you want. *And*, I've made appointments online for tech service, walked in at the appointed time, was seen immediately, and was quickly out the door.

Not a perfect company (none are), but the customer experience is usually pretty good at their stores, and they almost always take care of their customers.

Personally I've had great experiences at the Apple store I used to go to before moving... ...and not because of the iCandy that worked there. It was simple, helpful and I would walk out with what I needed (or wanted).

More recently I've gone to "authorised resellers" simply because they were closer, and the experience was a different story. Not as committed and plenty more waiting around.

I dunno,.. Apple and IQ just don't seem to go together very often these days.:D

Exactly. IQ? how about iRony?

Good Evening, Island! What took you so long? :D SmileWavy

Best,
Tom

Hey, that's iLand to you. ;)

That's very good!

Can we get an official name change!?

Order it from AT&T online. You will have to activate it from home via iTunes. Thats what I do with all mine. Problem solved.

In a previous life I was part of a large corporate, high visibility, VOIP (voice over IP) project, and "Iphone" was selected for the project's name (I've even got an Iphone shirt I won't wear :)). This predated Apple's iPhone by a few years and was pure coincidence. Apple's "i" was probably selected for the same reason initially (either abbreviating IP or Internet), and is now a powerful marketing tool. I'm a techie, but have no doubt that marketing trumps all for the average consumer.

I knew Glen would eventually be assimilated :)

I always get the transgendered emo-like alien at the Genius Bar, which is misnamed...

I ordered a new iPhone for our son as a replacement through AT&T on line as mentioned above. Came in a day or so and it's sitting in a box waiting for Christmas day.

The iCult stores. I had to detail a couple of dozen stores in the southeast when we starting selling them a product a few years back. It was interesting.
Corporately, they only deal directly with manufacturers that they do >$1M with. We had to deal through an ‘approved’ distributor.

It was bizarre talking to 20 year old product managers who knew absolutely nothing but Apple product. I developed a 1 minute iSpeech so that I could give them sales training on the floor, but in most cases I was talking to iClones who lived & breathed Apple & they had no mental storage capacity for a non-Apple product.

They have a store mockup in Cupertino where the merchandising team engineers the correct placement of every piece of gear on display. Once it is decided, the stores must follow the layout exactly – they could not even change a power cable’s placement. In our case, they decided that our product worked best on the Apple TV. But Cupertino reversed the channels, so the right speaker was on the left. Not one of the stores noticed the channel reverse & when I pointed it out, they were powerless to fix it. So all 200+ Apple stores had faulty displays.

We no longer sell Apple stores.

Ian

I see they got you also "an"...err I mean Ian :)

You are right, Keith. I should have signed the post . . .

iAn

The guy I work with went into the Apple store to pick up a new Apple TV. He said the place was packed. A customer service chick asked him if she could help. My co-worker said he wanted to buy a Apple TV. The chick walked to the shelf and picked it up, took out her iPhone and scanned the bar code, and swiped the credit card with a reader attached to the iPhone. She asked if he needed a paper receipt or if they could just email the receipt. He said email it. He was in and out in 3 minutes and never saw a cash register.

I don't go to the mall very often, and never at this time of year.

Apple will go to great lengths to keep up the image of being first. Another example is the iTouch. -i'm fairly certain that HTC had the HTC-Touch (similar product) long before Apple. Even the name "Apple." (lawsuits w/ Apple records.) And then there's hardware which they would like everyone to believe that they invented. (most recently i'm amazed by those who had never seen a tablet before)

So anyway, iYam (if you ask me) Popeye vastly predated Apple with "iYam what iYam." --but, iSuppose that Steve Jobs will also claim to be the first to Pop-i. :cool:

I did the same thing last week, was in and out in five minutes, that and internet are the only way to shop. I would have bought apple tv over the net but they will not ship the a PO Box.

What apple does is make ideas work in your hands. Not geek hands anyones.

Back when Apple was small you got chided for having the odd computer that could not run 4000 programs even when it could run the 6 you needed very well. Now that Apple is driving its own market you get chided for being one of the chanting collective.

I have/had 4 apple computers and all 4 just worked. Only the oldest one (a color classic) is off line. Old G4 newer G4 and laptop are all bug and problem free for many years.

Decided to get a ipod nano to go along with the early 2nd gen i pod I have that is still running. Walked into the apple store and a sales guy walked up to me and asked if I needed assistance. i told him what I was looking for and that I had some questions regarding having 2 ipods and 2 computers with i tunes running. He answered the questions correctly and I was out the door 5 min later having not waited in any line at all. No muss no fuss and setting up the ipod was seamless.

Laugh all you want. While you are mucking around with some balky printer driver i am jamming to tunes in the shop tinkering with my 911.

What time frame are you talking about?

In 1980, Apple OWNED the entire market. It had the most software, etc. They became PO'd that people were cloning their machines (Franklin) and they ended up going to a closed system. The MAC was the line on which this really started. They chose the educational market, not the business market. They didn't challenge IBM for many years.

Microsoft, say what you want, they were NEVER first with anything, but they always seemed to own the market later one...Where is word perfect, Lotus 123, Visacalc, etc, these days?

Apple is doing very well right now, but they are still very closed in the OS area.

I did the same, only the phone was for me. Big mistake. I could sit at my desk and use my Razr. With the iphone I have to be outside or at most a foot from a window to use the cell phone feature. The games are fun though.