[DM-MUG] Why its hard to buy Macs and Apple is not everywhere.

[dmmug@dmmug.org]

The following was very interesting, written by Jerry Pournelle, who 
always wrote the NEW USER column for Byte Magazine for years, until he 
was no longer a new user.  He is a bit of a curmudgeon who has been a 
PC user mostly of late.  Byte is no longer publishing in print, and now 
you can subscribe to it on the web only.  Here was the last of his 
column on his finally buying a Mac - he has about 4 computers running 
and uses an windows network:

The Purchase Experience

Buying the Mac was the least satisfactory sales experience for spending 
$3200 I have ever had.

I asked Apple where to buy a Mac, and Apple PR said I should go to the 
store in the Glendale Galleria, so I did. When I walked in, a salesgirl 
rushed over. I tried to introduce myself, but it was pretty clear she 
had never heard of BYTE or of Dr. Dobb's, nor did she care to. She did 
want it understood by everyone in the store that I was her prize.

I told her I was interested in the 15" G4 PowerBook, and I was in the 
market for any interesting accessories.

In moments it became clear that she knew nothing whatever about the 
machines. Any question I had sent her to the back room for several 
minutes. Memory? Off she went. How much memory would it hold? She went 
to the back room. How much would it cost to get more memory and did 
they have it in stock? She went off to the back room.

I never did find out who was in the back room, or why they didn't come 
out and talk directly to me given that this salesgirl had to keep going 
back for answers. I suspect she never showed them my card. In any 
event, to get the answer to any question at all, I had to ask; watch 
her go off to the back room; stand around with nothing to do and no one 
speaking to me; and wait until she came back. This happened at least 
five times.

Interestingly, there was a young woman at the counter who was actually 
answering the same questions I was asking to people who walked in and 
talked to her. She knew what an Ethernet was, and knew that this 15" 
Mac PowerBook has built in wireless. Alas, the only accessory my 
salesgirl wanted to sell me was a wireless card. When I said I thought 
those were built in, she looked on the box and discovered that was 
true. She didn't have to go to the back room for that one.

I asked what accessories I should get. She had no idea at all beyond 
the wireless card I didn't need. I had previously been told I would 
probably want the Mac iSight webcam, but she never suggested it, and 
after a while I just wanted out of there.

I ended up buying the 15" G4 PowerBook, Applecare for $349 (which is 
supposed to provide both an extended warranty and tech support), a book 
called Mac OS X Panther for Dummies, and a package called ".Mac 
Internet Essentials for Macintosh" which I highly recommend. The total 
cost was $3261.90, and I was told that I could return it within ten 
days, only there would be a 10 percent restocking fee.

After checking around with friends, I find that this experience is not 
unique. While the marketing angle of having all these shiny new Apple 
stores can't be denied, it seems that Apple has decided to staff them 
almost exclusively with Bright Young Things who either know nothing and 
try to make up for the deficiency with overenthusiasm, or who know 
something but deliver that something in such a supercilious, 
patronizing manner that one is immediately put off. While I haven't 
seen the latter method in action, I have no trouble believing it-Apple 
is known for giving its customers what it thinks they need, as opposed 
to what they think they want, and it will be interesting to see how 
well this approach goes over in a retail setting.

Instructions

I have had no instructions whatever. I brought the machine home and 
turned it on. Of course I have many friends and readers I can draw on 
for help, but I wanted to see what might happen to someone who just 
bought one of these intending to network to his Windows network.

Let me emphasize: I spent $3200, and the person who sold it to me knew 
nothing, never opened the box the machine came in nor suggested that I 
open it, and never gave me a single hint as to how this was to be used. 
I got absolutely no instructions. Just the machine, and I had to take 
it on faith that there was actually a machine in the box they gave me.

The machine may be wonderful but I sure wish I had gone to Fry's: They 
couldn't possibly have given me less service or have been less helpful 
than Miss "I'll be right back" gave at the Apple Store in the Glendale 
Galleria, and I expect Fry's prices are lower, and they don't charge 
restocking fees. It may be that your local Apple store is better than 
the one I tried, but in future I will shop online or go to a discount 
house.

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Jerry Pournelle, Ph.D., is a science-fiction writer and BYTE.com's 
senior contributing editor. Contact him at jerryp@jerrypournelle.com. 
Visit Jerry's Chaos Manor at www.jerrypournelle.com. Reader letters can 
be found at Jerry's letters page.

For more of Jerry's columns, visit Byte.com's Chaos Manor Index page.

Contact BYTE.com at http://www.byte.com/feedback/feedback.html.

All of the above is copyright, Byte Magazine and Jerry Pournelle, and 
other copyright holders, etc etc.