Tuesday evening 23 February, a man entered the Apple store, wearing an explosives-laced vest and carrying an attack rifle and hand gun. He held the occupants hostage for six hours. He honed in on one particular man and threatened to shot him in the head. In the final scene the hostage-taker ran out of the store, following the escaped captive. He was run into by a pre-set car. The event ended with the gun-wielding-man- dying from the injury of being hit by the police vehicle.
I waited to post this story out of deference to the employees who no doubt experienced trauma from this violent event.
Why I relate this story: for 2 weeks prior to this event I had been in communication with the managers of this Apple store. I ended up purchasing a phone there because the “genius’ of the Genius Bar declared the port access on my tried and true iPhone 7 destroyed beyond repair. Apple does not replace port access. One can not be without a phone. So I bought a new one. It was not a smooth sale. Due to this within a week, I had discussions with two Managers of this store about the attitude of their employees; about the air of dismissiveness that pervades the store, the air of arrogance that the ’employees’ are somehow special, entitled. Geniuses. My comparison is US Apple Store service across the country; stores from Portland, Or to Raleigh NC with stops in between. Always great service. Service right in line to comparison with AMEX. This Amsterdam Apple store, in the three years of my experience, always falls short of good customer service. There are always hurdles to jump to get service. A week after the conversation with the 2nd manager, I took said #7 to a phone store in my city. The solution he said: replace the battery. Done. The phone works fine. My hurdle now was to return the purchased phone and receive credit for all the ad-ons as well. Another five telephone calls. Another wading through the thick non-helpful attitude of the store. Last Thursday, deviating from a trip to The Hague, I returned the original purchase for full credit. This was arranged because the final manager was a Chicago born person who understood customer service. I relate all this because when I read the news report, I wondered…. if the inception of the problem was ‘genius-attitude’. A stretch I know, but …..