Bitter experience in iStyle Abu Dhabi Marina Mall

[ultrablue662]

Fangpyre. THere are no excuses for how it is, Agreed, but it is reality. Sadly.

[michl]

Rants like these remind me of Jr. High. When students who didnt prepare for a test would be annoyed at the teacher.

LOL. But seriously I don't think the analogy is too appropriate here.

A customer walking into a shop is not like a student sitting for a test!

Answering questions - correctly! - and providing advice are part of the customer service one can legitimately hope for. That is precisely a key advantage 'brick-and-mortar' stores can boast over internet stores... (esp to justify higher prices!)

Moreover, one can only be 'tested' on a subject that was taught / learned before. But, it's not like the shop briefed, let alone "lectured", the customer beforehand and then proceeds to check his/her understanding, etc.

[petrus]

I'm amazed at the willingness to accept poor customer service simply because of the part of the world we live in.

He specifically asked for a device that was wireless. The customer service representative told him the product would meet his requirements. It did not. The store and the CSR are in the wrong, not the customer who believed what he was told.

There is no point in having customer service representatives if they are free to misrepresent the products. If they plan to do business this way they should pull all the reps and have nothing but cashiers.

Just wanted to clarify one thing here.

I don't think there was any intended misrepresentation by the sale guy in the shop.

[fangpyre]

@Midwesterner, I don't accept them. But it is the how things are.

@Ultra, this, of course, doesn't mean it's the customer's fault.
I think a better analogy is a jalopy of a car. It needs to be fixed, but until it does expect it to break down at any minute.

@petrus, I never thought it was intentional. The guys at iStyle are above par for this region, and are very helpful. I enjoy shopping there. And I have seen an impressive improvement over the years.
I think they have a grudge towards us because we only complain here. But this place is like the lost luggage counter, nobody walks up to say "thanks got all of my luggage". They come here to solve a problem.

[Magnus]

I think they have a grudge towards us because we only complain here. But this place is like the lost luggage counter, nobody walks up to say "thanks got all of my luggage". They come here to solve a problem.

I agree, we've had issues with iStyle all along and I try to give them credit when I can but it is easier to complain than to praise. I've offered them to have accounts on the site, to be active here directly interacting with customers, but so far they've not taken up that offer.

To be fair though we've also helped them a lot, more than they will ever know, to sort out issues with unhappy customers. I very often deal with things behind the scenes, so to speak, to sort things out and often it happens that I can do that without it even going to them.

[fangpyre]

I guess any help to the Apple community is help to them indirectly.

I think they should have a designated PR guy here.
It would help everyone, including them, if they let people know how things stand.
Sometimes it would be the customer's fault, others its just a sorry.

Imagine the impression here if @Petrus hadn't posted his/her happy ending.

[ultrablue662]

Just wanted to clarify one thing here.

I don't think there was any intended misrepresentation by the sale guy in the shop.

Kinda adds to my argument.

Magnus, I understand that in your position as the editor of a Mac magazine a middle ground is best, but truthfully, iStyle is a store of morons leading a staff of morons. Those of us who have accepted this never buy or even walk into that store.

Those who havent either get 1/2 the info they are looking for or none at all.

[panatha]

i think its people like ultra who are accepting things as they are.
poor customer service in the UAE is the rule and not the exception.
is there anything we can do as consumers?
I believe that only continuous complaints will improve the service.
I am not willing to accept inferior service just because i live in the UAE.

[ultrablue662]

Actually it's peaple like me who are the ONLY ones who dont accept things as they are.

Many businesses here are manopolies. Many companies have only one dealer here. Complaiing about their service wont make a difference because their mentality is if you dont like you, YOU dont GET what YOU want.

I dont take their crap, I log on to eBay, Aple.com, or Amazon and buy from somewhere else. Trust me, dealers here DO NOT care about your puny complaints. They care about money.

Now if everyone who was ever done wrong by a dealer shifted their business elsewhere, THAT WOULD affect their bottom line. That WOULD make a difference. My Apple purchases took over 12K from iStyle. My action made them suffer in the amount of 12K AED. What will your complaint do? Nothing.

So Panatha, if you do NO want inferior service, and DO want to have some real POWER, buy elsewhere.

Sadly, your "need" to "Have stuff now" will probably outweigh your want for good service, and in the end you will take the bad service just like all the other sheep. Not willing to wait 10 days for great service AND a great price.

That the bottom line. If a company loses enough in sales, it will start to re-evaluate what it's doing. A complaint is fine, but it's meaningless when you just buy from that same place anyways.

And I'm under the assumption that ALL Apple products in the UAE are brought in by the same worthless company, so by buying elsewhere I dont mean Virgin instead of iStle, I mean Amazon or eBay.

[chefmerrick]

@ultra, certain ly agree with the fact that buying from ebay,amazon is great along with a great experience.
But how about supporting local dealers which in return will actually lead to us having a Mac store.
When apple reviews UAE sales and its low, then what happens. Apple reviews financial details too right.

How about we as consumers when dealth not the right way, actually inform them about it nicely.

A year ago i had an issue with my MacBook Pro. I was trying to archive n re install but somethign went wrong.Went to istyle festival city. The guy first told me nothing could be done to recover my stuff.Was pretty upset for what happened. Suddenly another Representative of Istyle Mark asked me what happened. Explained to him to which he said wait n he will try.
With the help of a fire wire cable he managed to recover all my files to his Personal Macbook Pro. Is was not a job Istyle was undertaking and going to charge me for.
However i paid th guy what i felt right & till today Mark is very friendly n acknowledges when im there.

At the end i feel its how you relay to them. We as consumers could be the KNOW ALL about Apple but if we see someone is not tell them the right way.

I have a friend who just loves Apple machines. He may not know the functionality in full but he likes buying almost all the machines and stuff. There are few who do thier homework but some dont.