The Back Wall

We went to the Apple Store in the Toronto Eaton Centre with our friend Steve, who wanted to buy iLife. After only being able to find the “Family pack” (which is the exact same as the regular one, except that it allows you to use it on more than one computer and costs more), we had to find someone to help us. After standing around for a while trying to get some help, we finally tracked someone down. She told us that they didn’t have any of the regular ones left, and went on with whatever she was doing.

We then decided to look into some other software. We tracked down another person to help us. In asking about other software, it turned out that they did have the regular version of iLife. Sweet! So we asked him what the discount was (since both Matt and I have corporate discounts from our jobs). He looked it up, told us, then left. We thought maybe he was coming back, so we waited. Nothing. We tried to catch the eye of someone else. Nothing. We went to what we thought was the cash desk, but then realized it was the Genius Bar. Eventually after 5-10 minutes of standing around (while they closed the store - turns out Christmas hours are only till 9:30pm, not 10pm), I went up to one of the two guys at the front who was telling people the store was closed. He had one of the hand-held POS dealies that they use at the Apple Store on his belt, so I figured he could help. He told us to go to the “cash” at the back (aka the Genius Bar.. which apparently doubles as a cash despite the fact that there is no indication of this), or to find someone on the floor to help us. Except for him.

We then went to the Genius Bar/cash, and stood there for another few minutes while the only person there helped someone select the colour of iPod shuffle that they wanted to buy. Clearly not a cash out spot. So we left and went to Future Shop where we found someone to help us within two minutes of getting in there. Sure, we didn’t get to give Steve a discount, but at least he was able to buy the software at all!

Overall customer service rating at the Apple Store (Toronto Eaton Centre): 3/10
(This rating is kind of arbitrary since it’s my first review.. I may come back and change it later if I ever establish a proper scale)