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Comment by lukeholder | Hacker News Reader

Yeah but if that is true, why cause so much trouble and just said why you want the smallest box.

Totally agree - there's a difference between being willing to look stupid and going out of your way to look stupid!

I think the sales person was causing the trouble tbh, if a customer knows what they want take the sale don't waste their time with 20 questions at the end of the day we both know the sales person was just trying to upsell the customer something they clearly didn't want. Its the sales persons job to take the hint and just make the sale tbh.

There are dozens of configuration options for Macbooks that all come in the same size box. The size of the box is not enough information to select a laptop. The author was being intentionally difficult under the guise of superiority, and the Apple store employee was just doing their job.

It's my understanding that when a customer appears this confused, they'll come back with loud complaints and bad reviews if you just sell them what they asked for. And the Apple Store doesn't want to look like they do bad service, regardless of what happened.

Thats fair enough if its a wee old granny trying to buy a laptop box I would question it, but if I work at a computer store and some one comes in and asks me for a specific one of the computers we sell I would just sell them that computer.

I work at an advertising agency if we buy something for a giveaway we care a lot about the box it comes in, not whats inside it as we will never open it. The person buying the laptop is probably a currier that knows nothing more than to buy a laptop. If the currier is getting interrogated by a 16 year old sales clerk thats costing us money and more importantly time.

I get they are just trying to be helpfull maybe even trying to save us money, but we only ever use retail because shipping takes to long. For example we have 20 laptops being shipped but need to take a picture of the box for promo material, we will happily pay for a new laptop and curriers simply so we can get a box in front of a camera so we can meet our dead lines.

If we spend £2k on a new laptop and curriers just for a picture thats money well spent if we meet our dead lines. If we miss our dead lines because some kid was trying to save us £100 its going to cost us a fortune / client.

There is no indication at all that the clerk was causing any trouble, and Apple retail employees never try to upsell, whatever else you could accuse them of.

Yes, because every low level Apple retail employee wants to have the following conversation with their boss:

"The customer asked for the smallest box so I assumed they knew what they were doing and sold them that."

"No, I didn't ask any further questions, I wouldn't want to assume they were stupid. That would be wrong in this narrative."

"No, I don't know how exactly how much $$ Apple is going to lose on this return."

I don't know what you are on about, I assume you haven't worked in sales, but I have and I have done this pleanty and the conversation goes like this:

Boss: did you make a sale?

Me: Yes

Boss: good job

Im sorry but if you work in sales and your boss gets upset at returns your boss is new to sales.

I'm having a hard time believing that you have a history in retail computer sales AND thought the Apple sales rep was the trouble maker in this scenario.

Can you give a reason?

Seems pretty obvious to me that the job of the sales person is to make sales not talk people out of sales because the company is worried about returns.

We never worried about returns, if some one buys something they don't want we checked the recipt and checked for rocks in the box then just sold them something else, because you know sales?

The only reason I can think of a sales person being worried about returns is if a customer walks in asking for X and the sales person talks them into Y. Customer will be back fuming if it doesn't do X and you won't sell them anything else.

Four things:

1) Apple is pretty well known for NOT up-selling and for right sizing customers, so you could actually get reprimanded at an Apple store if the sale was something as egregious as "gave customer laptop in smallest box".

2) The example we are talking about is a perfect setup for a "fuming customer"; smallest box laptop was "wrong laptop".

3) Apple depends on repeat sales and eco-system lock-in. The customer who returns the laptop may not upgrade their iPhone.

4) The request was ludicrous ... the Apple sales associate is not in the wrong for not simply going with it.

1) Have you compared their price of ram to competitors? You clearly have never bought anything apple.

2) They got what they asked for I know customers get upset easily but there is no easier customer to handle than one that got exactly what they asked for.

3) They won't upgrade their iPhone? I thought apple didn't push that sort of thing? Anyway they are coming back in store to exchange you can easily make another sale there.

4) The request was simple, the apple sales associate is in the wrong for not helping the customer.

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