WestWorld Computers on Broadway in Vancouver
So we just moved. And we're actually all set up at the new place. Shaw came just when they said they would (10am when they said between 8am and 12noon).
My Mac, the e-smith server, and the VoIP phone all got moved over to the new place today. And I managed to leave the iMac power cable behind. And I had work that I had to do tonight.
Luckily, WestWorld has a location just around the corner, on Broadway between Hemlock and Birch. I figured I could go borrow one until I got mine.
Read on, gentle reader, for the full tale.
So I rush into WestWorld, about 30min before closing. There were perhaps two customers browsing, and a handful of staff. The one closest to the door, looked at my wild-eyed appearance, and asked if he could help me.
I explained that I needed an iMac flat-panel power cord. He walked me over to service. I explained I only needed to borrow it until tomorrow morning, but the service tech said he could only order me one. I asked again if there wasn't even one cord that I could borrow until morning, and the service tech instructed the salesperson to go ask the manager.
The salesperson went to ask the manager, who was on the phone. I wandered around the store, browsing. The salesperson came back up to me and said that the manager had said no. I asked him to point out the manager. He was currently with a customer, so I waited until he was done.
I again explained my need for a power cord temporarily. He proceeded to tell me that they were proprietary. "Yes, I know," which is why I needed to borrow one until morning, when I can get the one I left behind when moving. I mentioned that they were about to close, and didn't open again until the morning, so couldn't I just borrow one until they opened?
The sales manager relented, and had me fill out a rental form, charged me $5 (plus GST), copied down my credit card number, and sent me on my way, again with an admonishment to be back by 9am.
I kept my cool during the whole ordeal, but I really didn't feel like I was welcome in the store. No one was forthcoming or really gave me the feeling that they wanted to help. If this is the state of independent Mac retailing in Canada...well, let's just say that I'll likely be trying Simply Computing or the Apple online store when I'm shopping for my new PowerBook.
We'll see how the return of the cord goes tomorrow morning.
Update: Well, nothing dramatic. I didn't make a big scene or anything, I just returned the cord. But, interesting to note, it was shortly after 9am and the store wasn't really open and ready to recieve customers.
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Comments
I understand your
I understand your frustration. Clearly you were expecting them to bend over backwards for you, the Non-paying customer.
I think you are being incredibly unfair to them. It is true you held your cool, but that was likely made easiest b/c you didn't have a leg to stand on.
A promise to pay is no promise at all. A person walks in, wants to borrow my product without paying??? Are you kidding?
I'm happy to hear that store did have some kind of rental system in place, in which case you should have ASKED to rent the cable first.
Anyhow, I'm looking to buy a new Mac, and thanks to your input, I think I will give Westworld a try first.
Customers... yeesh
You are too DISORGANIZED to be PROFESSIONAL.
I'm sorry BMann, But YOUR FIRED!
When your stuck - your stuck... What else can you do.....MY ASS.
However, I would like to comment on the pompous attitude most mac users have. I work in a company that has over 1000 Mac users, and guess what.........they expect the world to stop when something goes wrong with their machines, and cry like babies because "life's so hard" and "I can't take it any more".
What if one of your design clients came to you 30 minutes prior to your delivering them their final product and said "by the way, can you do my friend for me too. He's kind of stuck without a designer, he can't afford one, and he's too disorganised to be professional.
So I love it when a customer service person stands up to one of these eccentrics. Imagine, wanting a freeby on short notice.
Now, we've all been stuck without a cord, or component of one kind or another. Why not just buy it today, return it tomorrow? OR just buy it. You aren't from the prairies are you?
P.S. I have a one year old iBook running OSX 10.2.8 and it crashes more often than my 2 year old XP machine. In fact, the XP machine has "NEVER" crashed, even when my kid play games on it. Maybe it's time.
No cords for sale
I would have loved to have bought a power cord. They wouldn't sell me one, and would initially only offer to order me one.
weird
If it were me, I would just taken a cord out of a machine, looked up its replacement value, and offered to sell you the cord right then and there. You end up with an extra cord, so what? You buy Macs, what's an extra cord?
Wierd expectations
Why would you expect that a store would simply lend you a cable? Good thing you 'kept your cool' -- situations like these can certainly be difficult to deal with. I can't imagine what you'd be like if didn't.
Perhaps high expectations
I was hoping that the store would be able to help me out. Right as soon as I walked through the door, I didn't get the sense that a) I was welcome in the store or b) there was any willingness on their part to be helpful.
Increasingly, the only thing that retail has to offer (as opposed to buying something over the Internet) is in-person service and the shopping "experience". If a company doesn't make me feel welcome in their store, it is unlikely that I will be spending my dollars there.
Mac
Hey, is this a Mac user thing? I would not expect a store to lend me anything. How come you could not wait to you found your cord. Boo to Mac users
boo to mac users?
why boo to mac users?...because we are not microslaves using the worst joke of an OS on the planet? I have thorough education in both mac and unfortunately the windows platform. It is obviously pure ignorance on your part to turn a blind eye on the Apple OS and continue to waste your life using windows.
When a mac has a problem which isn't all that often it is a snap to fix (hmmmm let's see hear let's insert this CD and a few more little tweaks and wow it works again for 2 years...lol)...Windows on the other hand, even after a computer science degree will screw you and keep you pouring through unknown errrors and blips for days until A. you finally fix it (temporarily)...or B. you get a brain and decide to throw it out the window and get a real OS...
bmann's post...
I cannot believe that you (bmann) took the time out to complain about such a small issue...life is to short and precious to spend our time complaining about our fellow man...you could probably benefit from not sweating the small stuff and try to lead by positive example...
Like others in this post have said you got what you needed so take an adivan and chill on my favourite Mac shop in our city.
I have been to all the Mac shops in Van and let me tell ya none of them has anything on WestWorld...first of all the store itself is beautiful and the service I have recieved there has been above and beyond what I would expect from a retail outlet...unlike the corner grocery store turned mac shop down the street!!
I bring all of my friends and family to Westworld and none of them have had a single complaint? My Dad went as far as telling me he thought that the manager was a "Gem" when he was setting him up with a system.
Oya and by the way did you not happen to notice the HOT girl that works behind the till most days?....OMG simply computing better scout out the model agencies to top that one...lol
Mike Blume
I've worked at both!
WestWorld, when I worked there in 1998, was fun for me at a young age. I went out of my way, I was drinking Apple Kewlaid every day, I was meeting the Apple reps, sourcing parts, making sales of up to $12,000 and providing all the people the best service I could. There were two other decent salesmen and some decent service people and a beautiful Indian girl at reception, how could I complain?
Since then they have somehow become a nightmare of customer service. Simply moved in and now does something like three times the Business Westworld does. Westworld has since moved onto Broadway and further away from Simply, with a brand new store that is a cross between an Apple store and an urban log cabin, from what I've seen of it from the bus.
Simply, on the other hand, has won an award for the customer service it provides. However, in both companies the owners are complete assholes. I never met the owner of WestWorld, he was always in Calgary, but from what I heard he had a short fuze and a powerful bug up his ass. The co-owner and nightmare of Simply Vancouver is a worse tyrant: calmer in attitude just a touch, but he patrols the office regularly, making sure his employees are there 30 minutes before the store opens to sit on their asses and do nothing, and will sweep round the store making sure everyone in the store is being helped.
Everyone in the store has been helped - great idea, but he sits up in his office 95% of the day, and when he comes down he doesn't care about the fact that the Salespeople of the store keep track of who has been helped and who hasn't - so he goes up, asks people for a second, third or fourth time if they have been helped (which isn't a help) and stares at the sales staff when he sees us sitting down while there are customers in the store (who told us they were just looking around).
Simply wouldn't be any different on the cable issue. Borrowing a cable overnight - it's one of those cooky things that consumes time, and no matter how many customers in the store or when it happens, employees always have the niggling feeling that they could be making money, or relaxing, or maybe even heading home early, rather than help a guy who wants to rent a power cable.
So ... nothing is ever clear cut, and the service of Mac stores in BC sucks, harshly. I've been to them all, except the ones in Kelowna and I think there is a MacStation in Mission.
attitude yours and stores
Interesting concept of the lend then buy store.
But at the bottom line Boris got what he needed at a rate he was willing to pay. He just didn't have a good time on the way there.
I would have gone back to the store in a happy gratefull mode acknolging that they did me a big favour and that I am a big mac fan, wow them with my knowledge (i couldn't but Boris sure could) Then curry some good positive feelings. And see what happens the next time I go back to the store. This is how relationships are created not the magic friendship fairy "hey I can sense, see, grog that your a realy great guy its only 5 mins to closing what can I do for you.
You got what you wanted, see what your next experiance is and follow that path that is set. (but try to help create a positive path)
At least your story had a happy if not content ending. With your wild eyed look its a good thing your not in the states, you may have been shot.
take care
stores in ottawa...
Clarification -- if there are stores in ottawa that let you borrow stuff, which ones are they? I'd like to shop there.
It's not the fact that the pl
It's not the fact that the place wouldn't let me borrow the cord (initially), it was mainly their attitude.
I don't know of any retail stores that let you borrow product first. It would be a neat concept, maybe even extending so far as being able to "rent" it for a period of time. There would be one rental/demo model that you could take with you (at some percentage of cost per day). If you wanted to keep it, you just came in (or called them) and told them to charge your credit card for the full value of the item.
Retail shops have of course the ultimate advantage over Internet store fronts -- you can actually look/touch/feel product, instead of just pictures.
standard retail experience
I think your story pretty much describes the standard retail experience. I've gone to electronics stores where I couldn't try something out without buying it first (and then returning it immediately if I didn't like it -- guess which store I'm referring to). I would be surprised if a store let me borrow something (or even rent it). Were there stores in Ottawa that let you do that, Boris?
bad computer stores
most computer stores suck including apple ones! i use simply because they are walking distance from our condo
good luck tomorrow morning!
ciao!
...Roland
Westworld
Well, I bought my imac a month ago at Westworld and it was a very good experience. I had tried Simply Computing and Macstation. I will continue to buy from them