As I know people that know people, I got invited to the super sekrit pre-opening of the new Apple Store in Pudong.
The new store is great – large space, lots of *very* happy to assist staff. The staff seem to know what they’re doing too which is great.
The managers I spoke to were overwhelmingly positive about the store (as was I!). The Shanghai store has the largest Genius Bar in the world.
Apple’s head of retail Ron Johnson gave a quick talk giving us some heads up on China Apple development.
Apple will be opening 25 more stores within the next two years in China.
They’re also committed to improving the (rather bad) Apple experience in China by backing up the crap support chain with their own support.
Thats good, as I already have a computer I need to send in 
I finally got to play with an iPhone 4 in person (they’re still a bit $$$ for me to buy one in Shanghai at current retail prices of 2000$ USD)
The new Apple store unfortunately doesn’t carry much in the way of new product – no iPads, or iPhone 4g’s just yet. They do carry stock of software, and the premium order stuff, so that means I can go get my iMac 27" i7 at some point
Thanks to Brian and Kevin (the foreign store managers there) for their walkthrough and info! Although Kevin – Ron was head of Target, not Gap, so misinformation 
Full Flickr set here – http://www.flickr.com/photos/sheedl/sets/72157624448891934/
Apple is finally opening a store here, albeit in the other part of the city – Pudong.
Unfortunately service is still just as bad as ever. We had to call Apple Support last week about an iPhone, to ask about what region it was from – the “helpline” person was rude, refused to assist, and to top it all wouldn’t even give us any identification details so that we could complain. Apple is following up on that one though.
I’ll start to put more Apple related info on this site too now that I’ve recovered the WordPress password
In other news, iPhone 4′s are available now in Shanghai (+-2 weeks now!), albeit for outrageous pricing – currently they’re between 9000-12000RMB!
Expect that to drop to 6-7000rmb by next month once the HK one is readily available.
Till next time.
Lawrence.
July 6th,2010
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Reproduced with permission from http://www.marc.cn/2005/11/do-not-buy-apple-computer-if-you-live.html
Marc van der Chijs has asked me to emphasize that post is from 2005, so things may have changed since then (or not).
I try to date all the posts on this site, some will be older, some will be newer. The post date will usually be at the top of the post if I have one.
Thursday, November 10, 2005 – Do not buy an Apple computer if you live in China!
One week ago my Apple Powerbook became incredibly slow, so I took it to the Apple store for a check-up. They told me it was a hardware problem and they only do software. So I went to the hardware center where they checked everything and then told me it is a software problem… Back to the store again where they would reinstall my operating system. This would take a few hours, but when I called them that evening they were still working on it and told me to come back on Friday. I came back around lunchtime, but they told me they were still not finished. This surprised me, but I decided to keep calm. On Saturday I picked up my laptop and I was told that the hard drive was broken and has to be replaced. This was very strange, because the computer was checked just two days ago and it did not show any problems with the hard drive.
So on Monday back to the Apple hardware center again – this is the only place that is closed in China over the weekend! It was my last day of warranty, so I was just in time. After some discussions they told me it would take about 2 weeks to get back my computer, because a new HD had to be ordered. This part is not available in China, I was told. Hard to believe, because they are produced here, but OK. Two hours later I get a call: Sir, your hard disk is damaged because of coffee, so there is no warranty. Excuse me? Coffee on my HD? I am 100% sure that I never ever spilled coffee on it. I told them this, but they said there was coffee inside the case! Suddenly I started to suspect the Apple store. The HD was working fine when I entered, then it took them two days to install the OS, and suddenly the hard disk fails completely. Maybe there was another reason it took so long? Problem is, I cannot prove it.
But that’s not all. Shortly after that I get another call: Sir, the HD is not the original HD, you replaced it with another one. Well, I may know a little bit about computers, but certainly not enough to start opening my laptop and replacing a HD. Because the computer has never been repaired before it must probably have happened when I bought it in Hong Kong last year. I won’t say the store’s name (yet), because everybody is innocent until proven guilty, but it is a store that claims to be Apple’s worldwide best store about 5 years ago.
So I call the store, and finally get through to someone who is able to understand my problem. This person says he will look into it and call me back. Of course he did not call back, so I call him the next day. He is not in (I was actually told by his colleague that he was sitting on the toilet!) but would call me back right away. After one hour still no call, so I call him again and manage to get him on the phone. No apologies about not calling back, but only the remark that ‘your Powerbook was custom-made, and in China they do not sell custom-made Powerbooks’. Well, that does not help me much, so I ask him to get in touch with Apple directly. He promises to do that and call me back. That was two days ago…
I am very angry at Apple’s service in China, it seems their presence is too small to have normal service centers and the service they provide is terrible. And I have the distinct impression that their store in Hong Kong has been cheating me – at least they give the impression by not calling me back. Not sure what to do now, but I won’t leave it at this. I bought an expensive top-of-the-line 12” Powerbook a year ago, and am not going to accept lame excuses.
One thing is for sure already: if I don’t hear from Apple this week I am going to make the switch back to a new Windows laptop, at least they provide normal service in Shanghai. My computer is an essential part of my business, and I cannot afford to be without it for so long. I am using an old Sony Vaio laptop now, and that is not an optimal solution.
Excerpted from http://www.danwei.org/trends_and_buzz/sod_the_iphone_i_want_a_mac_br.php
Jan 12 2007: Sod the iPhone: Give us Mac service in China
While the hi-tech world is swooning at Steve Jobs’ feet after the dramatic unveiling of Apple’s iPhone, your correspondent is cursing and swearing in front of his Mac keyboard, wishing that Apple’s famous engineers and designers would turn their attention to some very real Mac problems that beset users in China.
…
Finally, these problems are nothing compared to the hassle of buying a Mac in China and maintaining it. There is no decent Mac service in China, unless you find a solitary good guy working for a Mac shop who actually cares about his customers.
Well, its 2 years later, and nothing has changed. The comments on that page still apply (even mine).
One of our clients has an iMac with a ethernet problem. Wifi works, but ethernet wouldn’t.
As we didn’t have much success the previous time with official repairs, we called first, explained the problem, and were told, nay, assured, it would take 1-2 days.
As the iMac is still usable, we arrange for the Apple people to come over (and pay extra for them to come). They pickup the computer, and take it to their repair place.
Ignoring instructions to call us, they tell the client 2 weeks.
Client goes a little ballistic, as we told them 1-2 days. The less fruity parts of the email look like this:
Sorry for the hassles Lawrence BUT 1 or 2 days is a heck of a lot different than “minimum one week- possibly two or three weeks”.
I realize this is not an issue with Computer Solutions – but with Apple- and yes someone should get at them about it.
As its the end of the day, we promise to resolve it the next day.
Next day arrives, and we call, and Apple does the usual service? you want service? bwahhahahahaa routine.
They don’t want to return the iMac, and they now tell us that if we do get the iMac back they can’t order the spare parts unless they have the iMac in their repair center. So, unless we leave a working computer with them for an interminable period of time, they refuse to repair or order the parts.
After 30 minutes of shouting on the phone my staff finally persuade them to return the unit (other than a faulty ethernet port its in 100% ok condition).
We call Apple Asian support again, and my staff speak to them. No, the repair place should not be saying stuff like that, and they will escalate (yeah, like that helped last time).
We raise a case number, and are currently waiting on progress.
While I realise that estimates can be wrong, I don’t need to have to argue about returning a machine, and the machine does NOT need to be there for them to order a part, requiring us (yet again) to escalate issues to the asian regional support people.
Hopefully this case is resolved in a satisfactory manner.
Background -
I run an IT Support and Website Design company in Shanghai called Computer Solutions. We do a lot of Mac stuff, and get lots of repeat business from happy customers.
One of our clients came to the office while I was away on vacation, with a Macbook Pro. The hard drive was broken, so the staff checked on the Apple site, and found the official repair centre.
We shipped the computer there in December by Kuadi, and they replaced the hard drive.
I arrived back in Shanghai, and the computer and the client arrived back around the same time. We gave the laptop back to the client, all seemed ok.
The next day the client came back – the machine wasn’t charging.
So, we sent it back to the Apple Repair centre, who then told us a few days later that the motherboard was broken, and it would cost >3000RMB to fix.
After a little argument on the phone about responsibility (they opened it, and they broke it), they told us the machine would be fixed in a couple of days.
We told the client that the motherboard was broken, and we’d try to sort something out with Apple.
A week later, we called again asking about the laptop, and were assured it would be a few more days.
This went on weekly, throughout January, and each time we were assured that the laptop would be returned in just a few days. I even offered the client my own personal MacBook as a temporary replacement unit until it was fixed.
Chinese New Year approached, and everything shut down for a week or two. Still no laptop. The client was also getting more than fedup about being told a few more days, and then getting told,next week, next week.
We then called Apple Asia support to get them to try speed up the case.
We were told that despite the laptop being with them since December, they hadn’t actually booked it into the system until *after* Chinese New Year.
We opened up a case number with a nice lady called Sita Hawa at Apple support, and almost immediately started recieving better support.
The Apple centre called us, to tell us yet again that the repair would take a few days, as they had to ship a part from Singapore.
Three weeks later, we received a call from the Apple Repair place letting us know that the laptop was repaired. (So far, only 2 1/2 months since the laptop had originally been sent in).
Great, send the computer over to the office.
It arrived, I did a quick check, and it seemed ok, so we called the client and told him to come over.
However the repair place still wanted more than 3000RMB for the motherboard issue (that they caused in the first place). The repair guy had no fapiao or any other paperwork with him, so I told him I wanted a receipt before I paid anything, and called Apple.
I repeated the tale to the Apple representatives over the phone, and they said they will call us back in a while. In the interim, I had other clients to deal with in the office, returned to my room, and the laptop and the repair centre staff were now both missing.
Yup, the repair centre guy stole the clients laptop from our office.
We immediately called Apple Repair place again, and asked what was going on, they gave us a feeble excuse and told us to pick up the unit from them.
In the mean time, the client arrived, and I had to apologise and tell him although the laptop was in our office, it had now been appropriated by Apple again.
I sent my secretary and the client over to the Apple Repair Centre to reclaim the laptop. The repair place wouldn’t give the laptop up without payment, so we paid for it out of our own pockets, and the client received the laptop back.
Apple then called us back and said that we shouldn’t have been paying anything because the laptop was under warranty.
I told them the story again (each time you call, you get a different rep), and was told they would escalate it.
Later that evening I received a call from a very unfriendly lady who told me in no uncertain terms that
1) Apple did not take responsibility for their official repair centres actions, as they were representatives, and not actually Apple.
2) It was impossible that we were charged because it was under warranty, and covered.
Yet, I was charged, and we have proof of that.
I have a receipt, and at every step of the way we were lied to repeatedly about dates, argued at, stolen from and generally treated like dirt.
Apple Service is a joke in Shanghai.
From – http://blogs.msdn.com/acid49/archive/2006/09/05/740805.aspx
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Just as I was praising how cool Macs were in a previous post, my girlfriend’s Nano died today and she had a run in with Apple’s service center here in Beijing. As I mentioned previously, Apple seems to be having issues with service and support in other “emerging markets.” Is this common in all emerging markets that companies known for quality and support in their home country give developing and emerging markets a different standard of support and quality?
Her user experience was not optimal at all. This is her own words of today’s experience:
I’m amazed how fragile the ipods are. I own 2 of them so far. A previous
4th generation, 40GB Ipod died due to disk failure. In order to overcome
my gadget grief, I went out and replaced it with a new 4GB nano
immediately.
However, in less than a year, my nano also died due to non-functioning
disk drive within its warranty period. So, I did what the many did when
their apple products died for no reason.
I packed up my fa piao/receipts and all the necessary prove of purchase
documentation and headed down to nearest apple care center.
And the reply I got was: Sorry madam; even thou your ipod is genuine, we
can’t replace it for you?
Me: What? Why? It’s still under warranty
Apple service center guy: Oh…Your nano was brought in one of the non
proper distribution channels. We are not authorized to entertain such
requests?
Me: holding my breath. Any other solutions please?
Apple service center guy: You can go back to the place where you bought
your nano. You should be able to work out and even get a free
replacement from them.
Me: I’ve tried. It doesn’t work. That’s why I’m here
Apple service center guy: Please call our customer service hotline at
800-810 2323
Immediately, I’ve became one of the million of Apple hating customers
walking out of the service center feeling being ripped off big time. And
on top of that, my call to the apple call center became a total shouting
match.
Summary of the call:
Call center dude: There nothing I can do. Give me say at least 10days so
we can sort it out.
Me: Is that the best reply you can give me?
Call center dude: There’s nothing I can do. Even if its Apple
distribution problem.
Me: Just because its apple’s distribution policies in China screwing up,
why do I have to go through this? And your answer is not good for me,
doesn’t solve my problem or a concrete way to solve it.
Call center: Nothing I can do here. I can only return you a call in ten
days after consulting with the other channels
Total meltdown begins!
This may be my last apple purchase and I’m thinking it will be my last.
This level of customer service for a tech brand is simply unacceptable;
and I will never going back to buy any of their products despite what
their sleeky ads have claimed otherwise.
Come to think of it; it’s no wonder that Apple doesn’t have that many
corporate customers ? why would you want to put up with this?
I know I wouldn’t.
For some background, that’s how I got my second 4th generation Ipod for free. No Apple service center in China was willing to fix my GF’s 40 gig 4th generation Ipod with or without a fee. There was no other solution other than to throw it away since we were in China. However, I was lucky enough tosee this post on the web and tried it myself. All I needed to do was to buy a replacement Toshiba Hard Drive and re-initialize. Getting a Toshiba Hard Drive replacement took 10 minutes at Zhonguancun’s computer complex and I formated the disk with the Ipod updater from Apple painlessly. The hardest part was opening the Ipod which is a bit tricky but possible. I replaced the drive and the once dead Ipod worked again without a hitch. I’m not sure why Apple refuses to do something as simple as this for their customers in China but I’m sure I’m not the only one who has gone through the service center hell of Apple China.
If I am going to pay more for a branded MP3 player that is 100 to 200% more expensive than comparable MP3 players, I hope that part of that costs goes into supportng the product during its lifetime and not just for a few months.
Maybe Apple service centers have their own sweatshop operations of their own?
-frank yu
UPDATE: The Backlash has begun….
disclaimer: none of my Apple products have ever broken down…but then again I just fix them myself.
Story from: http://www.chinacsr.com/en/2007/03/13/1119-apple-promises-to-improve-ipod-after-sales-service-in-china/
2007/Mar/13 – With the March 15 International Consumer Rights Day looming over Apple, the company says that it will improve its after-sales service to better serve Chinese consumers.
Apple has sent a letter to Shanghai Municipal Consumer Interest Protection Commission and said that it will make improvements on its after-sales service, which has seen many complaints from Chinese users.
Starting last year, Apple’s after-sales service has been a frequent target of Chinese consumers. Chinese consumers’ complaints mainly focus on two areas: Apple’s shortening of the maintenance period from one year to three months for the iPod and its use of refurbished iPods to replace problematic electronics.
On December 23, 2006, Chinese media reported about Apple’s unfair after-sales service for iPods sold in China, saying that Apple’s Global Repair Policy contradicted the Consumer Law of China. However, Zhao Jiaoli, secretary general of SMCIC, says that Apple is the first international company that has made such commitments to improving its after-sales services after listening to Chinese consumers’ requests.
Last year, Apple was also the target of international condemnation when Foxconn, an OEM for Apple’s iPod, was reported in Britain to unfairly treat its employees in China. Subsequent investigations found the British tabloid’s report overblown, but it did draw attention to both Apple’s labor relations and business interests in China.
This site is around because of the atrocious service we receive from Apple, in China.
Apple:
I’m fed up with Apple users being treated like second class citizen’s by Apple in China.
I’m fed up that you take zero responsibility for your official representative’s actions.
I’m also fedup with users being lied to, treated badly by your support people.
The web is an empowering tool, and this is what I can do to make you think different… in China.
I welcome stories of bad apple service in China for this site, in the hope that we can make things change. I certainly have plenty of my own, which will be added over the next while.
