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dfc888
Premium Member
join:2003-07-22
San Bruno, CA

1 edit

dfc888

Premium Member

[rant] Retail Floor Inventory vs. Pick Up Inventory (Back Room)

This is terrible.

So today I decided to go purchase a 30-pin to Lightning (cable) adapter for my car at Apple Stonestown. Unfortunately for me, there were no adapters available on the shelves. I managed to get ahold of a sales specialist for assistance in checking inventory, but rather than assisting, she decided to push me aside and rather insist (as well as assure) me that they were OUT OF STOCK! She would also not check her POS handheld and would not go to the backroom to check inventory. Fine. I decided not to make a fuss or cause a scene against her lack of customer service, so I went on my way to shop elsewhere for the rest of my shopping to-do's for the remainder of my afternoon. That's how much I loved Apple.

But because I had way too much time on my hands today, gosh I love holidays, I decided to call the store back to reconfirm that they indeed had no inventory available for purchase today. The sales representative over the phone assured me that they were indeed out of stock. He would also not answer, despite my attempts, my question of when when the next batch of adapters would arrive.

So I decided to go home for the evening since they were obviously out of stock today. And when I did arrive home, I decided to plop onto apple.com/store. Lo and behold! The damn adapter was IN STOCK AND AVAILABLE FOR PICKUP at the same store location! I immediately added the adapter to cart, checked out, and I immediately received an email response stating that I'd receive a second email within the hour to pick up my order. At this time, I figured it was just an online inventory MISTAKE, so I called the store back again to re-reconfirm their inventory... " O U T O F S T O C K " says the representative.

Okay, skip 10 minutes later and guess what, I receive my "your order is ready for pickup!" email. So I drive back to the Apple Store awaiting for the "sorry, it was an online error" speech but NO... A nice lady greets me and a nice man brings me my adapter from the back room.

What's up, Apple??

stonhinge
Premium Member
join:2003-07-28
Topeka, KS

stonhinge

Premium Member

Re: [rant] Retail Floor Inventory vs. Pick Up Inventory (Back Ro

Having worked retail, and having to answer the "do you know when you'll have more in?" question myself lets me take a shot at answering this.

It's possible that you're not the first person who had asked that day, so they already knew the answer, and had already looked.

Not all suppliers send things the same way. Heck, even some single suppliers will send different items through different shippers. Sometimes they come regularly, sometimes not.

It is possible that a shipment arrived and did not get added into inventory until just before you getting home and checking apple.com. Or, someone returned an unopened one and it got added back into inventory. Or cancelled and in-store pickup order.

They were rude to you earlier in the store, though. I will agree with that.

joako
Premium Member
join:2000-09-07
/dev/null

joako to dfc888

Premium Member

to dfc888
No I think they do keep separate stock for pickup orders and walk in orders.

shadyman777
The Hero of Time
Premium Member
join:2009-03-02
Bath, PA

shadyman777 to dfc888

Premium Member

to dfc888
Having worked at an Apple Store I can answer this. There are multiple shipments throughout the day. The biggest is always in the morning where the majority or iMacs/Laptops & Totes filled with ipods, cases, headphones etc... would come in. However, we would get random shipments in the afternoon from FedEx and UPS that would contain headphones and the smaller accessories like the adapters your referring to.

The person should of checked for you, or at the very least went in the back for a minute then came out.

jmycknshk
...bring your green hat
join:2004-07-02
West Chester, PA

jmycknshk to dfc888

Member

to dfc888
next time order it from your phone, and wait for her to bring it to you. that would be funny!