Electronics retailer Best Buy is on track to have 270 special Apple-branded sales areas in their stores by year’s end, offering both laptop and desktop computers. But maintaining Apple’s standards of maintenance may be wearing on the employees. One recent Best Buy visitor noticed missing keycaps on both a laptop and an iMac computer keyboard, bringing back bad memories of Sears, which sold Apple computers pre-Apple store. The visitor snapped some photos, but couldn’t tell how long the keys had been missing or why they’d been filched.
The “C” keycap is missing on a MacBook Pro
The spacebar is missing on an iMac
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Nasty.
This shows that Best Buy isn’t worthy of selling Apple products. Hopefully, someone at Apple will see this and demand that Best Buy get off their lazy asses and actually maintain their store properly. This is a disgrace. I think any computer manufacturer who sells their machines at Best Buy should be outraged by this total lack of competence in maintaining in store displays. I’m going to email Steve Jobs about this! [IFO -- Oh, the outrage! Ah, just let him read about it here.]
Why would he believe you? It’s a damn MacBook Pro. Good God, the company never MADE a Powermac. They made a Power Mac, but not a Powermac. Can you pay attention to what you’re doing, please?
I emailed Steve all about it :)
BTW, it’s a MacBook Pro not a Powermac. The Best Buy store I visited in Lincolnshire, IL wasn’t bad late-summer, but it was the only time I was there, so maybe it’s slacked in quality since then.
-Brian
I went to the Best Buy store near our home a few weeks ago and not a single Best Buy team member was on hand to answer questions or to help out on the Macs on display.
I went back a few days later and there was a kid there that all he could tell me about the iMacs were that they were not compatible with Windows.
I fully agree with Howie.
It’s better to buy from the Apple Store or an authorized reseller where possible.
I don’t blame the stores completely – customers treat the equipment like crap. How many times are you going to replace the same keyboard?
Having said that, chains like Best Buy are really horrible stores. They provide the perception that everything is discounted, but I have found no bargains on anything in these stores (on other types of items – current model Macs are generally not discounted more than $5 anywhere.) The help is usually paid minimum wage or close. No one really knows anything. An the stores are an aesthetic nightmare. Why help keep such terrible retailers in business?
Everyone should buy everything from local, independent dealers.
Sheesh! It’s not like some religious shrine or museum piece has been desecrated. It’s just a piece of metal and plastic MASS MARKET technology in the hands of the public, and it’s going to get roughed-up.
Here in Palm Springs, CA area the Best Buy mini Apple store section rollout is nothing but a good thing. This notion that Apple has to maintain it’s shriveled, niche, ‘botique’ mentality – inaccessible low market-share exclusivity is flawed. Mass visibility and sales anywhere Apple can profit from it is the bottom line. Get those Macs out in every single neglectful Best Buy in the country FIRST – we can fret about a few keycaps later…
Putting Macs in Best Buy was a huge mistake. Every time I go to the Bust Buy in Mission Valley San Diego, the Macs are almost always powered off. There is more action at the pre-paid cell phone aisle. Putting a Mac in a Best Buy is like selling a BMW at a walmart.
There’s no excuse for that… I worked in an Apple Retail store for more than a year and never once saw a demo machine w/ stolen keys. Yes, the machines were ABUSED, but never really defaced.
Perhaps it’s because there were actually employees on the floor monitoring things. Best Buy isn’t really known for having an abundance of customer service.
In the end, there aren’t many Apple Stores in smaller markets, and Best Buy helps boost visibility — at the cost of cheapening the brand.
Our Mac store at Best Buy sells over 40 computers a week, mostly Macbooks and iMacs