I made my first trip to the Apple Store in Brandon, Florida on Saturday February 6. It was about 10:30 AM and already the store extremely busy. My purpose of the trip was to purchase a MiniDisplay-to-VGA adapter so that I may connect my Samsung SyncMaster 192N to my new MacBook Pro. I found the adapter, picked it out, and carried it over to one of the MacBook Pro's on display so that I can make sure that I was getting the right item. I wanted to compare the connectors. That is when I heard a bellowing from one of the blue-shirt Apple Store employees (the name was not visible on the badge on his lanyard): "Whoa Whoa Whoa, Chief! What are you doing there?" I felt belittled, inferior, out-of-place and unwelcome. "I just wanted to make sure that I was getting the right adapter." "Leave the figuring out to the experts. When you are finished you can check out with me." Wow - I had never been treated with such rudeness and arrogance in my life. I had half a thought to place the adapter back on the rack, and thought about taking my business to the Apple Store in Tampa. Reason took over and I realized that the money from the purchase made was going to Apple either way, so I held onto the adapter and browsed around a little more, making sure not to cross paths with the Apple Nazi I came into contact with earlier. When I was ready to check out, I found another blue t-shirt-clad Apple employee. The next fellow was a bit more pleasant, but the arrogance was still apparent. The name on the badge attached to his lanyard was not visible either. I thought about asking to speak to a manager, but I can tell that they were extremely busy and I probably would not get his/hers complete attention, so I passed. The checkout process was pretty cool. He scanned it with his modified iPod, swiped my card, and put my purchase in a cool draw-string Apple bag. No cash registers. Very elegant. My online experience with Apple has been wonderful. My first Apple Store experience at the Brandon Mall was far from it. I hope this arrogance is not present in all Apple Stores. Should further needs arise, I will probably just stick to Apple.com or other third party online retailers. I will now go into Apple Stores with the anxiety of going into my local Wal-Mart. I hope this is not a permanent thing. Maybe I can start looking for independent retailers (and I don't mean Best Buy) if they exist." read more

I have been coming to the Brandon Apple store since it opened ... it was exciting to have one in my own neighborhood. I have had nothing but good experiences. I understand the others' comments about the long wait. But just think about what the Genius Bar folks (excellent) have to do. Every problem is different. They have to play detective, often identifying conflicts caused by 3rd party apps. They take as long as they need to fix the problem. So sometimes it pushes the time past the expected. I feel like I am their only client when I am seated at the Bar. And while I am waiting, there are always Macs there to keep you entertained, including wifi. The other thing I have done while waiting is eavesdrop on training, other customers being helped, usually learning something new. Just think how many PC people would give their eye teeth for our Apple Store. read more

I'm giving the Apple Store 3 stars because I had some difficulty with them. I went in to buy a new computer and iPad for college. And everything was going well, until I got an email of my receipt. Of course I was already home when I got it. I was charged for a 3 year warranty without knowing it. For both the computer and iPad that is a total of 6 years both were 300 each. I was furious, I was in the phone with Apple Care for an hour trying to put that money back on my card. read more

Good products, horrible customer service. "Apple Genius" failed minimum IQ test, treated me like an infant when I stated a hardware problem with my iPhone. I have been a loyal Apple client for more than a decade, most likely will stay. Due to my recent visit at this store, now it is at least worth a brief visit to Samsung. By all means if you are buying a new Apple product it is like any other great Apple Store, but as far as expert advice, seek else where. read more

A "misunderstaning" had the guys in the back erase my girlfriends laptop. Lots of tears on the drive home they gave her a card of someone to retrive it at her expense . read more

I had an appointment to replace my battery and it took 4 hrs to do the job. I was told they couldn't remove the battery but in turn give me a new phone. I told the tech all my info must be transferred otherwise I would not go thru the process. Tech person said to wait until I get home. Unfortunately, I lost all my important info that was not backup. My tech keep disappearing every min going to another member instead of fixing the issue. I am disappointed with the horrible service at the Brandan store. The tech is not knowledgeable in his profession. He should not proceed with switching my phone unless everything backup. I love all of Apple products because it last for years plus Applecare is the best regardless if your warranties expire but with the horrible experience at the Brandan store this would discourage people to buy Apple products. read more

the only thing good about my experince was that my 420 apt was really taken on time and they accomidated my son who is a little person. The store needs some work with being able to clearly distinguish who to talk to and the order of things, Being checked i and tended to within 15 min was great, how ever my " apple consultant was a dud, It took him 3 min to decide my phone was not fix able , out of warrently and that there was a dent. He took the phone to the back and claimed to have tried to connect to itunes. 1st of all I was not asked if i had been paying for insurance who my carrier was or any personal information. I drove an hour there took time off work to be dismissed faster than my wait time. Well of course I took my phone to one of these mom and pop store and my phone which i was told was usless i up and running no thanks to these folks. they just push sales buy this for 315. THank but no thank and way to ruin my outlook on apple! read more

Totally don't understand this store. Went in to purchase a new Apple Watch for my husband....was going to spend around $600.00. I started looking at the watches. 3 Employees just standing around, chatting with each other. None of them came up to ask if they could be of help. What are they paying these people to do? Additionally, There were 2 "greeters" (I guess that's what they were), with iPads. Neither one of them asked what I needed. Finally...I went up to one of these "greeters" to let him know I was there to purchase an Apple Watch. He couldn't help me and said it would be 15-30 minutes before a "sales person" was available. WHAT??? How are they still in business? I asked about the employees just standing around....apparently, they are not sales people. Now, wouldn't you think everyone that worked in that store could assist with a sale? I told the "greeter" that I wasn't waiting and that I would just purchase elsewhere, or on-line. His answer.."OK". I guess they have enough business. I'm certain no one of consequence will read this review, but I had to vent. One star, only because I have to put something. In reality, it should be NO STARS. read more

So I have waited here for 1hour and 30min to get my crack screen fix. I'm still waiting. Use your own judgement.

This review actually would have been better if it weren't for the incompetence of the manager. While upgrading my phone, the apple employee accidentally activated my new phone as someone else's on my plan. This made that person's phone in another state stop working because the new phone had been activated under his number. It was a genuine accident, but still frustrating. So in order to fix the phone in another state, it had to be taken in to an ATT store and a new SIM card had to be PURCHASED. So the owner of the phone had to spend money on a new sim card that the apple employee fried. Moving forward to the manager, when I asked him if there was anything he could do for me for my trouble, he explained to me that I should have known better than to have let the mistake happen in the first place. So, even though I stayed at the store so that an employee could help me set my phone up properly, the manager told me that it was my fault for not realizing the employee made a mistake. He told me that because I have upgraded my phone before (almost 5 years ago) that I should have known better than to let the mistake of the employee happen. How does that work? I stayed and got help to ensure there was someone there to make sure mistakes did not happen, but they did. and somehow it was my fault that the employee did not do his job. Finally, even though we were told the SIM card replacement was supposed to be free, we had to pay an additional fee to replace the SIM card in the phone in another state. So this store ended up costing us additional money, but no help was offered to make things right. I understand that accidents happen, but when they do, a good store, and even a half decent manager would still do everything they could to make it right. read more

Drove 45 minutes to have my iPad looked at only to be turned away by a Genius bouncer telling me I needed to make an appointment. Came back with appointment and the "genius", without running any kind of diagnostics, told me that there was nothing he could do except for me to buy a new one. Not impressed at all by the customer service or lack of technical expertise. read more

Worst service ever. Purchased brand new phone from Apple at International mall which malfunctioned the next day. When we took phone back the next day after waiting through a crowd of people just hanging out we were told they cannot even look at the phone until several days later. The phone is for my nephew who just moved down here to start college and needed to have a phone so they suggested we go to the store at Brandon mall. We were told we have to make an appointment which took 2 days to get in. When we arrived store was crowded and we were told that we were 10 min early for our appointment to maybe go sit outside in the mall and then come back. After coming back in at exactly our appointment time we had to wait 30 min before a tech came to look at phone. The tech suggested we leave the phone for a few hours and come back. Hours later we came back and picked up the phone which was supposed to be fixed. Later that night the phone started having the same trouble. Called them up and I was told I have to make another appointment. Feeling frustrated I asked to talk to a manager and demanded a new phone be given to us as a replacement. We wasted so much time and aggravation on this. She arranged for us to come in the next morning. We insisted we wanted a new phone.They finally gave it to us. The real problem I have was that the original phone was purchased at full price and should have been taken care of immediately. Not this craziness. It seems like the staff were happy that we were angry and it looked like all the people waiting were angry as well. I will never go back to an Apple store and will purchase online or at Verizon store. read more

I own 3 iPhones, needed one repaired today and because an independant repair store had touched it previously, Apple Store employee sent me packing and doesn't want my business and doesn't care, said once someone else touches the phone they will not even look at it or repair it - and I was paying to have it repaired. This is the closet store is 1.5 hours away from me, I had no choice... Customer NO service!!! I'm going to have to rethink my future phone business with Apple, I have never been treated that way in any business, they could care less about the customer's needs, all they want to do is sell! sell! sell! read more

I don't have an iphone, but went in there with a friend who had a problem and was blown away by the service they gave her. Amazing!

I took my MacBook Pro to have a new battery installed and a hard drive bracket replaced. I got the computer back 3 days later, the computer turned on once and then would never boot completely. I had it diagnosed and the computer now had liquid damage, destroying a picture card and the hard drive $700 worth of damage. Ruben, the store manager told me they would not cover it and only offered me a refund for the battery. One top of that he was a smart ass and acted like he was doing me a favor. So I received $185 back and a computer that is now a paper weight. I purchased a new MacBook Pro from another store. Ruben needs to learn the basic fundamentals of being a good manager and try treating people with respect, not acting like a big shot on a power trip. read more

Made a 5:30 appointment to get a MacBook Pro serviced and was helped within 5 minutes. Victoria was nice and very helpful. Made sure she offered every service possible and answered all questions. Eddie was fantastic also and even recognized my boyfriend from the International Plaza location from earlier in the year. Recognition makes the guest feel appreciated and we felt beyond! read more

I am very upset at the apple store in Brandon, I have talked to 2 managers about this matter, my Ipad crashed, it is out of warranty and they said they could do nothing about it. Wouldnt you think that something you paid over $800 for it would last longer than this and wouldnt you think after I have bout all my grandchildren an Ipod and myself 2 and a 27in Imac there would be something they would do? Maybe i'm wrong but THEY will not get anymore of my business and I will shout it to the rooftop. read more

Poor customer service by Apple's employees and by Apple's policy regarding defective products. Bought a new iPhone 7 from a mobile phone company that doesn't have any physical stores. Waited 2 weeks to receive my new phone. Worked for an hour and then the "black screen of death" occurred. Went online and tried to trouble shoot myself. Found several web pages of people reporting the same problem with their new $800 phone. Then called my mobile carrier and they troubleshooted over the phone with me and advised me to go into an Apple Store and have them swap it out. I called the Apple Store 2 hrs before I arrived and they advised me I could do a walk in no problem. When I arrived the rep told me there would be a two hour wait. After exhausting my options with the first rep I asked to speak to a manager. I was instead directed to a "Lead Genius" who was argumentative, aggressive and dismissive. Furthermore I was advised that if I go through Apple they will repair the phone and offered the example "if you have a bad hard drive well put in a new hard drive" At that point the phone is refurbished though not new. My next option was to return the phone through my mobile carrier and wait several weeks for the replacement. Why doesn't Apple have a system in place where they can work directly with the mobile provider and just just switch out my phone when it's only a day old and doesn't function properly? Why doesn't Apple have a separate queue for people who need assistance using their devices and for people who purchased a defective product? Why doesn't Apple prioritize people who bought a defective product vs people who have had their product for a year and now that product is no longer working properly?Seems like a poor business model to me. Once I finally met with a Apple tech person they plugged in my phone to a laptop and ran a diagnostic on my phone. They determined it was defective and gave me a new phone. My warranty did not get reset however like one would think. He said that if you have the phone for 6 months or a year we treat it the same and don't reset the warranty... and that makes sense. But what if the product never worked to begin with. Why should I have to deal with a diminished warranty? Shouldn't my warranty timeframe be reset. And by the way. The whole processes once I was actually being helped took 7 minutes, 3-4 of which the phone was being plugged into the computer untouched. Which means I only required 3-4 minutes of the representatives time. If Apple had the processes in place that I mentioned in this review, they would have a relatively happy customer and it would have only cost them 3-4 minutes of their employees time. But saved me several hours of frustration. read more

Apple website showed no availabilities for any of its stores in Florida, this has happened for 3 days in a row, leaving me with no choice but to walk in. Walking in the store is also a gamble, because you can be stuck in here for hours before anyone can see you. I got off work at 3 pm. arrived to the Apple store in Brandon, FL at 5pm, at the time i'm writing this review from one of their computers as I now wait for my phone to be repaired that was supposed to be finished at 8:20pm, it is now 8:40pm and my phone has still not been fixed. I was told at 2 minutes to 8:20 pm that it wasn't ready and that they needed 15 more minutes. At 8:35pm, I was told the same thing again! Their ability to complete things in a timely manner is extremely poor. So poor that it makes me want an android phone to deal with less of a hassle when having technical issues or phone damage. read more

My experience today has been terrible , I chatted with apple support about a common issue as noted on apple.com my iPhone 8 Plus gold BRAND NEW LESS THAN 14 DAYS OLD had a crack on the home button and it hadn't been dropped or misused and there were no other damage or scratched it had appeared overnight while charging and when the phone turned on the home button got extremely heated. At first the guy who helped me let me know there would be no charge and that he would take care of the issue then ..... My partner comes in and he notices I'm homosexual things started to change he got really nasty then saying it wouldn't be covered there was a point of impact as he squeezed the home button harder and as I seen his attitude changed I got really unsettled and decided to just leave the store and now the issue is still not fixed and I feel very uncomfortable entering another APPLE STORE AGAIN! This was the worse experience ever!! I have over a dozen of apple products and really liked them until my experience today. If this is the type of customer service apple offers then I no longer will be a customer. : 459 Brandon Town Center Drive Brandon, FL 33511 read more

The service over the phone stinks...I called them for two different reasons and was kept on hold for a long time, the phone calls kept getting dropped, .. read more

Although the store may seem a bit overcrowed, the superb customer service is never lacking. It is amazing to see how the employees are able to cater to each customer's need. I went to purchase an iPad during Christmas and although the store was busier than usual there was less than a 3 minute wait time in the check out line. They had the stock up front so you didn't have to wait for someone to fetch the merchandise from their back room. They also walked me through the entire iPad setup and made sure all of my questions were answered before I left the store. I have never experienced better customer service. read more

Their customer service was great answering all my questions about the IPhone 4S and the I-Pad but their website to reserve the phone SUCKS! Not only is it very slow (I understand the volume issues) but it times out after it says you have a phone reserved and then when you finally manage to get bgack on the phone is gone! I'm now looking for a different birthday present for my husband... Great way to run off customers! Too bad they didn't plan better. read more

NOT HAPPY have 9 week old mac book pro with cracked track pad which the internet in full of same problem { known design defect } i think made appt. with genius he basically says i'm a liar something had to dropped on the pad "nothing has been dropped on this pad or has this new computer been handled ruff in any way " overall like the computer don't care to be called a liar to my face just say buyer beware once they get your money they may be done with you it's a shame that they will risk loosing $1000's of dollars in product sale's over the years for a $90.00 repair because at this point i'm pretty sure i'll never take the chance at buying another apple product again because of the way i've been treated very disappointed!! read more

Terrible. Probably about 25 employees there - not ONE asked if s/he could help me or even made eye contact (I had an appointment). Finally got someone to "help" me who blew me off with a few fast answers. I realize it may have taken 1 or 2 more minutes to provide real "customer service," i.e., listen to me, make eye contact and explain to me what I was asking -- but apparently he was too important and too much of a "genius" to do that. I had to drive over 100 miles round trip for this "appointment." And when I got home the phone still didn't work like it is supposed to. Great. read more

Tried to call the store to ask a simple question about training times for our new I-pad retina. Phone was busy but finally got thru at about 8 minutes till 9pm. It is now 9:09pm and the phone just keeps ringing obviously the employees working could care less about us. Wish we had gone with a competitor brand at this point what a disappointment. read more

The Genius Bar is great if there is nothing wrong with your Apple product. If you just need someone to show you how to press a few buttons and setup a contact or download music, the Genius Bar is your answer. Anything else, you're wasting your time. The Genius Bar is just a bunch of kids trying to earn some extra cash between classes. There is not technical expertise. There only answer to any problem is "Buy a new Phone." read more