I went here today, Monday, June 10, 2019. The last time I had been here, in December of 2017, the store was in a different location in The Summit, at 13925 South Virginia Street, Suite 220, in between Chicos and J. Crew. Now it was at 13945 South Virginia Street, Suite 612, to the left of Victoria's Secret/Pink, and to the right of Pendleton and White House Black Market.
I went here because my battery for my iPhone was charging slower, and barely keeping up when it was plugged in to my portable power bank or to the car. I also went here to get proof that the store moved, in order to satisfy Yelp, which still listed the old address. Unfortunately, the suite number was not on the Apple website or on Google (which had the correct address, sans suites, but wrong map location!). I also drove in the back of the plaza, where they have all the rear doors number by suite with the business name; but Apple did not have its name of the door (although it has tons of extra locks and was well fortified). Fortunately, The Summit Guest Services Office found the suite number for me. I also took pics of the closed suite, with Apple's sign that they moved; plus pics of the new location and what stores it was next to. I hope this convinces Yelp, although I could not refer them to photos I uploaded on Yelp since the Yelp app does not have the sharing url.
There were two greeters at the door. I was worried they might not accept walk-ins, but they were, and said that there was about a 35 minute wait. The store is a little more streamlined than the old location, with less desks and items for sale on the side. The chairs in the back center for customers waiting are more minimal,with just a block of wood with a spherical cut out on top for your butt. They also have balls the customers can sit on. The rear door for employees is also well concealed as it always has been at Apple Stores.
I sat on one of the block chairs for a while and was comfortable, but then decided to take advantage of the tables and chairs to charge my phone while I was there. They have cords and USB plug adapters (aka power adapters or "wall bricks") there for you to use if needed. I then quickly got a text that my appointment was coming soon and to check in again with the greeter. This was only about 10-15 minutes after I checked, so they were moving fast! I was able to check in again, but only could do so after waiting a few minutes, as the greeter was dealing with another customer. This is the only part I don't like: after checking in when you first go in, you have to get the greeter to check in again when they text you your turn is about up. The problem is the greets are often busy with other customers, so you end up standing around and waiting in line, again. I wish they would just have a loudspeaker and call your name when you are up. Yes, it might be a little more crude this way, and the customer might not be there, but it beats the customer having to hunt down a greeter to check in again.
I also notice every time I go here, the employee are wearing new shirts. It is green now, but before they have worn blue, gray, red, etc. I like their green shirts. They also allow the employee to sit with you and chat about the problem, whereas before I was told by one they were forbidden to sit down.
Anyway, the employee who diagnosed my problem was super nice. He asked permission to touch my phone, and then check the battery performance via iOS. He said it was at a 92% level, so it was still very good. What he recommended was that I get a larger watt USB plug adapter. Right now, the one that came with my phone is 5 watts, but the newer, larger Apple ones (like half the size of the cord brick for a Mac Book) are 12 watts, and cost $19.99 here. Once he hooked up mine with the sample one he had there in the drawer, my phone charged faster, even when in use. So that is something I will consider doing.
What I think happened actually was my phone was charging, but the battery percentage on the monitor was not rising for some reason. Once he changed the charge with the 12 watt adapter, the monitor reading started registering again. A reset of the phone might have accomplished the same thing. Like this morning, it wasn't picking up emails (although the web portion of the phone was fine), but after I reset the phone, it worked.
The new store is wonderful. It is bigger than the old one, so there is less crowding, and also more simplified. Simplicity is what apple is known for. Parking was also super easy. You can also still view the mountains from their large glass storefront window, which most of the Apple Stores have.
So all in all, I was very happy. I am going to give them five stars this time, despite my annoyance with the check-in procedure, since they were so helpful, knowledgeable, and nice. And I loved their green shirts! read more