Yesterday, I visited the Toledo, OH Franklin Park Mall Apple Store for the second time in…read moreapproximately two weeks. I have been there many times over the years with very positive experiences. The first recent visit two weeks ago was an attempt to update my mom's Apple Watch because fall detection was no longer working and the "automatic update" had not updated and I couldn't figure out how to manually update it. While everyone was nice during that visit, I was passed off to various staff members and ultimately needed to leave the store because the update was expected to take more than three hours and they would be closing before the very slow process could be completed. When I arrived home, I followed directions to continue the update process, but it was repeatedly unsuccessful. I decided it was time to buy my mom a new watch - the newest SE 40" face model- and not have to deal with trying to salvage a watch that was beyond its prime. I also decided to go to the Apple Store during the day on a weekday. Alissa was the team member assigned to me and she immediately took an interest in understanding why the fall detection feature was important. She was also very patient as we tried various passwords. It would have been a more stressful process without Alissa right there next to me with her understanding encouragement. Throughout this process of turning in the old watch (btw, received a credit of $55) and purchasing the new one, she never pressured me in any way. Alissa spent approximately one hour solely dedicated to getting the new watch set up, which included several calls to my mom to obtain a code that was generated to her phone at home). . Throughout it all, she was patient, helpful and good-natured. I left feeling that she cared about my experience and in setting up the cellular watch with ringtone and my mom's watch face preferences. Alissa is a very sincere, knowledgeable and dedicated team member who clearly takes pride in her ability to help others in her role at the Apple Store. Thank you Alissa! You're the best!!! P.S. The new SE watch also includes an extra fast charger along with a watch band.

I cannot believe how horribly the Franklin Park Apple Store handled my warranty replacement. Apple…read morewasted my time, money, and patience with their absurd policies and lack of customer care. I live an hour away, and my Apple HomePod failed after a few months. I took it into the store, where they confirmed it was covered under warranty. Great! Except they conveniently had "none in stock." I pointed to a stack of them on the shelf, but no, those were for sale, and Apple couldn't just swap one out. Instead, they had to order a warranty replacement--almost certainly a refurb--and have me return later. Fine. Annoying but okay. I asked if they could mail it to me since I live so far away, and of course, the answer was no. I had to come back in person with the defective unit. So I made the two-hour round trip home, waited, and then received an email telling me I had five days to pick up the replacement before it would be returned. I had to take time off work to drive another two hours round trip to swap my old one for the new one. I asked them at the store if everything was in the box. "Yes, everything is in the box," they said. Guess what? I get home, and THERE'S NO POWER CORD. Now I have a useless HomePod that I can't even plug in. I try calling the store and battling through Apple's awful automated system. When I finally reached a human, it was just an off-site answering service. They struggle to get the actual store to pick up. After holding for 15 minutes, I finally got someone from the store. First, they try to tell me the power cord must be there because "it doesn't come off." WRONG. The large HomePod's power cable DOES come off--the HomePod Mini doesn't. They don't believe me and have to check. When they finally admit I'm right, they offer two terrible choices: drive another two hours round trip to get the missing cord or have them mail it to me with no tracking, meaning if it gets lost, I'm out of luck. So now I have to decide whether to waste another $35 in gas and hours of my time or risk waiting another week and potentially never seeing my cord. This whole process was a joke. Apple does not care about its customers. They put the entire burden on me, costing me time and money to correct their mistakes. A multi-billion-dollar company can't figure out how to make warranty replacements easy. Apple turned This simple fix into an expensive, time-consuming nightmare. So disappointing.