Apple Mac shopping in South Africa

So, I’m back in South Africa now. Nice. Had an awesome trip in Europe. I plan to get back to work fairly soon.

One of my first things to do is to upgrade my software and hardware. I’m looking at an iMac to replace my laptops that are getting a little bit slow with the HD video editing I’m doing. So, I decided to head out first to DigiCape in Joburg. I wanted to try them first as they have an Office 2011 promo that comes with a new iMac, and their Cape Town branch seems to be pretty kiff, and they sponsor Goldfish, whom I like. Got there, and the power was off so I couldn’t try any of the machines. Not really their fault, though I did try and call at least 5 times at various times before I came through to check, but couldn’t get through to them. Secondly, they had an ooold iMac model, one without a Thunderbolt port, so the model was likely from early-to-mid 2011. So, I figured, this is useless.

I then went to ecMac. They’re a small shop down the road. In the past, they’ve been fairly helpful to me and I’ve bought quite a bit from them – Photoshop, a Macbook Pro, my brother’s Macbook was bought from them, I bought a laptop cover there, a display adapter … and the lady there has been pretty jacked up. One of the workers in there once even identified a graphics card failure that was a recognized fault with a batch of machines and sent my machine in to get fixed gratis, which was superb. This time, however, she couldn’t care less, they had an even OLDER iMac on display than DigiCape, but at least their machines were on. Oddly, she was super off-handish. I really do want to purchase a machine but she scoffed at my questions, like it was totally out of the question to get a look at a more recent iMac model. The one she had was like, 2008 or something.

Well, I was disappointed. Being in Sandton, Johannesburg, I’d have hoped shopping for an Apple computer would have been a little more fruitful. I plan to try the Sandton City Apple shop, that seems to be really jacked up. I’d prefer not to go to Sandton City – its kind of too much, and big. But, supporting the smaller shops doesn’t seem likely if both DigiCape and ecMac are mulleting out.

Also, the iStore on Sandton Drive is sucky beyond compare. I’ve had someone there once refusing to believe that a product (I now own) even existed. The assistants I’ve dealt with there are generally clueless and its a shame. A lot of them are behind desks on phones, not particularly useful if you’ve got a question.

I once had a similar experience in a music shop where I was having trouble finding someone to help me. I ended up sitting down at a drum kit and smashing them. Suddenly I had someone’s attention. Maybe I should just start picking up the Macs, turning them around, trying to delete files etc… I’m sure I’ll find someone willing to assist me.

So, my vote thus far goes to the iStore in Sandton City, where the assistants seem to be a bit more clued up on things and more helpful. And they have better products on display.

Also, the online store ZAstore.co.za is pretty good, I’ve bought from them before. You don’t get to see the physical products beforehand unfortunately, and the site itself looks a little on the budgety side even though the official apple.co.za website points to it, but they deliver free to anywhere in the country (nice when I’m in Plettenberg Bay with nary an Apple shop in sight) and they’re generally pretty responsive.

Well, there ya go.

Mike

EDIT: I went to the Sandton City iStore, and I asked two female assistants (one black and one white for whatever that matters) what the speed differences were between the iMac and the Mac Pro for video editing. Both hummed and I could see them working their brains for an estimated guess. Both told me the iMac is faster, which is a plain false statement. How on earth do you get a job in a Mac store with that kind of knowledge? And one was behind the TECH counter!!! This sounds dorky, but if I didn’t know any better I would have believed them. Because they’re not official Apple stores and mostly resellers, I can’t rag Apple for hiring mullets. But for realz? Soon as I realized I was talking to someone with little knowledge about the machines I asked who knew something about which their job entailed. To be fair, I spoke to two guys, one black and one white, that were pretty clued up and answered my tech questions (that weren’t particularly taxing) pretty well and I gleaned some insight. (Maybe it was the Universe helping me along though by pointing to the iMac as the faster machine? Its not, but its cheaper, so that’s nice.)

So, my vote thus far for the most helpful Apple store in Joburg goes to iStore Sandton City. Not to be sexist, but the girls I talked to knew next to nothing. I know of girls that are clued up about computers, but, Core or whoever runs the iStores didn’t hire these girls for their knowledge. Generally, Mac prices are pretty similar across the board – I think Core has a monopoly on setting SA prices. Sometimes a store might incentivize its offers with extra software, and the guarantee is probably the same everywhere, so it may be worth shopping around to find the most beneficial reseller.

Also, best way to get someone to help you if you’re flat out ignored by sales staff despite clearly wanting help – start messing about with the machines, picking them up, rotating them, playing obnoxious music in GarageBand – someone will be at your side faster than you can imagine.

Well, again – there ya go.