More Apple Drama

So I called the Apple Store at Pentagon City, and they told me my iPod had arrived and I could come pick it up at any time.  Yay!  My drama was at an end!  Or so I thought. 

I went to the store after work, and proceeded to have the most miserable time imaginable.  A warning: the Apple Store at Pentagon City provided far, far worse customer service than the one at Montgomery Mall.  In fact, I've had better experiences at Best Buy. 

First of all, I waited to get the attention of a "Genius",  but they were very busy so I was ignored/not noticed.  I asked someone random, and they told me to go to the checkout line.  The girl behind the counter took my paperwork and old iPod, and proceeded to disappear for about 10 minutes.  She then came out and told me she couldn't find it, and that she would get a genius to help me.  She disappears into the back again.  Another 10-15 minutes pass.  In the meantime, someone comes to pick up a newer, replacement iPod.  He is in and out in about 5 minutes. 

Two people ask me if I'm being helped.  The first time, I say yes; the second time, I say "I don't know anymore."  They identified the person who was supposedly trying to help me, and waited.  Eventually, the girl comes out...as she leaves for the night.  She tells a co-worker that she couldn't find my replacement iPod and that she doesn't know what to do.  Apparently, she never told anyone what she was doing and thus failed to secure any help.  Greeeeeeeaaaaaat. 

Someone starts scramblilng.  About 3 minutes later, another employee apologizes profusely to me.  he says he also cannot find it, that nobody was ignoring me maliciously.  That the girl who helped me was new, and she never told anyone what she was doing.  That it was the girl's 4th day on the job.  That there was only one "Mac Genius" working, and he was swamped.  That I'd have to wait a few more minutes.  It had been about 30 minutes at this point.  Naturally, I'd been cursed by first having to go through the stupidest employee in the store. 

I have no reservations about saying that, by the way.  She was lazy and stupid.  I've worked retail before.  If I don't know what to do at ANY job, you can't stop me from asking 50 people different questions until someone helps me.  She did the opposite; she threw up her hands and just gave up and packed for home.  All the while, I was waiting.  Being new to the job was no excuse for being lazy and wasting my time.     

Anyway, I see the Genius go back and come out with an iPod, plus a promising envelope.  About 10 minutes later, I decide to go to the Genius Bar.  At that point, he stops what he is doing, registers my serial number, takes my old one and lets me go.

Total elapsed time: 45 minutes.  At least. 

Here's the best part: my iPod (the new one, mind you) now refuses to sync. 

So after wasting about 2 hours trying to get it to work, I called the Pentagon City store again.  Turns out they'd forgotten to shift my protection plan from the old iPod to the new one.  How unsurprising.  Is this the worst Apple Store ever, or just worse than Montgomery Mall's?   After they figured that out, they gave me some advice on how to fix the problem and a case number in case their fixes don't work. 

Granted, it could be a computer issue.  I can reinstall my USB drivers (my ports have been a bit funky lately).  I can update some .dll files, and/or I can update my registry.  But at this point, given that I'm on my third iPod, would anyone be surprised if the iPod was the problem?

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