Apple Stores - page 4

Apple’s long allowed customers to return or exchange purchases for up to 14 days, no questions asked, but that’s not to say they’ve ever wanted to encourage it: every time you exchange an Apple product, you’re charged a 10% restocking fee for an opened product, which has always seemed a tad miserly and anti-consumer for a company that otherwise so strongly focuses on the customer experience at their retail outlets.

Great news, then. It seems that Apple intends on ditching the 10% restocking fee come Tuesday. They don’t source their assertion, but they seem pretty confident.

It’s not a big deal — unless you’re the sort of person second-guessing a top-of-the-line Mac Pro who has previously had to eat a few bills — but it’s a nice change that should make switching to a Mac for the first time even more painless than it already is.

Every New Year’s Day, Japanese consumers line up to take place in the annual tradition of the fukubukuro, in which merchants sell sealed bags of mystery gifts at huge discounts.

For example, if you go into your local video game store, you might pick up a bag of game discs for $100. Walk into the local butcher’s, and you might take your pick of any number of dripping canvas sacks of mystery meat for a nominal fee.

Apple’s Japan Stores have been taking part in the fukubukuro celebration since 2005, and starting Saturday, customers have been lining up to buy a limited number of Lucky Bags for about $380.

Director Kevin Smith objects to his portrayal as a moody loner in this Wired News story about celebrity behavior at Apple’s Los Angeles stores.

The story says: “Director Kevin Smith is also a regular, but tends to head for the Genius Bar because his wife’s PowerBook is on the blink. ‘He rarely has anything to say, but always looks pissed off when he is forced to wait at the bar just like everyone else,’ said the associate.”

Smith responds:

“I rarely have anything to say… unless I’m spoken to. I mean, isn’t that the way of the world? And whenever an associate has said something to me in that store, I’ve always then chatted them up… The way I was raised, I’m a pretty polite motherfucker – which is why this shit bugs me so much. I mean, if you’re not a fan of my flicks, just say it; don’t make up lies about me, and paint a portrait of some curmudgeon.

… If I looked pissed, it’s only because I don’t burst into a room, a’la Robin fucking Williams, trying to make everybody laugh. What the fuck is this shit? Now, if you’re not wearing a grin all the time, you’re pissed?”