I'm long overdue to write a review! I have taken 3 free workshops here and have really enjoyed…read morethem. The creatives/instructors are really well versed in photography, video, and GarageBand. I had a great time and felt like I enhanced my iPhone experience. I can't believe these workshops are FREE! Last year, I had some issues with my iPhone issues and scheduling a repair. They helped me resolve the problem and voila I was all set! Will definitely be going back to this location.

A couple days ago, I bought an iPhone 17 Air (replacing an iPhone XR). The keyboard kept switching…read morebetween the letters keypad and the character/numbers keypad intermittently. I called Apple and they scheduled a call with a technician (Harshil--very nice), and the technician did a "screen share" diagnostic. We tried all of the typical fixes for this particular reported bug, but nothing worked. The tech determined that it was indeed a hardware issue. Hey, things happen. They had another iPhone 17 Air at Bayshore, and he directed me to go there to get it. All I'd have to do is give these folks the case number and they would switch out the phone. The tech also offered me a free item from the Apple Store up to a value of $200 for the inconvenience. This was unexpected, but appreciated. I don't feel entitled to it, but thought it was a nice gesture. I go into the Bayshore store and explain that I have an open case and that I'm there to swap the phone. I don't know why, but they felt a need to run the same diagnostics and to wipe the phone and reload it. Guess what, it's a hardware issue. Now, I am so sick and I explained that to them when I went in. I did my best to isolate myself, but they relegated me to a table with eight other people. If I didn't rely on this phone for work, I would not have gone to the store. Anyway, the technician that helped me, Malachi, was patient, pleasant, and professional. Five stars for Malachi. He probably had to follow their protocol for going through all that steps to justify a swap of the phone. Up to this point, I had no issue. It's what happened next. They sold out of the phone model I had, whilst we were dinking around with all the duplicated testing. I would have assumed that since I made the appointment and they had knowledge of me needing a replacement phone, they would have set one aside for that purpose, but of course not. Again, things happen. BUT ironically, the EXACT SAME THING happened to me at this SAME STORE years ago when I traded my 7 for a 10. It would take five days for my new phone to arrive at their store. Anyway, I asked them if I could just get the next model up--a $200 difference, since they had it in stock. I got an iron-clad no. I've worked retail, so I understand staff have limitations as to what they can offer guests, so I accepted the answer and called Apple to see if they could supersede the policy. I am surprised by Apple's response. They kept driving home the fact that they were willing to offer me a $200 item from their website, but unwilling to bend on just giving me the phone they had in stock that was $200 more (higher storage capacity) in lieu of the $200 concession item. They kept apologizing for the inconvenience, blithely unaware that it was Apple CREATING the inconvenience. In fact, they are compounding the inconvenience. This could have been so simple. I am a forgiving consumer. I cannot rate this store more than a 3, and that is as fair as I can be. I really want to rate them a 1 because I kept getting the canned line, "It's our policy." Which is their way of stonewalling you, because it is an indication that they are not willing to do anything for you. I will come back and re-evaluate Apple when they get back to me tomorrow (as promised) to see if they will accommodate my very reasonable request, since 1. They sold me a defective $999 phone, and 2. Sent me to get a replacement and then sold it. Things happen, yes, but be willing to make them right. Especially at these price points. In closing, I'd like to ask: Is any policy really all that sacred?