Long-time Apple reseller closes its doors
After 16 years of servicing the Macintosh faithful in Northern California, Apple reseller, MACadam Computer, has closed its doors.
Store owner Tom Santos said the decision to close his San Francisco, Calif.-based shop was based on several factors, including a rapidly deteriorating relationship with Apple Computer and increased competition from Apple's new retail division. In a letter to customers, he also referenced "bad behavior" by Apple as one of the main reasons leading to his decision.
"They have made it so difficult to both get product in a timely fashion and treat our customers with the respect that they currently treat their Apple Direct customers," Santos said. "We have tried everything to resolve these problems over the last 4 plus years, yet our requests for help have simply gone unanswered."
Santos, who two years ago joined several other resellers in a lawsuit to charge Apple with breach of contract and fraud, reiterated his belief that independent Apple dealers are good for Apple and its customers.
"When your only choice is but one, you will no longer have the option," he said. "We are not the first to close, and unfortunately we will not be the last. I love [Apple's] product and software, but I have an incredible distrust of the company."
According to Santos, the lawsuit -- which also lists five other Apple resellers as plaintiffs -- is close to being assigned a trial date. Last month the band of resellers appointed new attorneys with a background in franchisee litigation to help press the suit. The new lead counsel is David Franklin, of San Diego, who litigated a similar suit in the early 1980s against the company that authorized FotoMat franchises. Another San Diego attorney and one from Tennessee also have also joined the case, replacing Marcus Merchasin, of San Francisco, who filed the original lawsuit in 2003.
In 1991, two years after it first opened, MACadam was authorized by Apple as a Distributor Value Added Reseller (VAR), and by 1996 had earned an invite to become a charter member of the Apple Specialist Program -- an Apple-initiated program aimed at recognizing resellers which have taken extensive measures to bring their customers the most enjoyable Apple experience possible.
For over a decade as an Apple Authorized Reseller, MACadam experienced significant growth in sales of Apple products. But in 2003, Apple retaliated to the MACadam's lawsuit by de-authorizing the store as an official Apple reseller. A year later, Apple opened its flagship retail store in downtown San Francisco--virtually drying up sales of neighboring stores. Santos said the new Apple retail store caused both his Apple and third-party sales numbers to drop by over 80% at the nearby MACadam store.
Prior to founding MACadam, Santos spent a year working at Radius Inc. before moving on to MacUser magazine, where he spent another 18 months involved in the testing, review and coordination of all lab reports.
Speaking to AppleInsider, Santos said that despite his decision to close, he absolutely plans to press forth with his suit against Apple, and hopes the judge will soon assign a date for trial. His store, which employed 30, will remain in its current location at 1062 Folsom Street for the unforeseeable future, he said, and will likely host a liquidation sale within the next month.
"The Mac has brought us more than 20 years of the most incredible enjoyment that one could ever hope for," said Santos. "I have been lucky, blessed and so fortunate to have been able to touch so many peoples lives and made a difference. Think Different wasn't just an advertising campaign for Apple, but it was a way of life for all of the independent dealers out there."
Store owner Tom Santos said the decision to close his San Francisco, Calif.-based shop was based on several factors, including a rapidly deteriorating relationship with Apple Computer and increased competition from Apple's new retail division. In a letter to customers, he also referenced "bad behavior" by Apple as one of the main reasons leading to his decision.
"They have made it so difficult to both get product in a timely fashion and treat our customers with the respect that they currently treat their Apple Direct customers," Santos said. "We have tried everything to resolve these problems over the last 4 plus years, yet our requests for help have simply gone unanswered."
Santos, who two years ago joined several other resellers in a lawsuit to charge Apple with breach of contract and fraud, reiterated his belief that independent Apple dealers are good for Apple and its customers.
"When your only choice is but one, you will no longer have the option," he said. "We are not the first to close, and unfortunately we will not be the last. I love [Apple's] product and software, but I have an incredible distrust of the company."
According to Santos, the lawsuit -- which also lists five other Apple resellers as plaintiffs -- is close to being assigned a trial date. Last month the band of resellers appointed new attorneys with a background in franchisee litigation to help press the suit. The new lead counsel is David Franklin, of San Diego, who litigated a similar suit in the early 1980s against the company that authorized FotoMat franchises. Another San Diego attorney and one from Tennessee also have also joined the case, replacing Marcus Merchasin, of San Francisco, who filed the original lawsuit in 2003.
In 1991, two years after it first opened, MACadam was authorized by Apple as a Distributor Value Added Reseller (VAR), and by 1996 had earned an invite to become a charter member of the Apple Specialist Program -- an Apple-initiated program aimed at recognizing resellers which have taken extensive measures to bring their customers the most enjoyable Apple experience possible.
For over a decade as an Apple Authorized Reseller, MACadam experienced significant growth in sales of Apple products. But in 2003, Apple retaliated to the MACadam's lawsuit by de-authorizing the store as an official Apple reseller. A year later, Apple opened its flagship retail store in downtown San Francisco--virtually drying up sales of neighboring stores. Santos said the new Apple retail store caused both his Apple and third-party sales numbers to drop by over 80% at the nearby MACadam store.
Prior to founding MACadam, Santos spent a year working at Radius Inc. before moving on to MacUser magazine, where he spent another 18 months involved in the testing, review and coordination of all lab reports.
Speaking to AppleInsider, Santos said that despite his decision to close, he absolutely plans to press forth with his suit against Apple, and hopes the judge will soon assign a date for trial. His store, which employed 30, will remain in its current location at 1062 Folsom Street for the unforeseeable future, he said, and will likely host a liquidation sale within the next month.
"The Mac has brought us more than 20 years of the most incredible enjoyment that one could ever hope for," said Santos. "I have been lucky, blessed and so fortunate to have been able to touch so many peoples lives and made a difference. Think Different wasn't just an advertising campaign for Apple, but it was a way of life for all of the independent dealers out there."
Comments
I have lived in San Francisco for a long time, and my numerous experiences with MACadam have all been unpleasant, at best. Consistently churlish attitudes from the employees, sky high prices, absolutely filthy showroom cluttered with outdated junk (usually selling at original retail prices, to add insult to injury). These guys portrayed the Macintosh about as well as Watoo's Junk Shop, which is what I ended up calling the store after a while. Oh, and their location on Folsom Street was very inconvenient to get to on public transit.
They can blame Apple all they want for their decline and fall, but that's only because they were too gutless to look themselves in the mirror and admit that they were a total disgrace to the platform.
Originally posted by Silencio
And GOOD RIDDANCE!
I have lived in San Francisco for a long time, and my numerous experiences with MACadam have all been unpleasant, at best. Consistently churlish attitudes from the employees, sky high prices, absolutely filthy showroom cluttered with outdated junk (usually selling at original retail prices, to add insult to injury). These guys portrayed the Macintosh about as well as Watoo's Junk Shop, which is what I ended up calling the store after a while. Oh, and their location on Folsom Street was very inconvenient to get to on public transit.
They can blame Apple all they want for their decline and fall, but that's only because they were too gutless to look themselves in the mirror and admit that they were a total disgrace to the platform.
I could not agree more. I would only go there if I had no other option, and even then, I'd be willing to delay and spend overnite shipping if at all possible. Absolutely THE worst customer experience. I'm not the biggest fan of the Apple store either, but the difference is night and day. I've seen the employees there talk down to customers and ignore people that are looking to buy little things like cables, yet hover around people looking for computers.
If they were a good representative of Apple and generated profitable sales for Apple, then it wouldn't have come down to this. Macconnection and other mail order places don't seem to be going out of business.
Apple Employees?
But I'm in upstate NY, our "local" independent resellers (3 hr. away) are great. I'm probably wrong.
N2NRN
Originally posted by Placebo
Two posters.... both with a single post, in this thread.... both registered today?
orrrrrr....they read the article and felt they could comment on it because they felt strongly about it and registered to do so. there is a front page to this website ya know.
Crappy Apple resellers deserve to be forced out of business. Good resellers are doing better now than they were 5 years ago. TekServe is certainly not having any problem. JandR despite being within a few blocks of the Apple SOHO store is always packed and is doing good business.
Originally posted by Placebo
Two posters.... both with a single post, in this thread.... both registered today?
I registered today after seeing the article on Macsurfer. I suspect that's where the other San Francisco guy saw it. Maybe two guys that lived in the area, both with bad experiences in the store felt strongly enough to tell their side of the story. This IS the WORLD wide web. Having 2 people in similar locations with similar experiences is not THAT far fetched. Check the IP's and such if you're so paranoid. I have nothing to hide, and I stand by my opinions.
If you lived in NY... how the heck would you even know? I don't suspect your dealer is awful, just this particular one. Would you rather hear the story from the customer's point of view... or from the store owner who spins his tale of woe before the multi-million dollar lawsuit?
If you never set foot in MACadam: first of all, consider yourself fortunate; and second, what do you have to contribute to this thread? I and the other "noob" poster have direct experience in dealing with those people and, again, I will state that they dug their own grave.
Now the independent reseller in San Francisco that I do miss was ComputerWare. They were right in the Financial District, had a good service department and a clean, professional environment to browse and purchase Mac-related items. Elite Computers, which bought out ComputerWare (but failed to re-open the San Francisco location) is also part of the dealer lawsuit against Apple.
I've been in MACadam a number of times (mostly because my small Mac user group briefly held meetings there years ago and mysteriously stopped meeting there). I purchased a few things there, but never really found anything good to strongly recommend the store.
I haven't even been in the store in the last couple or years or so, but the store itself was off the beaten track, dark and less than inviting, items were poorly displayed and customer service was about as variable as it can be (as is always the case, it's the quality of the PERSON you are dealing with). While I hate to see a Mac related company close, I think in this case, it might be for the good.
I think the closing may have had more to do with bad business practices and management than anything else (and this is just my opinion based upon my own experiences in the store). If you're going to be off the beaten path, you need to have a compelling reason for people to go out of their way and there just wasn't one with MACadam.
BTW: The downtown SF Apple Store is in a high traffic area and is a nice, clean place to look at Macs, but I don't buy much from that store either (too busy to get much help and when you do it's often cold and impersonal = again that varies by person). I strongly prefer driving to Burlingame.
Originally posted by warfang
No, I think you've already been arrested, tried, convicted, and executed.
Originally posted by Placebo
No, I think you've already been arrested, tried, convicted, and executed.
If we are "Apple employees", then you're a dead-ringer for a typical MACadam cashier: the perfect combination of arrogance and cluelessness.
Originally posted by leisuremonkey
I'm sorry to see any business go under, but I personally think that thier sales went down because they are only open from 9-5, monday-friday... NO evenings, and NO weekends. Before the Apple store opened they could get away with that because they were the only game in town (I live down the streat), but with the Apple store open at more convenient hours, it's makes it kind of unreasonable to go to MACadam during work hours.
i have never understood "banker's hours" for shops like computer places, yet i have seen it often. there was one place in toronto when i lived there that closed at six, and i worked on the other side of town. took me 58 minutes if i made every connection, leaving me a whopping two minutes to handle my business.
i WISH i could work at a job like this. only one or two hours where i would actually have to deal with customers, yet still have the satidfaction of a regular paycheck. nice work if you can get it.
Anyway, this was my experience with MacADAM: I came there once and asked the salesman: "Do you have The Sims for the Mac?" He looked at me with an arrogant expression on his face and said:
"The Sims is *not* for the Mac."
"Yes it is, it came out a week or two ago."
"Well, if it came for the Mac we don't have it."
After a pause where I wondered whether I actually experienced being treated with such disrespect, I turned around and left the store without saying another word.
And it's true that the store is dark and cluttered with junk.
Originally posted by Esper_Wizard
I registered here a while ago and lurk often, but don't make many posts.
Anyway, this was my experience with MacADAM: I came there once and asked the salesman: "Do you have The Sims for the Mac?" He looked at me with an arrogant expression on his face and said:
"The Sims is *not* for the Mac."
"Yes it is, it came out a week or two ago."
"Well, if it came for the Mac we don't have it."
After a pause where I wondered whether I actually experienced being treated with such disrespect, I turned around and left the store without saying another word.
And it's true that the store is dark and cluttered with junk.
Careful Esper, or they might accuse you of being another version of me. Snot-nosed kids tend to think all adults look alike.
And by the way... If we're accused of being Apple employees... I accuse the accusers of being MacAdam employees, or even the crybaby owner himself... even worse than that, one of the scumbag lawyers! I forget to mention the big and dirty dogs they used to have laying half-dead around the store floor. I like dogs, but talk about a tripping hazard!
Originally posted by leisuremonkey
I'm sorry to see any business go under, but I personally think that thier sales went down because they are only open from 9-5, monday-friday... NO evenings, and NO weekends. Before the Apple store opened they could get away with that because they were the only game in town (I live down the streat), but with the Apple store open at more convenient hours, it's makes it kind of unreasonable to go to MACadam during work hours.
That's my whole point. In the beginning, they were the only game in town, so they sat on their advantage and treated customers like crap because they had nowhere else to go. When the apple store opened.. instead of becoming more competitive, outdoing apple in service (it IS possible, the Apple stores are far from perfect, and many of the geniuses are NOT), they took their ball and went home, crying to their mommy-lawyers.
To quote my alledged alter ego Silencio: GOOD RIDDENCE!
Why don't they have a frickin website??? At lease not one I can ever find. A MAC reseller for 16 years without web presence? That's a shame.
Originally posted by n2nrn
Huh, two new guys with very negative views.....sniff, sniff, sniff...
Apple Employees?
But I'm in upstate NY, our "local" independent resellers (3 hr. away) are great. I'm probably wrong.
N2NRN
Nobody said anything about OTHER resellers--they were talking about THIS article about Macadam.
Apple sometimes treats resellers badly--this I believe. But I also would rather root for your NY reseller than for a bad one. Good places should thrive, bad ones shouldn't. It seems possible that Macadam wasn't that great--and thus IS to blame. I haven't been there, but those who have are making me wonder.