My Beyond The Box Shopping Experience

My journey started on a cloudy Wednesday afternoon. I told myself, "This is the day I will buy a 27-inch iMac." I worked hard for this, and I kept telling myself I deserve it. After all the self-motivational thoughts, I went straight to Beyond The Box in V-Mall, Greenhills Shopping Centre.

My Beyond the Box shopping experience

Disclaimer: This is my actual buying story, not a sponsored or paid post

As of 2016, the SRP for a 27-inch iMac with 1TB Fusion Drive is at PHP 103,990 in Beyond the Box, and PHP 104,990 in iStudio.  I would be crazy to walk around with that kind of cash in my backpack, so I decided to use their EPS as a method of payment. I wouldn't want to use my credit card, since I'm also after the 5% discount for cash transactions. Unfortunately, both Apple stores could not complete the payment due to my debit card's limit to electronically pay. The banks were closed, so I couldn't withdraw funds over the counter. I decided to wait another day.

A day later, I decided to try and purchase an iMac in Bonifacio High Street. Walking excitedly, I first went to iStudio and immediately asked for the iMac. The basic iMac with 1TB HDD and the high-end 2TB Fusion Drive were available, but the one I wanted wasn't. And that was the end of my conversation with the iStudio sales lady.

My friend and I frantically searched online for another Apple store in BGC. First up, Beyond The Box Uptown! I decided to call Uptown branch first before going on a walking marathon, but the phone just kept on ringing.

I checked another Beyond The Box branch, so my friend and I decided to head to Market Market.

I was greeted with the usual over-the-top welcome message by the Beyond The Box staff. Just like the other store, I immediately asked about the iMac, and again, my choice was not available. The sales guy tried to up-sell the high-end model, but I wasn't interested since the price is at P 118,990. "Why don't you like the 3.3 GHz?" he asked. It's not that I don't like the additional space and processor speed, it's just that my budget would only fit the mid-level model.

As the sales guy discusses with his supervisor behind the counter, me and my friend discussed our plan to move to SM Aura to have another 'amazing race' for my prize. And then, Kristine (I hope I spelled your name correctly), their supervisor, asked if I can wait. Wait for what? Apparently, she made some calls to have one unit delivered from another branch. At first, they tried calling Uptown, but no one was answering. So, I had to wait 3 - 4 hours for a unit to be delivered from Robinson's Galleria branch.

I paid up and left to stroll along within the depths of Market Market. Around 7PM, 2 hours after I left, they sent me a message that the unit has arrived. To my surprise, the unit came from Uptown branch.

I would like to thank Kristine and the staff of Beyond The Box Market Market for going beyond customer service to get my iMac. Keep doing a great job.

Note: John Luke Chica is a Multimedia Designer and a Wannabe App Developer. He also has 15 years of customer service with Solid Group, Inc., and now runs Grafik Crowd, a design firm that specializes in Graphic Design, Web Design, and App Development. Instagram: @johnnyboyx