On November 9th, according to a post by blogger Louis Rossmann, some employees of Apple Store's direct-operated stores in certain regions of the United States have, without the customers' full knowledge and consent, automatically subscribed them to trial auto-renewal services such as Apple One.

IT has learned that when customers visit Apple Store, the staff will ask if they would like to scan a QR code to enjoy a personalized shopping experience. If the customer agrees, the staff can use the equipment provided by the company to view the customer's information, which includes the customer's Apple devices, subscribed Apple services, as well as subscription discounts based on recent purchase records.

Then the staff can show the available discounts to the customer, and two buttons, "Agree" and "Decline," will appear on the screen. If the customer clicks "Agree," as long as the default payment method associated with the customer's Apple account has not expired, the system will automatically use that payment method to activate the subscription.

It is reported that Apple continued to require its employees to meet the "service addition rate" target until the beginning of last week. In some cases, employees were required to achieve a 40% target. This means that for every 10 devices sold, at least one or more additional subscription services had to be provided for 4 people.

According to anonymous customers, some Apple Store employees do not fully explain that fees will be automatically deducted after the trial period ends when promoting their services. For example, some hastily complete the entire process and even present the trial subscription as a "gift," directly clicking the consent button on behalf of the customers, all in order to increase their own KPI.

According to technology media MacRumors, Apple canceled this KPI last week. The company's explanation is that this metric has little reference value during the holiday shopping season, as customers often purchase devices to give to others.

Just late last week, Apple sent an internal memo to its employees at Apple Store, reminding them to respect customer privacy and ensure that customers are fully informed. The memo specifically mentioned scenarios such as subscribing to trial services and using personalized shopping experiences. It also covered matters related to Apple Upgrade plan registration and Genius Bar repair authorization.