Did you upgrade ram at an Apple store...??

Question

my quest to upgrade my mini G4's ram to 1 gig continues.
after numerous calls to the apple store in SoHo and on 5th i was told to just "bring it in" the the store on 5th ave (the soho store being nice enough to tell me they were out of stock on PC3200 RAM -- as it is "so totally old" (their quotes, not mine.)
so i get to the apple store on 5th and am told to proceed to the genius bar for consultation/upgrading. i get to the genius bar and am told that all the slots are filled for the day and have to wait till midnight to make another appointment, even if i want that appointment to be at midnight!
i'm obviously upset. having trecked, not a fantasticly long way, but a pretty long way, in crappy weather, just to have this upgrade done as my bf has a project to do in Flash and would really benifit from having the extra ram this weekend.
so i politely ask what i can do to have the upgrade done today, as i don't want to have to come back, etc etc etc.
i get directed to the cashier line. aparently if i simply buy a stick of ram, they would install it for me for $30 dollars. fair enough -- i was already told over the phone that i would be charged $30 labor and that the whoe thing would be around $200 including the ram.
i get to the cashier, tell her what i need, and she disappears to the back for about 15 minutes and comes back and tells me that they are out of stock on the PC3200 sticks (and makes that fantastic coment mentioned early on in this post.) she then tells me that i might just order it online.
she shows me a list of ram sticks on her iMac screen and points to one that retails for $300.00.. my jaw drops. i can't see much of the specs, but it is PC3200 ram as far as i can see.. and its beyond expensive.
i wish her well, and walk out (well actually i walk around a bit looking for thew MB Pro Core2s, but that dismal experience is for another post enirely.)
so fast forward to right now, and, wanting to link this post to the $300 ram i was shown at the apple store, i poked around the online apple store and found this:
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wo/1.RSLID?nclm= 564A0BD5
i would get a 10% student discount regardless of what apple ram i chose, but obviously $200 is a lot cheaper then $300!
it really phases me every time i see that the people at the apple store are never on the ball. i paid extra money for apple care which means i expect apple to be able to support me (including answering all of my questions) for at least the 3 years that i paid support for. (last time i checked the apple support website, i was still covered under apple care for another 542 days)
in the end i think i am just going to install the ram stick on my own. i already found a modefied putty knife online and its on its way, and i ordered a PC2700 1 gig stick from Newegg as soon as i got back from the apple store.
i'm really tired of this greif. not so much that they were out of stock on the ram -- although i wish they new enough to tell me over the phone like at the SoHo store -- but when they told me the stick would cost $300, it shut me down.
this lil mini is on its way to early retirement, what with a MB Pro Core2 and a 26 inch iMac purschase scheduled for the next few weeks (which i am actually rethinking given the awful experience i had at the apple store last night)
by incorrectly telling me the ram was $300 instead of $200 they helped me make a choice i wouldnt have made if i know the correct price. i would have ordered the ram online and taken it in for installation. it bothers me because it makes me realise that trips to the apple store are useless.
its a shame -- really.
so i'm here venting but also wondering about the experienes you guys have had trying to upgrade the ram at the apple store at some point after the original purhase date. $300 for Ram? c'mon! that's the price of half an entire mini!
would love to know if any of you guys had a more seamless exprience trying to upgrade your ram at the apple store and if any of you had any luck getting them to install 3rd party ram for you.
thanks in advance for taking the time to reply and for indulging me while i vent.

Answer 1

Apple does charge a premium for memory. There must be quite a few other Apple Authorized Service Providers in New York City who can sell you a RAM chip and install it for you while keeping your warranty. You don't have to go to the Apple retail store.
-Doug