I wonder if they actually spend more time than they otherwise would. I have yet to see a store employee walk away when a customer was still asking questions.
Good catch. It's up to us to keep Apple on its toes!
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Apple ProCare, One-to-One and Personal Shopping
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You're still going to get the great customer service at an Apple Store. You are making statements based on false pretenses. Allow me to explain.
Not everyone who walks into an Apple Store buys a computer. For the most part, those who do come in to buy a computer had already decided before stepping inside the store that they wanted to buy one. With that said, "personal shopping" was made for these people so that they could get uninterrupted individualized attention in buying a computer.
For switchers or new time computer users, buying a computer is a big deal and most are intimidated by the whole process. It's not like grabbing an iPod case off the shelf. Apple is trying to make the process as painless as possible to them. That doesn't mean that they are going to ignore other customers, just that they want to make sure customers who are walking in to buy a computer get the best buying experience possible.
This is not for the experienced Mac user but it will be great for a wider circle of people. While hanging around the local Apple store I listened to a woman buy Pro Care. She was switching over from windows, she wanted to make DVDs and thought iMovie looked great. She was a busy person and when they quoted her the price she thought it was cheap. Perhaps the windows people are used to higher prices. My wife's friend has paid hundreds of dollars from time to time to rid her computer of viruses.
ProCare is not for Pros
The feature list for ProCare is pretty much superficial.
Complete Set-up: transfering files from one system to another. OS X pretty much does this for you.
Rapid Repair: "Next in line, first on bench"? Does anyone know what this really means? Advanced reservations make this a mute point.
Advanced Reservations: the only thing I've ever used, but not worth $99.
Yearly Tune-up: please. They clean your computer. You can't manage that? They run diagnostics. You have the disc, put it in and run it yourself. Are you really going to go to all the trouble of unplugging your Mac, boxing it up, bringing it to an Apple store, and dropping it off while they do this?
Fast Track: nothing about the Genius Bar is fast. I have always been told to make a reservation every time I have come in to drop off a repair or have a question. Apple lists this as a benefit but apparently has failed to train their employees on how to implement it.
Backup Consultation: certainly not for Pros. Any competent computer user backs up their system. You do back up your system right? Besides, Leopard's Time Machine will make this irrelevant.
Maybe Apple should call it NewbCare. Sadly, ProCare is just not worth it anymore without the personal training.
The feature list for ProCare is pretty much superficial.
Complete Set-up: transfering files from one system to another. OS X pretty much does this for you.
Rapid Repair: "Next in line, first on bench"? Does anyone know what this really means? Advanced reservations make this a mute point.
Advanced Reservations: the only thing I've ever used, but not worth $99.
Yearly Tune-up: please. They clean your computer. You can't manage that? They run diagnostics. You have the disc, put it in and run it yourself. Are you really going to go to all the trouble of unplugging your Mac, boxing it up, bringing it to an Apple store, and dropping it off while they do this?
Fast Track: nothing about the Genius Bar is fast. I have always been told to make a reservation every time I have come in to drop off a repair or have a question. Apple lists this as a benefit but apparently has failed to train their employees on how to implement it.
Backup Consultation: certainly not for Pros. Any competent computer user backs up their system. You do back up your system right? Besides, Leopard's Time Machine will make this irrelevant.
Maybe Apple should call it NewbCare. Sadly, ProCare is just not worth it anymore without the personal training.
Money grab
Rather disappointed to see this rumor come true.
The bottom line is that Apple just doubled the price of ProCare for a new user. Tag $100 to an already expensive system.
This would have pushed the iMac 20" that my Mom was already straining to purchase out of range. She's a PC convert but this would have put her back on a Dell. Note she is really happy with her iMac 20".
To be clear, I will not pay double when I pickup my Wife an iMac and my kids a MacBook. In fact, it makes me think of taking another look at the Windows options.
I am not a huge fan of Apple Care as it is just not feasible for business users or anyone that users their machine for any type of work. I cannot wait 2 days to a week or even month to get my machine running. I need a part (or new machine) overnight and that is easy with a Windows machine. What I am saying here is that it if they actually improved the service that would be one thing but instead they just doubled the cost ... Sheeez ... nice PR move.
Rather disappointed to see this rumor come true.
The bottom line is that Apple just doubled the price of ProCare for a new user. Tag $100 to an already expensive system.
This would have pushed the iMac 20" that my Mom was already straining to purchase out of range. She's a PC convert but this would have put her back on a Dell. Note she is really happy with her iMac 20".
To be clear, I will not pay double when I pickup my Wife an iMac and my kids a MacBook. In fact, it makes me think of taking another look at the Windows options.
I am not a huge fan of Apple Care as it is just not feasible for business users or anyone that users their machine for any type of work. I cannot wait 2 days to a week or even month to get my machine running. I need a part (or new machine) overnight and that is easy with a Windows machine. What I am saying here is that it if they actually improved the service that would be one thing but instead they just doubled the cost ... Sheeez ... nice PR move.
If you wanted training, or if someone who worked for you needed training, $99 per year is a fantastic deal. They will do up to 50 sessions for the $99 price. The trainner is getting 1/3rd of minimum wage if you take full advantage of the program. If they will cover professional uses of the Mac I may sign up. 50 hours of FCP instruction for $99? 50 hours of support for porting my C++ code to xcode But I suspect they only cover the very basics for beginning users
A subscription help desk
If you live next to an Apple Store (say 30 miles) think you'll need the services, the ProCare is well worth the price. I'm glad that Apple did not offer in-home support because it leaves the independent Mac Techs available for in-home services.
If you live next to an Apple Store (say 30 miles) think you'll need the services, the ProCare is well worth the price. I'm glad that Apple did not offer in-home support because it leaves the independent Mac Techs available for in-home services.
You've got it wrong. this does not add to the cost of your mom's iMac.
This is NOT "Apple Care" it's "Pro Care" and "OnetoOne" those are three different programs Apple offers. You can buy one, none or all three. Most people will buy "Apple Care" and ignore the other two. This recent change does not effect Apple care.
"Apple Care" is the extended wareny. "ProCare is an upgrade to Apple care whwere you get to go to the head of the line and not have to wait. "OnetoOne" is like hiring a personal training at the gym, some one to stand there and tell you what to do.
If this will cause you go go back to Dell. You better first find out what Dell charges to have a Dell customer rep sit with you one on one and teach you how to use your new Dell and how many times will the Dell guy do this? Will Dell provide a person to sit with you every week for an entire year? I doubt it.
I see lots of value - 2.5 hour turn around for me in Palo Alto
I just bought it when I took my 9 month old MacBook in for service. I dropped it off at 2pm. When I got home there was a message (4:30pm) that my computer was ready for pick up. They replaced the CDRW drive and keyboard bezel. That service is well worth $99.00 to me.
Further, I asked if they had Dreamweaver classes. My genius said no but if I found an Apple Store (lots here in Nor Cal) that had someone with DW experience, I could book them for my personal training. Let's see, if I just book 4 sessions over the next year to improve my website, that is $25.00 per. Oh, and I already got 2.5 hour turnaround on my repair. You can also reserve the genius of your choice and develop a face to face relationship (gasp) with a human! I have had excellent results with the phone people but it always takes some time and training is not available.
This is another brilliant move for Apple. Remember how much trouble people had setting up their HD TVs after the Christmas rush? Sure, all the hard core technies will pooh pooh it, but for everyone from the tech savvy with better things to do with their time than play 'let's try this' to Joe and Jane Regular, this is huge. And adult children everywhere will buy it for their parents so they are not having to play technical assistant over the phone with the senior set (can you say "Happy Mother's Day"?).
I just bought it when I took my 9 month old MacBook in for service. I dropped it off at 2pm. When I got home there was a message (4:30pm) that my computer was ready for pick up. They replaced the CDRW drive and keyboard bezel. That service is well worth $99.00 to me.
Further, I asked if they had Dreamweaver classes. My genius said no but if I found an Apple Store (lots here in Nor Cal) that had someone with DW experience, I could book them for my personal training. Let's see, if I just book 4 sessions over the next year to improve my website, that is $25.00 per. Oh, and I already got 2.5 hour turnaround on my repair. You can also reserve the genius of your choice and develop a face to face relationship (gasp) with a human! I have had excellent results with the phone people but it always takes some time and training is not available.
This is another brilliant move for Apple. Remember how much trouble people had setting up their HD TVs after the Christmas rush? Sure, all the hard core technies will pooh pooh it, but for everyone from the tech savvy with better things to do with their time than play 'let's try this' to Joe and Jane Regular, this is huge. And adult children everywhere will buy it for their parents so they are not having to play technical assistant over the phone with the senior set (can you say "Happy Mother's Day"?).
This is for repairs 'in back'. When your machine needs to go in back for a repair/etc, it's a FIFO/queue. "rapid repair" means you get to cut to the front of the line. Can reduce 2-4 days into 0-1 days. Secret is they won't tell you how 'backed up' they may be, so you could be paying for nothing... You'll never know.
My experience with ProCare has been exactly the same. The so-called "Geniuses" at the Apple Stores in Tokyo (Ginza and Shibuya) don't seem to care a bit that I'm a ProCare member. There's always a 30-minute (or longer) wait BEYOND the appointed time to see a Genius, and the times I've needed repairs, they didn't have the parts. Once, they told me they had the part, but the repair (flickering screen on my MacBook) would take 5 days. (It ended up taking 3 days.)
I've never taken advantage of the yearly "tune-ups" and cleanings. Before my membership expires (I won't be renewing), I'm going to bring in my MacBook along with my PowerBook Lombard and my PowerBook 2400 for "tune-ups," just to make them do some actual work for my $99.
I guess I lucked out--I went in on May 1 to buy ProCare and several of the Apple folks said I was lucky because it was changing the next day, but that anyone who bought it before the split would get the old terms.
So I'll be using all the training sessions--I feel like I know my way around Macs fairly well, but not brilliantly, and so I hope that I'll learn some new things. Also, the store I go to--Cherry Creek in Denver--has quite a repair queue, so I'll be able to cut in line if necessary.
Can't say I blame Apple for changing the system--for $99 it seemed to me like a great deal.
Best,
Bob
So I'll be using all the training sessions--I feel like I know my way around Macs fairly well, but not brilliantly, and so I hope that I'll learn some new things. Also, the store I go to--Cherry Creek in Denver--has quite a repair queue, so I'll be able to cut in line if necessary.
Can't say I blame Apple for changing the system--for $99 it seemed to me like a great deal.
Best,
Bob
I took a friend who cautiously was thinking of switching.
But the cult-like minded idiot staff person could not stop babbling about 'Applecare' and kept pestering/pressuring her to purchase it.
Had I not stopped her, she would have walked right out of the store.
She bought the Macbook black, but declined the Applecare.
She still wonders why Macs carry only a one year warranty, unlike the 2 year that PCs carry.
This turns OFF many a would-be switcher, APPLE.
But the cult-like minded idiot staff person could not stop babbling about 'Applecare' and kept pestering/pressuring her to purchase it.
Had I not stopped her, she would have walked right out of the store.
She bought the Macbook black, but declined the Applecare.
She still wonders why Macs carry only a one year warranty, unlike the 2 year that PCs carry.
This turns OFF many a would-be switcher, APPLE.
Apple's In Store Advertising For One On One.
I was at the Apple Store today and had my camera on me.
Here are two pics of the in store advertising for One On One:
Above the box cut out of the people it says," Excersise Your Brain. Personal Training At The Apple Store.
The store was packed with people getting one on one training and it was full of staff members testing out products with people. Guess this One On One thing is catching on pretty fast!
I was at the Apple Store today and had my camera on me.
Here are two pics of the in store advertising for One On One:
The store was packed with people getting one on one training and it was full of staff members testing out products with people. Guess this One On One thing is catching on pretty fast!
So they raised the price? But i guess you will get more specialized service...maybe. I don't know why they did this.
One-on-One Training in Pro Software
From the Apple website:
Personal training sessions are designed to move at your pace and provide the support and guidance you need, whether youre new to Mac or ready to master the latest pro software.
Although it depends on the staff training at each store - pro training is available through this program. 50 sessions in a pro app = a great deal!
From the Apple website:
Personal training sessions are designed to move at your pace and provide the support and guidance you need, whether youre new to Mac or ready to master the latest pro software.
Although it depends on the staff training at each store - pro training is available through this program. 50 sessions in a pro app = a great deal!
New Procare and OneToOne really is worth the cost
I was really disappointed to hear the negative response to the new Procare and OneToOne services, I headed over to my local Apple Store and got the scoop, so to start my rant, first, if you are on posting in this forum, you do not need OneToOne, but go to any Apple Store and you can see how usefull of a service this is to 90% of people who buy it, im not sure about your local Apple Stores, but at mine, the creative is top-notch, he always answers all my questions, even about Pro-apps, and the few times I have stumped him, he actually emailed the engineers at Apple that he knows and gave me their responses! You can't get one introductory training session for $99 ANYWHERE, much less 52 one hour sessions on Final Cut. Plus, its a moot point, but they give you a pen and notebook to keep track of your sessions and the specialist I talked to said the sessions are more structured now and you can actually request to see a certain specialist/creative everytime you come if you want which is awesome for me because I have a good relationship with the one creative. I also want to stress, at no time, have I EVER EVER EVER felt like / tried to be sold anything, during any of my procare sessions, never did I think the creative was thinking of anything but training me, did procare sessions lead to me buying software or products at the Apple Store a few times? Yes, but those were my choices, not bs a salesperson pushed on me.
Off the bat, the other Procare services before, really well, they sucked, alot, it was muddy and confusing, no one really knew what fast-track was or anything, but the new procare is really much more structured and focused.
Firstly it is being totally refocused on business users, you can apply it to up to 3 computers now.
Complete setup: (while its super easy to do from an old mac to a new one), is focused on users switching from a PC to a mac which the included migration assistant WILL NOT transfer, and many people have no idea how to do themselves anyway, and for a comparison geek squad charges $130 to do this alone, nothing else.
Advanced Reservations: meh, self explanitory.
Yearly tune-up: nice for non-technical users, people with no time, buisness users, I never used this service, im not sure if many people did
Backup Consultation: Sitting at the Bar for sessions, you have no idea how many sob stories I overheard of people who had no idea how to backup, that harddrives fail, balh blah blah, the consultation could be nice if you need it.
Fast track: These next two are big, I was really really frustrated with the confusion of the fast track of old, but with the new Procare service you can drop off your computer if you cant get in to see a genius, and if you can, fast track is a way to see you as soon as possible, before you had to wait for someone to show up late to an appointment or whatever till you were fit in, now the way I was told it, you walk in, you show them your card, and no matter what, you are the next person in line. No ifs ands or buts.
Rapid repairs: This is truly, finally worth the $99, in the old procare, rapid repairs was like, oh we have the part in, we will try to get to you first, now, rapid repairs is, "first on the bench" which I was told means, if they have the part in stock (all mine have been, although this seems to vary from store to store) after your problem is diagnosed, the genius literally takes your computer in back and someone starts on it immediately, no waiting no, well we are busy, its here it is, fix it NOW.
Maybe I drank the cool-aid, I don't know, all I want to say is that I love my procare membership, I love the sessions, and I love the Apple Store. So its $4 a session instead of $2 now, If what I was told was true, and Apple keeps its word (I will be using my remaining Procare membership to test this) its still the best computer training / service money can buy.
(PS. I think my Apple Store is one of the best out there from what I have read from others)
I was really disappointed to hear the negative response to the new Procare and OneToOne services, I headed over to my local Apple Store and got the scoop, so to start my rant, first, if you are on posting in this forum, you do not need OneToOne, but go to any Apple Store and you can see how usefull of a service this is to 90% of people who buy it, im not sure about your local Apple Stores, but at mine, the creative is top-notch, he always answers all my questions, even about Pro-apps, and the few times I have stumped him, he actually emailed the engineers at Apple that he knows and gave me their responses! You can't get one introductory training session for $99 ANYWHERE, much less 52 one hour sessions on Final Cut. Plus, its a moot point, but they give you a pen and notebook to keep track of your sessions and the specialist I talked to said the sessions are more structured now and you can actually request to see a certain specialist/creative everytime you come if you want which is awesome for me because I have a good relationship with the one creative. I also want to stress, at no time, have I EVER EVER EVER felt like / tried to be sold anything, during any of my procare sessions, never did I think the creative was thinking of anything but training me, did procare sessions lead to me buying software or products at the Apple Store a few times? Yes, but those were my choices, not bs a salesperson pushed on me.
Off the bat, the other Procare services before, really well, they sucked, alot, it was muddy and confusing, no one really knew what fast-track was or anything, but the new procare is really much more structured and focused.
Firstly it is being totally refocused on business users, you can apply it to up to 3 computers now.
Complete setup: (while its super easy to do from an old mac to a new one), is focused on users switching from a PC to a mac which the included migration assistant WILL NOT transfer, and many people have no idea how to do themselves anyway, and for a comparison geek squad charges $130 to do this alone, nothing else.
Advanced Reservations: meh, self explanitory.
Yearly tune-up: nice for non-technical users, people with no time, buisness users, I never used this service, im not sure if many people did
Backup Consultation: Sitting at the Bar for sessions, you have no idea how many sob stories I overheard of people who had no idea how to backup, that harddrives fail, balh blah blah, the consultation could be nice if you need it.
Fast track: These next two are big, I was really really frustrated with the confusion of the fast track of old, but with the new Procare service you can drop off your computer if you cant get in to see a genius, and if you can, fast track is a way to see you as soon as possible, before you had to wait for someone to show up late to an appointment or whatever till you were fit in, now the way I was told it, you walk in, you show them your card, and no matter what, you are the next person in line. No ifs ands or buts.
Rapid repairs: This is truly, finally worth the $99, in the old procare, rapid repairs was like, oh we have the part in, we will try to get to you first, now, rapid repairs is, "first on the bench" which I was told means, if they have the part in stock (all mine have been, although this seems to vary from store to store) after your problem is diagnosed, the genius literally takes your computer in back and someone starts on it immediately, no waiting no, well we are busy, its here it is, fix it NOW.
Maybe I drank the cool-aid, I don't know, all I want to say is that I love my procare membership, I love the sessions, and I love the Apple Store. So its $4 a session instead of $2 now, If what I was told was true, and Apple keeps its word (I will be using my remaining Procare membership to test this) its still the best computer training / service money can buy.
(PS. I think my Apple Store is one of the best out there from what I have read from others)
I agree with 1337 macSauce - I've gotten value from ProCare, because I am not quite in the same league as most of you guys. I am disappointed I have to pay $198 for what I used to pay $99 for, but I am going to use the remaining 10 months of my ProCare (yes, you are grandfathered in) to try out both services and will probably go with the $198 for both.
Speaking as a new MacBook user but a PC user since '86, I think this is a really smart move on Apple's part.
If a Mac user can't bother to learn how to operate a PC, or isn't motivated enough to self-educate, then yes, they deserve to be soaked for $198/year, every year, until they no longer need to spend that money.
As for rapid repairs, if you really need it, pay the $99/year (on top of the $249 or $349 you paid for 3 year AppleCare) to get expedited in-store service. $99 is a good deal as long as other ProCare repairs aren't ahead of you, your PC doesn't have to be sent off-site for major repairs, you didn't need any repairs for that year, or you don't have a backup PC to work with.
I really hope this helps subsidize the cost of the services they previously provided for $99.
If a Mac user can't bother to learn how to operate a PC, or isn't motivated enough to self-educate, then yes, they deserve to be soaked for $198/year, every year, until they no longer need to spend that money.
As for rapid repairs, if you really need it, pay the $99/year (on top of the $249 or $349 you paid for 3 year AppleCare) to get expedited in-store service. $99 is a good deal as long as other ProCare repairs aren't ahead of you, your PC doesn't have to be sent off-site for major repairs, you didn't need any repairs for that year, or you don't have a backup PC to work with.
I really hope this helps subsidize the cost of the services they previously provided for $99.
These negative responses, and indeed the high number of negative ratings for the article is pretty odd to me. I'm starting to get the impression that people think that Apple strongarms us into buying ProCare. Anyone who's interested in the service would do well to simply research it before making a decision. If one decides he or she wants this service, what difference does it make for those who believe they don't need it?
Which Apple store do you go to? I used to have the old Pro Care a year ago and have had a horrible experience where I brought in to get my logic board and powerbook display repaired but they didn't have the part... it was going to be a few days, then a week then more than a week. It got to the point where I just demanded a powerbook since this is false advertising. I didn't get pro care to just wait that long or even have the Pro Care cost refunded to me when I have to wait that long to get my repairs. Why would I get the Pro Care in the first place if this is the case?
My mbp is in need of repairs right now, the latch has some how broke and not closing properly, and the monitor is exhibiting the ever popular uneven lighting. It just gets worst over time with these displays. I want to bring it in for repairs and NEED my computer practically everyday cause of work etc, I am considering getting the pro care again to hopefully speed up my repairs (instead of the week or so line up non-pro care users have).
But for 99$ I am EXTREMELY hestitant. What are other procare user's experiences?
I'm interested in the "pro training of software" and would consider looking into it if it covered certain programs I have an interest in.
I guess we just need to see how this new one on one approach pans out...this may be in response to a lot of complaints about Apple Retail Stores in general; I know I have my fair share with regard to poor service.
I guess we just need to see how this new one on one approach pans out...this may be in response to a lot of complaints about Apple Retail Stores in general; I know I have my fair share with regard to poor service.