It's plain to see Apple customer service is not what it once was. Especially in store.
Agree and disagree.
Agree because for a time there was no where to go but down - even staying status quo would have been going down.
Also, look at what's happened in between the "Golden Age" of Apple Customer Service and now - the iPhone has grown by leaps and bounds and the iPad and Apple Watch have been released. Maintaining the level of Customer Service with the increase of customer base was unsustainable.
Having said that...
I disagree. This is an exception to the rule and not the norm. Apple still has some the best if not the best customer service in the retail business. I been buying and using Apple products for over ten years now and I've never had a bad experience with their customer service. If anything they have gone out of their way to help resolve issues for me. I think this is the ethos behind their business. Obviously there will be the odd bad apple but for the most part they're great.
I have seen Apple provide outstanding Customer Service. From a Personal Experience point of view, I still buy my Apple products at the Apple Store specifically BECAUSE of the excellent customer service.
I would agree that this type of incident is the exception rather than the rule. Yeah, it's not what it once was - I used to be able to walk into any Apple Store and get a Genius appointment within 10-25 minutes and they would know how to troubleshoot and spend as much time with as needed. You wouldn't have to go through the headache.
What do I see today? The last time I went to the Apple Store: My sister's phone wouldn't recognize touches. We tried restarting and wiping/restoring the phone and it didn't work. At the last minute, we decided to pop into the Apple Store - no genius appointment, at 8:00 PM, on a Saturday. We figured they would have her make an appointment for the next available reservation. Sure enough, we walked in and they said they didn't have any more appointments or walk-ins available. Then he said, "Well, we can try some things." He went through a couple troubleshooting steps and it didn't work. He apologized and said a tech would have to do some diagnostic testing and we would have to come back. We understood and appreciated the time he already spent. He then looked thoughtful and took her phone into the back. After five minutes, he came back with her phone and asked if it was backed up, because they would replace it. He sat with us and went through the initial replacement, then had another Apple Store employee sit with her until her phone was fully restored. We didn't raise our voice, complain, or even make any kind of negative remark. We walked in expecting to be turned away and have to make an appointment - we thought we wouldn't loose anything if we tried. Things happened on the spot and everybody in the store was more than gracious, even though we were there 15 minutes past closing. I call that excellent customer service!
