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Genius Bar Experiences?

philhyde

philhyde

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 9, 2007
83
0
Hello,

I've owned an eMac for 3 years, as well as several iPods. I'm now the proud owner of an 8GB iPhone. Tomorrow will be 2 weeks. The whole Genius Bar concept is new to me.

Today I visited my local apple store to purchase a case for the iPhone, and also investigate upgrading my eMac to Tiger (or possibly Leopard). There are some apps I want to use that require Tiger, so I figure thats a good reason to upgrade, but I want to know if Tiger or Leopard would be better suited to my 1Ghz G4 eMac.

After I bought my case, I inquired about the OS X which would be best suited to my eMac. The check-out person directed me to go sit at the genius bar and someone would help me. There was already a lady there with a laptop, who was being helped by a Genius.

I sat there for probably 15 minutes, and then decided to ask one of the other “circulating” (sales?) people how I could get some tech help. This person put my name in the computer and gave me an appointment time (about 7 minutes from then). So I sat at the Genius bar again, waiting, the whole while watching this one guy help the lady. I did not see my name or appointment on the screen. My appointment time came and went, and about 5 minutes later I had to leave to get back to work.

I never noticed any other Genius helping people besides this one guy. The store was not crowded at all, but it seemed like there was only one guy helping out of probably 15-20 (?) employees.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

Of course, I'm venting a little here, but I'd really like to understand if I should have done anything different. I guess I could have raised the issue again and asked for a manager, but since it was my first time trying to use the genius bar, I wanted to see if they would eventually get to me or not.
 
I think your experience is normal. The Genius Bar experience for me has been touch and go. There are times when I wait 30 mins for someone to wait on me (even having reservation) and there are other times when they are waiting for me to arrive. If I'm waiting it gives me more time to scope out which new product I want to buy so I don't raise the issue. So many factors play into this experience; however, I did just sign up for a ProCare account but I'm not sure if that helps things.
 
I'm not really all that upset about it, since I was going there anyways. I would have been furious if I had an appointment and this happened.

Apple is renowned for products with a simple, elegant design that 'just works'. Why can't their support model work the same way? No way in hell I'd pay extra for that kind abuse, you can be certain.
 
Well I found this out the hard way too. I did the same thing you did a few years back. You do have to have an appt to see a person on the Genius bar and sometimes they do get backed up. Well I complained and winded up getting pro care so every time I hit the store I slap down the card and get great service. I really would have never paid 99.00 for it but since it was free I'm going to take advantage of it
 
I've had good experiences with the Genius bar, even with waiting. I think it depends too on time of day. If you can get there mid-afternoon on a Wednesday they might have more time since it's slow...just a thought.
 
question fear said:
I've had good experiences with the Genius bar, even with waiting. I think it depends too on time of day. If you can get there mid-afternoon on a Wednesday they might have more time since it's slow...just a thought.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it definitely depends on the time of day you are there. The Genius bar is like any other customer service device though, sometimes things get backed up and we are forced to wait a bit. I've been to my local Apple Store genius bar twice this week and both time had to wait beyond my appointment time, but I didn't mind since I love looking around the store anyway. When they did finally get to me they gave me excellent service that was definitely worth waiting for. Now that you've been and see how the system works, next time go online a day or so before you plan on going to the Apple store and make your appointment for a time that is convenient for you. Just make sure to plan for some waiting time in case they get backed up.
 
For what it's worth, I was there mid-day on a Wednesday! :D

The Genius Bar was not backed up - I was one of two people there. The issue was only one Genius. I just found it odd that there were umpteen jillion sales associates, and only one Genius.

The system is clearly not perfect. If they are able to go in and immediately schedule an appointment for 7 minutes later, then the system should take into account how many people are currently staffed, etc.
 
It seems like they have pre-set time slots with the assumption that visits won't take more than say ten or fifteen minutes. That's the problem, I've noticed as appointments later in the day are often later than they were set-- because the earlier appointments took longer than the default time.

Also, I'm betting that there are more sales associates than Geniuses as the Geniuses have to go through certified training (which would in turn cost Apple more) and so there are fewer of them.
 
philhyde said:
Yeah but one for the whole store?
Click to expand...

Just b/c there is only one on the floor doesn't mean their are none in the back room fixing machines. I thought the same thing and over heard one Genius saying he had to go back and do some repairs and a new Genius came out...
 
Up to this point, all of my genius bar appointments have been helpful. I have had to wait for a bit of time for some of them, but never more than 10 or 15 minutes.

I'm sure it varies by store though, but for what it's worth, the stores I've been to in south Florida and the Chicago area have given me great service.
 
I've had one genius bar appointment so far. When I arrived at the store, it was packed. I only waited 20 minutes past the scheduled time to get serviced, but I can now understand why wait times may be the way they are. When I did get service, the genius was very thorough and I felt as if I was an important customer. They eventually solved my problem and I walked away satisfied.

I don't wish to visit the genius bar too often but if I have to, I would hope the experience will be similar to the first.
 
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