ProCare - Any Good?

[Mr Skills]

I was thinking that my parents could get Pro Care at the new local Apple Store (Kingston, UK) as it seems a very cheap way for my mum to get one-on-one Mac lessons. I'm a little worried, though, because it's a small store in a big town and so far it is always packed.

Does anyone with experience of Pro Care know if they have problems with people not being able to get slots etc? Are they pretty good at making sure the service is not oversubscribed?

 

[Silentwave]

One of the key advantages of ProCare is you get to book much further in advance than regular customers. They will make the time for you if necessary. Once I was at an apple store and they needed a particular station for the ProCare appointment, so they politely told me to move to the next mac pro

As a ProCare member i didn't mind

 

[OllyW]

My friend has taken it out and is learning Final Cut at the Bullring store.

He doesn't seem to have any problems booking sessions and is really impressed with the tuition he has received so far.

 

[Turkish]

You nailed it.

ProCare's biggest advantage is 52 one-hour individual sessions (one per week for a year) with a Creative at any Apple Store.

You get a yearly tune-up, advance Genius appointments, fast-track repairs and some other goodies, too.

 

[ronni3]

Wow I had no idea that ProCare gave you so much. I had been considering it for some time now, and I may get it in the next few weeks.

 

[Mr Skills]

That's great!

I will recommend it to them then - thanks for the help!

 

[Mr Skills]

Actually, just one more question....

Will they only give tutorials on Apple products?

For example, if my mum wants to learn about word processing, would she have to buy a copy of Pages, or will she be allowed to learn Word or Open Office?

Equally, she uses hotmail, which is web only; will they teach her the steps needed to email pictures, or would they only do this with mail.app?

 

[Grimace]

Only Apple products.

Technically, ProCare only covers iLife and the current Operating System. If the in-house Creative Genii or staff know the Pro software titles (Aperture, Final Cut etc) then you can get tutorials on those too.

When I worked for Apple, I got to design some of the marketing materials for ProCare. When you think about it, the service is really amazing. Not so much for us geeks, but for older people (70% of the ProCare market) it is fantastic to have someone sit down with you and help with what you want to do for less than $2 per hour session.

 

[Mr Skills]

Just in case anyone does a search for this topic in future, I'll mention that it apparently includes "all Apple consumer applications", which I am assuming includes iWork, unless someone corrects me.

 

[MagicWok]

New Apple Shop in Kingston?!

I always thought that there would be one. Graduated recently from Kingston Uni - had no idea one opened up. Typical it would open after my course finished lol

Haven't been back to Kingston in a while, I take it is somewhere in the Bentalls centre? Photo's?