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Steve Jobs Thought Genius Bar Was 'Idiotic' Idea at First, Said 'It'll Never Work'
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SJ was right. I've never had a so-called "genius" be able to fix anything. "Restore" is the only thing their trained to say/do.
Geek Squad isn't bad because they are geeks, or because Apple Geniuses are less geeky and thus better at human interaction.
Geek Squad is bad because their employees don't have passion for the job, and because it is built around a culture of up-selling unnecessary service plans, selling worthless services, lies, and in general ripping off the uneducated customer.
I bought a car remote starter at Best Buy, to be installed by a Geek Squad auto technician. They added work to the work order after I signed it to make it look like I authorized it, lied about the cost estimate, and tried to sell me a protection plan that made zero financial sense.
The Genius Bar was executed wonderfully. Microsoft'a answer desk on the other hand is a disaster, it was a bad experience for me.
I was a Genius from 2007 to 2014, all ACMT certified personnel did repairs in the back AND supported customers up front. There was no division there - what has changed is that back in 2007, store management really wanted technical people, now they just promote solid, enthusiastic specialists and the like.
I'm not surprised. There are no small number of CEOs who have inaccurately called out other ideas...
--Well, Balmer saying the iPhone won't do well at all, which isn't quite on point since he was a CEO of a competing company, but.. I just had to bring that up.
Ray Kroc of McDonalds..
--scoffed at the idea of medium fries and large fries (any other size then the single one at the time). If consumers wanted more fries, they'll just buy 2 orders of fries
--or the idea of fish sandwiches "stinking up my stores". The person who introduced the filet-o-fish did so out of necessity to cater to the Catholic population that abstained from eating meat on Fridays (that's how the other burger joints stayed in business), but he had to pit his creation against Ray Kroc's Hula Burger. The Filet-O-Fish sold 350 sandwiches. Ray Kroc didn't say how many of his burgers he sold, but it was estimated to be around a dozen, with the most common comment... "I like the pineapple, but where's the meat?"
--Well, Balmer saying the iPhone won't do well at all, which isn't quite on point since he was a CEO of a competing company, but.. I just had to bring that up.
Ray Kroc of McDonalds..
--scoffed at the idea of medium fries and large fries (any other size then the single one at the time). If consumers wanted more fries, they'll just buy 2 orders of fries
--or the idea of fish sandwiches "stinking up my stores". The person who introduced the filet-o-fish did so out of necessity to cater to the Catholic population that abstained from eating meat on Fridays (that's how the other burger joints stayed in business), but he had to pit his creation against Ray Kroc's Hula Burger. The Filet-O-Fish sold 350 sandwiches. Ray Kroc didn't say how many of his burgers he sold, but it was estimated to be around a dozen, with the most common comment... "I like the pineapple, but where's the meat?"
Unless of course you own a 2011 rMBP that had a graphics failure, or a 2013 Mac Pro with, you guessed it - a graphics failure…….
I'm not convinced that the people who run Apple are able to communicate effectively with customers since Steve passed.
I've had nothing but good experiences getting things repaired, replaced, etc. at the genius bar. It's getting to that point where it falls apart. Called to make an appointment at a genius bar (New Haven Apple store) to get the battery replaced in my 6s. Dude on the phone makes my appointment for 6pm and tells me it'll take about 20 minutes. When I got there at 6, they told me to drop my phone off and come back in two hours. I told them that the phone guy said it would be 20min and they laughed at me.
I enjoyed the vid. It's always good to see Steve. Miss him.
Yeah, but the average MacRumors member is so far out of the mainstream it's crazy. We're extreme weirdos. We come on here and talk about micro-minutia of Apple every day.
For the most consumers, the Genius Bar is the best thing that ever happened to technology. Try getting technical support at some other store -- it's an exercise in futility. At the Apple store, people at minimum know the basics and are empowered to send off your device to get fixed when it's a bigger problem. But one way or another, you have a really good chance of getting your problem sorted out. Try doing that at whatever place you bought a Asus whateverbook.
The real geeks don't work in retail.
LOL. That's why they have on line appointments. I've done the walk in thing and had to wait a few minutes, but never thought of complaining about it when I took the chance they would be busy and didn't have an appointment.
If I ever need tech support then that's a hardware failure of product. Especially with Apple. You don't need to be a "genius" to offer tech support for any Apple product. The major selling point of Apple software is that "it just works" and the extreme simplification means that anyone should be able to figure out the issue on their own quite easily.
Genius Bar is a convoluted marketing gimmick for simple requests. Merging instructors and tech staff is just an obstacle for those who know exactly what they need. If I need to return a product I know is faulty, I have to make an appointment and then wait in line because someone wants to know how to open a photo in Preview. Then I have to explain the problem, someone has to ask me a lot of dumb questions to reach the same conclusion and then I get a result.
Alternatively go into another store, walk up to customer service and get a replacement or refund in couple of minutes. They may not have the superficial branding gimmick but they sure get to the point faster.
Genius Bar is a convoluted marketing gimmick for simple requests. Merging instructors and tech staff is just an obstacle for those who know exactly what they need. If I need to return a product I know is faulty, I have to make an appointment and then wait in line because someone wants to know how to open a photo in Preview. Then I have to explain the problem, someone has to ask me a lot of dumb questions to reach the same conclusion and then I get a result.
Alternatively go into another store, walk up to customer service and get a replacement or refund in couple of minutes. They may not have the superficial branding gimmick but they sure get to the point faster.
As others have said...I love the concept.
But whenever an apple employee says "alright, lets book you an appointment with a genius," I roll my eyes.
But whenever an apple employee says "alright, lets book you an appointment with a genius," I roll my eyes.
Never been to a real Applestore, those are too busy and the nearest one is too far away.
I think it's an "American" thing, it's also done in newspapers, and many American TV programs do the same.
Repeating in Articles/News/TV programs just to make it longer seems to be the norm rather than an exception.
I think it's an "American" thing, it's also done in newspapers, and many American TV programs do the same.
Repeating in Articles/News/TV programs just to make it longer seems to be the norm rather than an exception.
Fortunately, you are the exception. There's a reason Apple support is number one among consumers and the Genius Bar is a big part of it. The few times members of my family have used it, it has been magically easy and effective. What is most amazing is that they have never not helped me for free on things out of warranty. I've taken a six year old iMac in and they worked on it for twenty minutes and diagnosed it for free and told me how to get it fixed. Nothing like it on the planet.
Presumably MR's posting implies a slow news day, so a little more filler for a filler isn't that surprising.
Once, years ago, I had them install an amp, sub box, and I think head unit as well. First, the tech who was supposed to do it didn't show up on time, then, I sat for 8 hours while they did this...8...hours...for a small Honda Civic Hatch. And to top it off, they actually had the balls to charge me the install charges which was like 250 bucks. I got there at my scheduled time at like 10 in the morning.
The Genius Bar is full of dumbasses. He was right