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Who hates genius bar? The poll
- Thread starter wesk702
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You guys crack me up. 
But to answer your question OP, the Genius Bar of the Apple Store that I visit (Aspen Grove, CO) will probably be the best Genius Bar I will ever visit.
To name just a few examples of what they've done for me:
-Walked me through unjailbreaking when I was new and clueless to iPhone
-Replaced a water-damaged iPhone
And the killer thing that they did for me was that they literally just gave me a free iPhone 3GS when they couldn't find a replacement iPhone 3G for me.
That and they are just good people with an always warm and friendly attitude. Thus, the Genius Bar gets my seal of approval.
But to answer your question OP, the Genius Bar of the Apple Store that I visit (Aspen Grove, CO) will probably be the best Genius Bar I will ever visit.
To name just a few examples of what they've done for me:
-Walked me through unjailbreaking when I was new and clueless to iPhone
-Replaced a water-damaged iPhone
And the killer thing that they did for me was that they literally just gave me a free iPhone 3GS when they couldn't find a replacement iPhone 3G for me.
That and they are just good people with an always warm and friendly attitude. Thus, the Genius Bar gets my seal of approval.
Last year my father passed away and I was asked to create a slideshow of pictures about his life. However, the funeral home, which was still stuck in the dark ages, could only present material on DVD or CD, so Powerpoint/Keynote would not work. I walked into the Apple store in Tyson's Corner VA and asked to see somebody from the Genius bar even though I had no appointment. They were clearly busy, but once they knew that I was trying to setup a presentation for my dad's funeral, an employee on his break volunteered to help me. He took me through the process of using iMovie to do this step by step and made it easy to understand. I and the others who attended the funeral were very happy with the result.
Say what you will about the arrogance of Apple staff, and the unthinking enthusiasm of Apple fanboys, but I cannot think of a company that would have asked their retail staff to spend nearly 30 minutes with a customer who wasn't buying anything.
Say what you will about the arrogance of Apple staff, and the unthinking enthusiasm of Apple fanboys, but I cannot think of a company that would have asked their retail staff to spend nearly 30 minutes with a customer who wasn't buying anything.
I get better responses from random idiots from omegle about apple products that those people from the genius bar.
Sounds to me like the OP entered the Apple store with his butt on his shoulders and they treated him accordingly!
If you don't like the genius bar you can easily get service for your Apple products that match other companies' service departments:
1) Get a phone
2) Play some elevator music
3) Stare at phone for 35 minutes
4) Get a friend to call you and tell you to reset your device
Have fun!
1) Get a phone
2) Play some elevator music
3) Stare at phone for 35 minutes
4) Get a friend to call you and tell you to reset your device
Have fun!
Went to the Apple store in Jax, FL, recently to purchase Applecare+ after I had already bought an iPhone 4s at BB. I was told over the phone that due to FL laws, I couldn't buy AC+ anywhere but in store. While I'm waiting after I was signed in to speak to someone, after about 15 minutes, I got a different employee and told him I just wanted to buy it, didn't need to speak to anyone or anything. He says the only way to buy it is over the phone. Gave him my iPhone while he called whatever dept it was to purchase it. Then another employee came over, I guess who was designated for me from signing in. Figured, since I kept getting random answers previously on the phone, wouldn't hurt to get 2 employees to figure this out. Sure enough, while the one employee is on the phone right in front of me, the other guy comes back and says there's no way to purchase it after the fact and there's nothing he could do. He even said "trust me, if i could sell it to you, i would, it would help my numbers". I was like "Ok, thanks man", the other employee took another 5 minutes and I was on the phone with whatever agent to purchase the AC+, with no issues. Seems like uninformed workers aren't helping the situation. Doesn't matter much now, since today is the last day to purchase it for pre-orderers, though, i'm sure whatever dept this was will be more than willing to help out others that don't buy AC+ from day 1.
You guys crack me up.
But to answer your question OP, the Genius Bar of the Apple Store that I visit (Aspen Grove, CO) will probably be the best Genius Bar I will ever visit.
Hey! Thats the one I go to as well! I agree that they are great at Aspen Grove. They always seem to go above and beyond. Park Meadows has also been very good to me. Both have repaired things for me under warranty, that I was surprised they did. Like when one of those wrist guard protection pads gummed up the lock hinges of a MBP I used to own, or when my nephew tweaked the display on one, warping the display and bending the hinges. I admitted in both cases that the issue was my (or my nephews fault), and in both cases it was repaired.
I have never had any real issues with them. One minor complaint about a run around one tech gave me, sending me home for a cable that they said they didn't actually need when I returned, but the manager profusely applogized and that is the only problem I ever had.
The genius bar has been nothing but good to me. Dropped my iPhone 4 and shortly after the lock button stopped working. They replaced it. The back glass on that one became loose. They replaced the glass, but could still recreate the issue so they replaced it. Then I accidentally knocked it flying into the toilet and fried it. After 5 long weeks with my old bb 8110, I convinced my husband to take it in and just see what they said, prepared to pay the $149 fee. They replaced it, again, for FREE! I am now a fangirl for life, I will never tire of drinking the Apple kool-aid!
I was reading the Time Magazine article on Jobs last night and thinking back to the days before Apple retail stores. I can honestly say: if my town didn't have a retail store I wouldn't have an iPhone. I hated that about my Sidekick, my BB etc. Carrier store reps don't know anything. The Genius bar guys do. Are they always right? No. Are they a big help? Yes.
Are they a helluva lot smarter and more useful that the ridiculous "Geek Squad"? Absolutely.
Are they a helluva lot smarter and more useful that the ridiculous "Geek Squad"? Absolutely.
Exactly.
Early on in my MacbookPro's life, the DVD drive started acting badly. I did a lot of diagnostics at home, including creating a new account on the machine and bringing in some sample DVDs that didn't work.
I was able to relay all this info to the "Genius" and he said, "you've obviously done a good job diagnosing - I'm not going to even bother testing." I left the machine and he quoted 2 days (no charge) and I asked him to try and get it done sooner. This was all at about midnight in the Fifth Avenue (Manhattan) store. When I turned my phone on the next morning, I already had a phone message that the machine was ready.
When I got my iPhone 3G, battery life was very poor. I brought it in and they ran a quick diagnostic. The diagnostic did report back something negative, but not a battery issue. But the tech said, "I don't really see anything wrong, but I'll replace it anyway". And the new phone did turn out to be much better.
Years ago, my daughter had an infant and her laptop on her lap and the infant pushed the screen back and broke the hinge. The machine still worked for a while if they put a book or brick behind the screen. But then the video stopped working. She brought it in and they told her it wasn't worth fixing the screen because it would cost $1500, but she had them fix the video. She got the machine back and they fixed the entire thing, including the screen, presumably by mounting the whole thing in a new case. No charge for anything. You can't ask for better customer service than that. Maybe Apple lost some $$$ on that repair, but they gained a customer for life (more than one, actually).
More recently, I went in to buy the new phone, which I didn't wind up getting because AT&T signup was down, but the sales person I was dealing with didn't know much of anything (but this wasn't someone from the "genius" bar.) He didn't even know that most business users use Exchange and Outlook for email.
I'm sure there is some variance in how qualified the geniuses are and therefore, people have had different experiences, but I suspect someone who simply says, "I hate the genius bar" has probably walked in with a hostile attitude and got bad service as a result. One thing to keep in mind though is that even though Apple tends to pay slightly better than most retail, a "genius" generally makes a small fraction of what someone who supports Macs in a corporation makes, especially if they're also supporting the network. So if the corporate jobs are available, Apple isn't necessarily going to attract the best people, although I'm sure there are many people who prefer working in retail to working in a corporation.
Never had a problem with them. Every problem that I have had with my iPhones have been fixed. Never had to take a Mac in to them.
non-expert knows enough to know when 'genius' is not a genius
a 2-3 hour file transfer from time capsule to new macbook air took *20* hours (I had to leave the store at closing time after waiting for 3 hours, and then I had to wait another 4 hours the next morning). *I* realized at the end of the process that they had used the incorrect cable (they had the time capsule under the counter, so I couldn't see the cable till the transfer was done - and what the hell: why am I a bigger expert on mac cables than the people who work at the Genius Bar?); instead of using the ethernet-to-thunderbolt converter, they used the ethernet-to-USB converter. Needless to say, when I pointed out their error (which cost me a day at work) they did not give themselves the same 'you're an idiot' look that they gave me when I asked them (at hour 16) if this was a normal amount of time for a process that had taken me only 2.5 hours to do at home (with what turned out to be the correct converter). They couldn't have been more condescending to me, and it turns out their head was up their a@@ the whole time. When I'm condescended to, I prefer it be by someone who knows what they are talking about.
a 2-3 hour file transfer from time capsule to new macbook air took *20* hours (I had to leave the store at closing time after waiting for 3 hours, and then I had to wait another 4 hours the next morning). *I* realized at the end of the process that they had used the incorrect cable (they had the time capsule under the counter, so I couldn't see the cable till the transfer was done - and what the hell: why am I a bigger expert on mac cables than the people who work at the Genius Bar?); instead of using the ethernet-to-thunderbolt converter, they used the ethernet-to-USB converter. Needless to say, when I pointed out their error (which cost me a day at work) they did not give themselves the same 'you're an idiot' look that they gave me when I asked them (at hour 16) if this was a normal amount of time for a process that had taken me only 2.5 hours to do at home (with what turned out to be the correct converter). They couldn't have been more condescending to me, and it turns out their head was up their a@@ the whole time. When I'm condescended to, I prefer it be by someone who knows what they are talking about.
They gave me a free iPhone 4S when the stock for white iPhone 4's were done, couldn't be more pleased with the genius bar