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Why Are Geniuses so Ungodly Unhelpful?

In your experience, do you find "mac geniuses" to be helpful?

  • Yes, I have always been satisfied - nice guys/girls and extremely knowledgeable.

    Votes: 21 30.9%

  • For the most part - they've provided insight that I couldn't have gained elsewhere.

    Votes: 10 14.7%

  • Not really - Don't like the attitude, and not particularly helpful.

    Votes: 25 36.8%

  • No - they are providing a service solely for the technologically-impaired.

    Votes: 12 17.6%
  • Total voters
    68
Shacklebolt

Shacklebolt

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 2, 2004
596
0
I've found the "geniuses" at the "genius bar" to be really, really snarky, and in general, not particularly helpful. They remind me of docents at museums; they don't really know anything about the art in the museum - they have just read a manual on how to give tours.

I went in for a problem with my keyboard, and asked him what he would have done in my situation - his response: "I would have picked up one of my other three laptops and used that instead." Thanks a lot.

See attached:
 
You most likely got a punk kid as a genius. The ones I deal with are really nice and most of the time over worked with all the repairs going on.
 
I agree...

with you in that situation, and I would have taken it a step further. First get the genius' name, then ask to speak with the Store Manager or the Manager On Duty, (hopefully he/she is not either). Make your concerns known to the SM or MOD and don't have the genius standing right next to you. 9 out of 10 times the presence of the genius while you are talking to a manager can only escalate your discomfort and impair the manager's ability to make a decision that counters what the genius had just told you. I've always made this a common practice when dealing with Apple employees, and it seems to work. Hope this helps! :cool:
 
I think the choices in the poll are a bit (ok, more than a bit) biased, but personally I feel I know as much, if not more, than the Apple geniuses. Or at least the ones at my local store.
 
The ones in the Mall of America Apple Store are extremely helpful, knowledgible, and nice, whereas another one around my house, the geniuses are just punks. So it really depends on the store.
 
The genius bar thang is smoke and mirrors. The chances of them fixing a serious problem is next to zero. And if they are helpful then eventually they'll be too busy to deal with half of the bazillion customers a store has.
 
Another thought here.

There are some people in the world, quite a few actually, who seem to feel that it is their God given and Constitutional right to verbally abuse, browbeat, berate, and belittle any employee of a company that they have bought something from if said employee doesn't stop the rotation of the planets to solve their problem immediately. This has a tendency to foster a "bunker mentality" in some sales and service people that deal with customers. Dealing face to face with customers is not for the thin skinned.

That poor schmuck behind the counter doesn't make Apple policy, he just has to work within it. You may have been completely reasonable and pleasant, but that doesn't mean the last three people he waited on were, and he may have been defensive.

I've found that if you are bright and cheerful, friendly, and nice they'll do anything for you, ( within reason). Foster an attitude of "Hey, it's me and you, we're going to fix this up!", and they'll bend over backwards. In other words, if you're not another brick in the endless wall of jerks that stroll through this guys life every day, you'll stand out, and he'll be grateful to help you any way he can. If you go in with an adversarial attitude, you'll end up with an adversary. Make him an ally.

On the other hand, the guy may have just been an a**hole. It's not like their in short supply.
 
I have had actually very good experiences with the Mac Geniuses. They have always been helpful, mostly they just take in my Mac to get repaired but never have I had an issue with them.
 
I only use the Genius Bar when I have a serious problem (e.g. hard drive failure, case cracking, etc.) so it's not like I ever need 'help' per se, so much as I am dropping the machine off for repairs.

That said, I have always found the Geniuses to be pleasant enough... I cannot say they have ever done anything 'special' for me, but I've never had any complaints with the service at my Apple Store.
 
Its because the minute they finally realize they know what they are doing, they quit and get a job with Homeland Security making $75,000 a year starting. That is how IT has always been. Tech support people are all newbs making minimum wage.
 
trip1ex said:
The genius bar thang is smoke and mirrors. The chances of them fixing a serious problem is next to zero. And if they are helpful then eventually they'll be too busy to deal with half of the bazillion customers a store has.
Click to expand...

When I first purchased it, I took my MBP to the bar to resolve a lockup problem when I hooked up an external monitor - the computer would completely freeze and never return.

As I sat there for 45 minutes (I was 15 minutes early and they were 30 minutes late in getting to me) I saw them help dozens of people quite well. Various problems from crashed drives, to just not knowing how to do things properly. The vast majority of customers left much happier than when they arrived.

For myself however, the guy told me nothing I didn't already understand better than he did, and his only real suggestion was to "run repair disk permissions". Thanks for nothing.

Oh, not totally true. His other suggestion was to "leave the external monitor plugged in all the time so you don't have to reboot".
 
please dont get me started on this .... they piss me off,

their attitude is what does it. They think they are some sorta god. When I prob no more than they know about a mac. They talk to you like you have no idea what you are talking about...


grrrrrrrrrr:mad:


love the store though!:D
 
Must be from the same species that inhabits EB games and most computer shops the world over. You can usually identify them by their heavy mouth breathing, bad taste in clothing and the propensity to drag their feet wherever they go.

As an aside the last time I went to an EBGames the guy was so obnoxious and rude I wanted to reach over the counter and grab his 5 foot 2 frame and force feed him the DS I had just purchased for my kid.
 
In follow-up to my previous response, I'll say I've not had bad experiences per say with the Apple geniuses, but each time I've asked a question that I didn't know the answer to, neither did they. But they've always been pleasant.
 
The kids that work the Genius Bar at the Coconut Point Apple Store in Estero, Florida are very friendly and helpful. Guess it's hit and miss. Maybe management has something to do with it.
 
I use the term Genius loosely.....after all it's just a job title. But I also feel that the ones at my local bar are great people and fairly knowledgeable. It's all relative about computer knowledge.
 
Personally I'm probably more knowledgeable on tech than geniuses, but they are generally fairly helpful.
 
Believe me, I've spent my time in the service industry also, and I understand that you're going to have to deal with people who are mad at your for things you have next to no control over. But in my first experience with one, he took my computer, ran software update, and said, "Unless you can force a kernel panic right now, that should be it," and the second time, in response to the keys falling off my keyboard (2 year old mbp), it was like talking to a machine. I understand that answers are going to be somewhat programmatic, but all this guy did was rudely quote me apple policy, and above all, he didn't seem to know much about the computer itself. Besides, I wouldn't be surprised if the "I have 3 other laptops at home" was a blatant lie.
 
Shacklebolt said:
I've found the "geniuses" at the "genius bar" to be really, really snarky, and in general, not particularly helpful. They remind me of docents at museums; they don't really know anything about the art in the museum - they have just read a manual on how to give tours.
Click to expand...

My mother has been a docent at a museum for about 15 years. The museum has received many letters from patrons over the years complimenting her on her knowledge of the arts and her ability to share it with them in an interesting fashion. I have been to that museum dozens of times and have yet to meet a docent who wasn't knowledgable and courteous. Good luck with your keyboard. :apple:
 
Bubba Satori said:
My mother has been a docent at a museum for about 15 years. The museum has received many letters from patrons over the years complimenting her on her knowledge of the arts and her ability to share it with them in an interesting fashion. I have been to that museum dozens of times and have yet to meet a docent who wasn't knowledgable and courteous. Good luck with your keyboard. :apple:
Click to expand...

Heh - didn't mean to insult your mother, but I had a job as a security guard at a museum, and all there was to do all day was walk around and read the cards below and beside every little piece of art. Then on weekends, the docents would come in, act all knowledgeable while sometimes giving the wrong dates, names, while showing an overall unwillingness to say "I don't know" when they simply didn't know the answer to a question. I suppose I shouldn't have made the sweeping statement about all docents, just like I'm sure that (apparently about half of) the geniuses aren't all bad. But my experience with docents and geniuses has been decidedly underwhelming.
 
Shacklebolt said:
Heh - didn't mean to insult your mother, but I had a job as a security guard at a museum, and all there was to do all day was walk around and read the cards below and beside every little piece of art. Then on weekends, the docents would come in, act all knowledgeable while sometimes giving the wrong dates, names, while showing an overall unwillingness to say "I don't know" when they simply didn't know the answer to a question. I suppose I shouldn't have made the sweeping statement about all docents, just like I'm sure that (apparently about half of) the geniuses aren't all bad. But my experience with docents and geniuses has been decidedly underwhelming.
Click to expand...

:D You didn't. It's cool. Just didn't want folks to stay away from museums cause the folks working there are clueless. :apple:
 
you call someone a 'genius' and then pay them near to minimum wage - you're going to get some *******s. The store here in Glasgow seems to have some really nice people on the shop floor, and my one encounter with a genius...well...

i went in with a query about my screen and he said 'oh it's hardware. uh. the screen! yeah. the screen.'

so i said 'ok...'

and he said 'yeah..or software. i guess we could replace the logic board (!?). see what happens. uh. yeah. whatever. so, you're bookling this in, right?'

total. genius.
 
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