I suppose because I'm in tech, I have the flexibility of shopping at retail stores at off-peak hours, as I have had only pleasant experiences when shopping at the Bellevue Square and South Center malls.
How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster
111–120 of 288 posts
Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster
#112Need to make an appointment to go to the shop and get up-sold on something?
No longer a shop.
(Note: Store/Shop, same diff.)
I see the Apple Store these days as more of a cult. Sort of like what religions want to be, albeit centred around a computing lifestyle rather than a spiritual one.
Sorry, not sorry for the comparison. It really does feel like going to church.
Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster
#113Yes! The Genius Bar experience has been terrible (especially as a somewhat socially anxious person) the past few times I've been there. A lot of sitting while constantly busy employees buzzed around, unsure if I was waiting in the right place, hoping someone would come by and ask what I there for. It's like they're emulating the real bar experience, with a bunch of overworked and inattentive bartenders. Just give me…
Honestly I have felt many times that the Apple Store could use a vending machine for iPhones. Anything that somebody might want to just grab and go no matter how expensive.
Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
Their genius bar is just slowing down since they want you to buy new instead of repair what you have. Not always the case but I get that feeling. That and “IT at home” requests seem to flood the bar now.
Yea they persuade you to buy more from them with bad service. Flawless logic right there.
No, he means that they value replace over repair.
Like when I brought a MBP in with a charging circuit issue - just wouldn't charge, OS said battery was healthy, but at 0% capacity. Would run on AC.
I thought $200... no... $600.
Not "Would you like to schedule that service?" (I didn't - for its use case it could stay on AC the rest of its life)... but the first comment after the price?
"That's quite a bit, huh? Maybe we should talk about getting you into a new Mac instead?"
Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster
#115these kinds of threads are good ones to scan for entitled users. “omg i can’t park close to the busiest store at the mall / downtown. i have to wait for help at the busiest store. i can’t find the cashier. i could run this show sooo much better “
now to just link the hn username to a resume for black flagging.
Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster
#116It is almost impossible to pay in person but the Apple Store app offers ability to scan the barcode on almost any accessory and pay on the spot for it without ever seeing staff. I do not have many issues with this model, in fact it makes visits to the Apple Store for the odd cable quite easy. However, I did find that sometimes specific accessories are simply not presented and one must flag down staff to have one pull…
> It is almost impossible to pay in person but the Apple Store app offers ability to scan the barcode on almost any accessory and pay on the spot for it without ever seeing staff.
After you pay what is the next step?
Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster
#117>[Angela Ahrendts'] overhaul of the Genius Bar has been especially controversial. Customers looking for technical advice or repairs must now check in with an employee, who types their request into an iPad. Then when a Genius is free, he or she must find the customer wherever they happen to be in the store. Ahrendts was determined to get rid of lineups, but now the stores are often crowded with people waiting for thei…
One way is to make the check-in person more than a dumb data enterer. My iPhone suddenly stopped getting any carrier signal one day. I took it to the Apple store that evening because I needed to go out of town the next day, and I had to have a working phone. I checked in at the front of the store and waited 2.5 hours for my turn with a Genius. The fix was to press the very specific "reset network settings button" (wh…
I can see how this division of work makes sense. Genius training is expensive, and it's important to quickly check in customers. That said, I like your idea of equipping these employees with a basic remedy or two. After inputting the issue, the iPad could display a prompt with common self-solve solutions. The trick is how the employee frames it. You don't want customers thinking it is the solution, as no diagnostics have been performed, nor do you want them thinking less of Genius Bar if it does not work.
Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster
#118Appointments at the Apple store are a joke. The last 3 times I went in for one, I was acknowledged by a team member and it still took over an hour for them to see me. If I wasn't aggressive about it, it would have been much longer like it was for the half dozen elderly people sitting confused with me.
Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster
#119Yes! The Genius Bar experience has been terrible (especially as a somewhat socially anxious person) the past few times I've been there. A lot of sitting while constantly busy employees buzzed around, unsure if I was waiting in the right place, hoping someone would come by and ask what I there for. It's like they're emulating the real bar experience, with a bunch of overworked and inattentive bartenders. Just give me…
Yes on the line - Apple has seemingly wanted to eliminate lines from their stores, only to the detriment of their customers. Lines are useful for knowing how long a wait time is...instead you get put into invisible queues around the store and only they know your spot in line and how long it’ll be before some random employee gets assigned to you.
Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster
#120TL;DR; "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded." [1] https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/08/29/too-crowded/
The fix seems kinda obvious: Increase supply to meet demand.