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How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster

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Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster

#171

Post by Crosseye_Jack »

I went in for a battery replacement back in November (Granted this was in the UK not the US).

Booked the appointment online, Went in at the correct time, one of the staff in the store told me "Spoke the people in the back of the store with iPads, they handle genius bar appointments, Spoke to them (took my name), quickly found me in the system and told me they were very busy atm I could wait or rebook (It was lunch time in a city centre), Said I'll wait, Told me to take a seat over there --->, said "tell them to give me a shout as I'm hard of hearing" (Am a little but not too bad, I just wanted to waste my time playing on a mac instead of just sitting at a full table twiddling my thumbs (dead battery on my phone, didn't think about bring my charger with me), told the person "telling the system I'm here" this they laughed and said OK.

10-20ish mins later (Lost track of time, was dicking about on the net), someone shouts my name, got his attention and we went to a quieter table (guess the hard of hearing thing worked :-P). Docked my phone and started running some tests, while running the tests we talked about Work, games (A nice discussion on which was our fav build of Counter Strike).

Yup I needed a new battery, Would take 60-90 mins to replace. Agreed to the repair terms (Yes I took a back up, no I will not sue if you have to wipe my phone, Yes you may claim my first born, etc etc etc). Told them I had ID (They wanted a method to make sure that I was me when picking up my phone, asked "what if I didn't have my ID on me as I don't normally carry it?", said they have other methods they can use like showing the same Credit/Debit Card I used to to book in the job.

Went and got some food, went to visit one of my fav bars in the city centre, went back about 90 mins later and spoke to the same people at the back of the store who had the iPads. They said "all done, someone will be with you soon" 5 mins later I had my phone back with a new battery (showed my id to say I am me).

Apart from the genius bar being busy (Would be nice if I didn't have to wait, but a) I knew I booked a lunch time slot b) I made "plans" not to do anything that afternoon. So not the end of the world for me. But I could see it being a pain in the ass if someone was trying to drop their device off during their lunch break and had to wait around.) I can't say that I had a bad time there.

Store in question if it makes a difference to anyone: New St Apple Store, Birmingham, UK.

Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster

#172

Post by actionowl »

I went to the Apple store in Singapore a couple of months ago, they were fairly busy but I got helped pretty quickly, got a new device and someone took me upstairs to get it charged and setup. So just want to add that I had a good experience at my last trip to an Apple store.

Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster

#173

Post by pvg »

Swizec wrote: post #158
pvg wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it’s a single store serving a city of 900,000 people There are three Apple stores in SF proper and a couple just across the bay.

I knew there’s some across the bay, but they sure hide the other two stores in SF. Never seen them even show up on their genius bar search. Are they official Apple stores or are they apple-branded franchise stores? Reason I ask is because that’s the model I’ve seen a lot in Europe. A store that has a license to be an apple store but isn’t actually owned and run by Apple.

They are real Apple stores. Short of dedicating a downtown city block to an Apple store, there probably isn't any way to fix the capacity problems at the OG SF store so, as you've found out, it's best avoided.

Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster

#174

Post by airstrike »

tootie wrote: post #159
oldjokes wrote: post #19

I went in a few months to get a hardware thing fixed with an appointment set and nobody helped me. I waited for like 10 minutes past by appointment time and everyone was booked up. I tried pestering people but everyone was helping someone else and asked me to wait for another associate. Eventually I gave up and left the store. I'm sure their analytics never even noticed me, their data says I just never showed up for…

I can understand being anti-Google, but why anti-Google and pro-Apple?

I think their view is that Apple tries to keep your data to themselves vs. sharing it with third-party ad providers

Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster

#175

Post by falcolas »

tootie wrote: post #159
oldjokes wrote: post #19

I went in a few months to get a hardware thing fixed with an appointment set and nobody helped me. I waited for like 10 minutes past by appointment time and everyone was booked up. I tried pestering people but everyone was helping someone else and asked me to wait for another associate. Eventually I gave up and left the store. I'm sure their analytics never even noticed me, their data says I just never showed up for…

I can understand being anti-Google, but why anti-Google and pro-Apple?

One company makes its money selling you goods, one company makes its money selling your goods.

A subtle, but important distinction.

Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster

#176

Post by CharlesColeman »

duxup wrote: post #85
oldjokes wrote: post #19

I went in a few months to get a hardware thing fixed with an appointment set and nobody helped me. I waited for like 10 minutes past by appointment time and everyone was booked up. I tried pestering people but everyone was helping someone else and asked me to wait for another associate. Eventually I gave up and left the store. I'm sure their analytics never even noticed me, their data says I just never showed up for…

It seems like the standard inevitability for every service related thing that it degrades noticeably with time. Start out and offer a thing and tout the level of service, then shave off bits of service to save money until it is bad... probabbly still touting service. That's one of the reasons I left a career of 20 years supporting high end networking equipment. Company after company would talk big but the gradual (so…

> It seems like the standard inevitability for every service related thing that it degrades noticeably with time.

I don't think that's an inevitability, just the effect of a particular type of corner-cutting business culture that's very prevalent nowadays.

Today's business conventional wisdom isn't very wise, and I do hope that it's eventually replaced by something better.

Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster

#177

Post by yasth »

chadash wrote: post #36
davidy123 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lenovo's onsite service is inexpensive and, in my experience, excellent. I've used it a few times over the years and it's involved minimal interaction with helpful, focused staff and techs.

In my city, for onsite service, I have two options within 30 miles: one is an office depot, and the other is a computer repair store. Both seem to contract with Lenovo. I'm sure that there are some repair centers that provide excellent service and some less so. Meanwhile, Apple has five stores within a 30 minute drive. And in my experience, every single Apple store I've been to gives me a more-or-less consistently go…

Onsite is your site. It is at times a confusing term, but if you get an onsite warrant you needn't go anywhere, you wait at your place of business or your home and the tech comes in and fixes it. Lenovo actually does pretty well at this.

Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster

#178

Post by perfect_wave »

tuxone wrote: post #40
atonse wrote: post #4

My biggest complaint about the Apple Store is the long wait times when your computer breaks. You often have to wait for a few days to even get an appointment. But the award for the most asinine thing about the Apple Store is their insistence on not having a proper area to pay for things. So people just wander around wanting to buy something and not knowing where to pay for it. And they end up wasting a lot more time…

I know it's just my experience, but it looks like this thread (as the article) is all about personal experiences. I had four time the same issue with a MBP 2011, the HDD cable was failing again ad again. First time they replaced it, next time they replaced the cable plus the HDD, third time they replaced cable plus logicboard, fourth I got a new MBP 2013. All for free, without Apple Care. Every time I got my laptop b…

Hard drive cables are a known issue in 2010/2011 MBPs. They were once acknowledged by Apple and replaced for free, but not anymore...

Luckily they cost $10 on Amazon and can be replaced in 10 minutes with a small phillips screwdriver. I managed my school's computer repair room for IT and replaced at least a hundred of these cables while I was in school.

Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster

#179

Post by kompressor »

oldjokes wrote: post #19

I went in a few months to get a hardware thing fixed with an appointment set and nobody helped me. I waited for like 10 minutes past by appointment time and everyone was booked up. I tried pestering people but everyone was helping someone else and asked me to wait for another associate. Eventually I gave up and left the store. I'm sure their analytics never even noticed me, their data says I just never showed up for…

I made an appointment last year for an iPhone SE battery replacement several weeks in advance. Showed up on time at my appointment. Waited 15 minutes just to hear someone tell me that they don't have the SE battery in stock. When I made the original appointment, I had to specify that it was for a SE battery replacement.

Re: How the Apple Store Lost Its Luster

#180

Post by groovybits »

sandworm101 wrote: post #162
bunderbunder wrote: post #61

The absolute worst thing about going to the Apple store is figuring out how to flag someone down if they're busy. For that reason alone, I've stopped recommending Apple products to my older relatives. Once upon a time, the dominant factor was that the walled garden allowed them to feel less intimidated by their technology, which left them feeling like their devices were vastly more capable, even when they technically…

>> figuring out how to flag someone down if they're busy. For that reason alone, I've stopped recommending Apple products to my older relatives. Be cute. Wear cool clothes. Don't be old. Look like an "influencer" with a million followers. The more you look like the people in the apple commercials the faster they will get to you. Above all things, apple stores are image-conscious. They are welcoming to people who fit…

> The more you look like the people in the apple commercials the faster they will get to you.

I'd say this is a bold claim w/o non-anecdotal evidence. Customer service should be non-discriminatory, no matter what product/service you're selling. If I, as a customer, cannot rely on an associate to address my problem simply because I do not dress like their image, then this is not a business worth walking into in the first place.

I can walk into a grocery store with either a million-dollar suite, or a tshirt/shorts, and I still expect the same customer service.

Edit:

A simple anecdotal counter: I do not own any apple products, but I have walked into Apple Stores with friends who own Apple products. None of us dress 'the part' like your 'typical Apple user' does, but I have seen prompt customer service nonetheless.

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