You need a verifiable SSN to get an iPhone?!? Attn drug dealers, you can get BlackBerries and Droids from Boost or Cricket without giving any personal information.
Not for the iPhone itself, but for the account with AT&T or Verizon.
Confessions of an Apple Store Employee
11–20 of 44 posts
Re: Confessions of an Apple Store Employee
#12this all is largely positive - not really a confession, more bragging... be curious how other customers have fared in the store, for me it has rarely been great http://www.mikolayczyk.com/2010/02/quotes-from-apple-store.h... certainly rings true that they get power hungry and very arrogant as a result
I've had much better luck taking my computers to an indie Apple certified shop in town. I can drop the computer off with the friendly receptionist and go back to work, and their tech calls me back later to tell me what's wrong and get me to authorize a repair. Then I go and pick it up without having to wander through a shopping mall. Warranty work gets billed back to Apple so I don't pay. The service has typically been better, it keeps money in my community, and best of all I don't have to make an "appointment" only to still have to wait around 15-30 minutes. Everyone wins.
Something about the Genius Bar concept rubs me the wrong way. They really seem to try too hard to be that hip friend of yours who "knows computers." Maybe that helps take the edge off the experience for some people, but I'm not there to stand around and make friends, I'm there to get my stuff fixed with as little trouble on my part as is possible.
Re: Confessions of an Apple Store Employee
#13You need a verifiable SSN to get an iPhone?!? Attn drug dealers, you can get BlackBerries and Droids from Boost or Cricket without giving any personal information.
Not for the iPhone itself, but for the account with AT&T or Verizon.
They don't really need the SSN. If they press for it, tell them you're on a visa and you haven't been assigned one. Verizon entered 123-45-678 for mine and it let them create the account :P
Re: Confessions of an Apple Store Employee
#14You need a verifiable SSN to get an iPhone?!? Attn drug dealers, you can get BlackBerries and Droids from Boost or Cricket without giving any personal information.
They're probably on Tracphones or similar pay-as-you-go phones.
Re: Confessions of an Apple Store Employee
#15The Public Computers section is really interesting. Homeless people that come in to do webcasts? Kinda cool.
People changing keyboard settings to Russian? Pfft, everyone knows the real evil genius is in setting it to Arabic -- not only is it illegible, but the screens are flipped
Re: Confessions of an Apple Store Employee
#16You need a verifiable SSN to get an iPhone?!? Attn drug dealers, you can get BlackBerries and Droids from Boost or Cricket without giving any personal information.
But they don't match the chrome wheels on your cadilac esplanade!
Drug dealers are fashion victims too
Re: Confessions of an Apple Store Employee
#17> "We usually have to tell them that if they unlock their iPhone, it won't work. That it's going to be like a $700 paperweight, and that the antenna will fry itself on T-Mobile. Of course, that's not true, but that's what we tell them." I didn't know Apple stores have an Evil Genius bar.
Reminds of when Cablevision was first rolling out broadband internet and the tech who came to set it up insisted that attempting to connect the modem to more than one computers would "knock out cable TV for everyone on your block."
To which my reply would be: "and why would I care?"
Re: Confessions of an Apple Store Employee
#18>eventually get to the Genius Bar that answers the question that puzzled me a bit about that name. In itself it isn't a bad marketing targeted for customers, yet it happens to be also successful marketing targeted at the employees. That's really genius, pun intended, as usually help/support desk is very unpopular, churning job leading nowhere and here they turned the tables and made other jobs leading to it instead.
I bet the average first-year help desk employee at an investment bank is making a lot more money than the senior "Geniuses" at Apple Stores. Retail is retail.
Re: Confessions of an Apple Store Employee
#19this all is largely positive - not really a confession, more bragging... be curious how other customers have fared in the store, for me it has rarely been great http://www.mikolayczyk.com/2010/02/quotes-from-apple-store.h... certainly rings true that they get power hungry and very arrogant as a result
The Apple store in Philly just opened recently and they've been wonderful so far. Ex.: A few weeks ago I spilled water on my iPhone, rendering it unusable in important respects. I went to the genius bar (unscheduled), told the genius guy I spilled water on it. He was a bit surprised, said that no one ever admits to doing that, and gave me a new phone, for free.
Re: Confessions of an Apple Store Employee
#20The thing I found most interesting about this article was actually an omission. The hiring process at Apple retail is the most insane thing I've ever experienced. First fill out the application in store. Then follow up with the manager of the store for weeks on end. Then have a quick interview in store. Then go to a group interview with 50 other people. Then go to a panel interview with 3 others. This process took 6 months start to finish and I didn't even get the job. The reason why people want to be a "genius" in store is they already went thru hell and back just to get in the store.