Rate Apple Store Employees
So we've had our Apple Store about a month now. I've been there 2 or 3 times and found the employees friendly, but have been put off by them for some reason...maybe it's because I think I know more than they do.
Regardless, I've had two friends call me with questions about the Apple Store. Both had hardware issues, and both had spoken to Apple Store employees.
The first was a Mac Genius who SUPPOSEDLY weaved a dire story to one of my friends who'd spilled cola into the innards of his powerbook, telling him that he'd have to replace almost the entire lower portion of the computer for easily over $800...suggesting that he simply buy a new powerbook. I sent that friend to some hardware consultants I know, who fixed the computer for $400.
VERDICT: don't let Mac Geniuses do diagnostic estimates, assuming that this happened the way it was told to me.
What kind of experiences have you had at the Apple Stores? Regardless of the aforementioned story, I plan to shop at the Apple Store when opportunities present themselves.
D
Regardless, I've had two friends call me with questions about the Apple Store. Both had hardware issues, and both had spoken to Apple Store employees.
The first was a Mac Genius who SUPPOSEDLY weaved a dire story to one of my friends who'd spilled cola into the innards of his powerbook, telling him that he'd have to replace almost the entire lower portion of the computer for easily over $800...suggesting that he simply buy a new powerbook. I sent that friend to some hardware consultants I know, who fixed the computer for $400.
VERDICT: don't let Mac Geniuses do diagnostic estimates, assuming that this happened the way it was told to me.
What kind of experiences have you had at the Apple Stores? Regardless of the aforementioned story, I plan to shop at the Apple Store when opportunities present themselves.
D
Comments
I found the staff friendly and helpful. The information given to me was helpful too. Worlds beyond Compusa, Circuit City, and Frys. I will return to buy stuff there soon.
Can't say much about the Genius Bar though. No experience with them yet.
I asked about the basics of digital cameras and the salesman (probably still a teenager) was pretty knowledgeable. He asked me and another customer that was listening if we wanted a demonstration of iPhoto. He kinda pushed us into it by saying "Come on, I'll show you". It was pretty long because there were like ten buttons in iPhoto and he explained them one after the other. We really didn't care by the end but the kid just kept going. I don't know if that would be very productive for the average person. It doesn't really explain the advantages of the user interface, but I guess Apple is still working on that.
The salespeople are pretty knowledgeable and they can tell a good story about a particular need you might have. They are definitely miles ahead of CompUSA salesman. I don't know if they can really explain what makes a Mac better, but they can give you a lot of useful information quickly about what you want to do and I think that's a good strategy.
[ 06-10-2002: Message edited by: spindler ]</p>
Too bad Vermont will never see an Apple store
Will Apple ever have Apple stores in other countries? Like Canada or the UK?
I'm kidding, I'm pretty sure that kid was an exception. To be quite honest, I'm surprised they have put stores in half the places they have.
At any rate, I went to the one in cambridge, and it was ok. I saw two of the employees geeking out in front of one of the systems, granted, not a lot of people there. The retail stores aren't marketed to me though. I know what I want, and I won't buy it at retail prices.
When the new iMacs came out in January one of the employees said that they used USB 2 and couldn't use the black pro keyboards if someone wanted to. What the hell was he talking about? We all know that's not true, they have USB 1.1 (or whatever it is).
I've got a few other stories, but I've posted them here in the past so I'm not going to post them again.
<strong>I've got a few other stories, but I've posted them here in the past so I'm not going to post them again.</strong><hr></blockquote>
wouldnt want you to type too much... you might get injured... <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
<strong>I go to the Apple store quite often and for the most part I'm satisfied by the employees.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Do you wander in, say one sentence, then wander out again?
The staff in the Chicago-area Apple Store was more on top of it, but then I was carrying a Cube around and they were fascinated by it - the store manager had never seen one, so I pulled the core out for him and let him look around. I was there because the fan on its RADEON is annoyingly buzzy at times, and the, uh, genius at the Genius Bar handled this by blowing compressed air into the fan... while it was running! He got all kinds of crap from the other employees after he'd covered everyone in a ten foot radius with dust.
The layout is great, and the store placement is excellent. But in my experience they still need work.
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Do you wander in, say one sentence, then wander out again?
<img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> sometimes.
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wouldnt want you to type too much... you might get injured... <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> </strong><hr></blockquote>
Yeah, you know how I am.
<strong>I was there because the fan on its RADEON is annoyingly buzzy at times, and the, uh, genius at the Genius Bar handled this by blowing compressed air into the fan... while it was running! He got all kinds of crap from the other employees after he'd covered everyone in a ten foot radius with dust.
But did it fix the buzzy?
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But did it fix the buzzy?
No.
It's intermittent, and in the ambient noise of the Apple Store I'm not even sure it could have been heard. I think my bad luck kicked in, and it insisted on running smoothly while I was there.
It's starting to learn some new sounds, too. I'm getting worried. But according to the Genius, I'd have to send the whole computer to Apple to get the fan replaced on the graphics card. (Actually, they'd probably replace the whole card, but still - I could do that).