Sounds customer-friendly, to me. If these businesses want free promotion by Apple Store geniuses, then of course they?ll need to follow the new system. If not, they can still promote their Mac repair services on their own, and I?m sure many will.
I can certainly understand the interested party being bothered by the new system though, and I hope Apple exerts influence on OnForce as well to make the system work.
At the same time, I don?t see Apple as ?evil? just because they don?t do what their partners want. It?s kind of nice to have a company that puts customers first. ?Apple is evil? has made a fun catchphrase for the last decade, of course
It's obvious you know nothing about the ACN membership. You must hold certain certifications in order to even qualify to apply for membership (around $300 each cert.). Then you have to PAY Apple to become a member. One of the perks of me PAYING Apple the $700 a year membership fee, for the past 8 years, is that I would get the occasional Apple retail referral. We are not getting anything FREE from Apple by being an ACN member. I've proven my knowledge and skills and pay a lot of $$$ to Apple be a part of this "program".
When I first joined the ACN program it was great. Every year that goes by the ACN keeps getting worse and worse. Every year is more restrictions and requirements. Every year we're stripped of something that we had the year before. Every year I have to weigh the pros/cons when it's time to renew my $700 membership fee. I'm sure soon my ACN membership will no longer be more of a pro, but a con. I don't see being in this program much longer.
Dealing with Apple as a customer is not bad. Dealing with Apple as a partner is EVIL! Why does Apple have any right to tell me what I can put on my company website? Why does Apple tell me how much insurance I MUST have? Why is Apple now telling me that they will refer me, but I cannot market my business with anything that has to do with my company when dealing with these customers? All these stupid restrictions (and there's more), but it clearly states on the ACN site that none of us are affiliated with Apple in any way. If that's the case, then keep your rules and restrictions out of my business, which again isn't affiliated with Apple in any way.
As an ACSP 10.6 Certified Individual and owner of an ACN with 3 certified consultants I don't see where this is that big of an issue. I have read the posts here and while uruzone is completely correct here is my stance.
I am taking the time and marketing the company itself as an ACN and not relying on Apple to send me the gigs. I have already gotten 4 jobs from Apple's locator website this year with another call today - those are all free referrals. As an ACN I'm not going to rely on the store's to send me jobs or that all my jobs have to come through them - as they don't.
Also the report is completely false, anyone that is an ACN and can log in - read the note that Apple has posted along with the video. This is not NATIONWIDE nor will it be this year. So the whole community affected thing is completely false.
Secondly if you own an ACN do your job as an owner and market yourself, get your name out there, don't rely on Apple to send you the jobs. Think of it this way if there are 3 ACN's in town and 1 of them has a great relationship with the local Apple Store right now the other 2 aren't even mentioned as a referral....This way OnForce will allow all 3 ACN's the opportunity and go to the one with the "best fit" for the client.
Thirdly you will always have people complain in the technology field. Everyone expects everything done instantly that's the "technology way" and it's only getting worse so no one is ever going to avoid ridiculous rating reviews. How many people take the time to comment about good service versus the amount of people that will go out of their way to write a bad one.
While OnForce does not affect me and will not affect my company anytime in the near future by the time it will my company will already be known for what it does and what service we provide and therefore people won't have to go through OnForce but if they chose to do that - great! it'll be just another revenue stream to add.
Apple Retail mastermind Ron Johnson has called the company's Genius Bars "the heart and soul of the Apple retail store experience." Last year, Apple made several changes to its Genius Bar service in order to improve wait times, overnight repairs and Genius multitasking.
If Apple wants to improve repair times, they can start by making all Macs, especially iMacs, easier for technicians to take apart and service. And inserting a stick of memory does not count.
Comments
On a side note, what's up with Apple's stock? It was down over 7 yesterday, and down another 8 today
and now it's down 10.
Sounds customer-friendly, to me. If these businesses want free promotion by Apple Store geniuses, then of course they?ll need to follow the new system. If not, they can still promote their Mac repair services on their own, and I?m sure many will.
I can certainly understand the interested party being bothered by the new system though, and I hope Apple exerts influence on OnForce as well to make the system work.
At the same time, I don?t see Apple as ?evil? just because they don?t do what their partners want. It?s kind of nice to have a company that puts customers first. ?Apple is evil? has made a fun catchphrase for the last decade, of course
It's obvious you know nothing about the ACN membership. You must hold certain certifications in order to even qualify to apply for membership (around $300 each cert.). Then you have to PAY Apple to become a member. One of the perks of me PAYING Apple the $700 a year membership fee, for the past 8 years, is that I would get the occasional Apple retail referral. We are not getting anything FREE from Apple by being an ACN member. I've proven my knowledge and skills and pay a lot of $$$ to Apple be a part of this "program".
When I first joined the ACN program it was great. Every year that goes by the ACN keeps getting worse and worse. Every year is more restrictions and requirements. Every year we're stripped of something that we had the year before. Every year I have to weigh the pros/cons when it's time to renew my $700 membership fee. I'm sure soon my ACN membership will no longer be more of a pro, but a con. I don't see being in this program much longer.
Dealing with Apple as a customer is not bad. Dealing with Apple as a partner is EVIL! Why does Apple have any right to tell me what I can put on my company website? Why does Apple tell me how much insurance I MUST have? Why is Apple now telling me that they will refer me, but I cannot market my business with anything that has to do with my company when dealing with these customers? All these stupid restrictions (and there's more), but it clearly states on the ACN site that none of us are affiliated with Apple in any way. If that's the case, then keep your rules and restrictions out of my business, which again isn't affiliated with Apple in any way.
It's getting ridiculous!
I am taking the time and marketing the company itself as an ACN and not relying on Apple to send me the gigs. I have already gotten 4 jobs from Apple's locator website this year with another call today - those are all free referrals. As an ACN I'm not going to rely on the store's to send me jobs or that all my jobs have to come through them - as they don't.
Also the report is completely false, anyone that is an ACN and can log in - read the note that Apple has posted along with the video. This is not NATIONWIDE nor will it be this year. So the whole community affected thing is completely false.
Secondly if you own an ACN do your job as an owner and market yourself, get your name out there, don't rely on Apple to send you the jobs. Think of it this way if there are 3 ACN's in town and 1 of them has a great relationship with the local Apple Store right now the other 2 aren't even mentioned as a referral....This way OnForce will allow all 3 ACN's the opportunity and go to the one with the "best fit" for the client.
Thirdly you will always have people complain in the technology field. Everyone expects everything done instantly that's the "technology way" and it's only getting worse so no one is ever going to avoid ridiculous rating reviews. How many people take the time to comment about good service versus the amount of people that will go out of their way to write a bad one.
While OnForce does not affect me and will not affect my company anytime in the near future by the time it will my company will already be known for what it does and what service we provide and therefore people won't have to go through OnForce but if they chose to do that - great! it'll be just another revenue stream to add.
Why would anyone need support for their amazing innovative perfect Apple product?
Why would someone, who apparently knows everything, feel the need to post something which adds nothing to the mix?
Apple Retail mastermind Ron Johnson has called the company's Genius Bars "the heart and soul of the Apple retail store experience." Last year, Apple made several changes to its Genius Bar service in order to improve wait times, overnight repairs and Genius multitasking.
If Apple wants to improve repair times, they can start by making all Macs, especially iMacs, easier for technicians to take apart and service. And inserting a stick of memory does not count.
http://www.9to5mac.com/53185/apple-g...-joint-venture
I'll spare everyone my rant.