The Social Misfits Strike Again - Apple's Genius Bar at Work

My wife's Apple Powerbook is affected by this battery recall, which is the third major failure or problem on her Apple since she bought it - is Apple going the way of Mercedes-Benz?  Her screen died (twice, actually) for reasons the "Geniuses" never explained.  Her hard drive died, with a total data loss, for reasons the "Geniuses" never explained.  And now they say the whole thing may spontaneously burst into flames.

BTW, her experience at the Genius Bar the other week was just like mine: she was served by a grunting, surly, social misfit who barely spoke to her as he entered up the work order.

UPDATE: Her battery is not recalled; it is an unaffected model (the A1060).

Comments

[Jason]

You know, I've been completely put off by the folks manning every single "genius" bar my wife and I have attempted to get help from. Well, I haven't had any problems with my iBook or it's replacement Powerbook, but my wife has had a couple issues with her p-book. Anyway, out of three visits to two different "genius" bars, I firmly believe that the jackasses they hire to work as a Mac "genius" are either

A) Hindered by some sort of social interaction/ customer service personality deficiency, or

B)Complete and total tools who only know how to diagnose problems by using manuals and on-line tutorials because they have no idea what they are doing.

Not that I'm some sort of uber-Mac Master, but I swear I know more than the average "Genius" bar. These guys should not only be on top of any issues and tech knowledge, but in my opinions they should be enthusiasts AND customer service oriented.
Having to go through them for any sort of warranty work is just a complete waste of time. Hands down my number one complaint with being a Mac user. But hey, I suppose after a lifetime of using Macs I'm allowed one right?

[eeka]

I've generally communicated really well with them, but then, I'm in the same demographic as most of them, so this helps things.

The folks at Computer Loft in Allston are MUCH better though, and they can do any warranty work. They can do more stuff in-store than the Apple Store, and there's quicker turnaround if it does end up needing to be sent to Apple.

[Jason]

Eeka, I have to ask: Exactly what demographic are you talking about?

I mean... I'm a consultant in the tech industry, I've been a Mac user since the IIe was new to the market, and I know my way around Apple's hardware and software fairly well inside and out. Thinking logically here, I too would share the same demographic as the folks manning the average "genius" bar. Alas, there just seems to be something missing from their side of the counter. Again, I'll rack it up to some sort of innate retardedness on their part, perhaps enhanced by company policy or pay scale.

I'm not trying to start crap, I'm just wondering if maybe I'm expecting too much from Apple's frontline service/ support people.

[carpundit]

Jason,
I think she meant that she's of the same generation and general socio-political attitude as most of them. I think. And it's eeka, not Eeka. (Just trying to be a polite host, here.)
CP

[Chris Clarke]

My powerbook was affected by the recall. I went to the Apple website, entered two serial numbers, and two days later I had a new battery dropped off on the front porch and a mailer for the old one.

I didn't notice any surliness on the pat of the web form.

[Steve Garfield]

My blog has the whole sordid story, but the moral of the story is to go to Tech Superpowers on Newbury Street for Macintosh service.

[carpundit]

Steve, thanks for the comment. I wish we'd thought to look for local service; we will next time.
Can you give us the URL for the "sordid story" on your blog?

[eeka]

HEE!

Yep, what Carpundit said regarding the demographic. I'm a registered Green, dyke, vegetarian, from Seattle, musician, VW driver, degrees from damn hippie liberal arts colleges...me and the Apple Store peeps get along great.

But still, I recommend Computer Loft over them any time. You're just going to get better service, and it's a small local business.

[carpundit]

OK, eeka, now you've gone too far. I can't believe you went public with that. Jeez. And I was fine with everything until that last part. You're from Seattle?

[observer]

In my experiences at the "bar" the only people I've seen have a bad experience were the people who floated in and right off the bat start treating the person on the other side like dirt. I've noticed that people who start off surley are the ones that mysteriously think they were "mistreated."

It's a general rule in life that those who are friendly to others usually have that returned. People tend to go out of their way for friendlies. People who are piss and vinegar tend to be dealt with more tersely.

Judging by the fact that instead of describing what transpired and allowing your readers to judge what happened, you just start throwing insults, is pretty telling as to what type of the above types you are.

Also, anyone who loses stuff from their hard drive and doesn't have a backup gets about as much sympathy from me as someone who doesn't wear a seatbelt and is thrown through their windshield. And electrical parts rarely fail "for a reason." See "entropy."

[carpundit]

I'll respond to Observer, who ought to be called Smart Ass, in brief:

1. I don't care what your observations have been. I know what happened in the instances I describe. I don't care if you believe my version or not;

2. No one was complaining about the data loss, just the early failure of the HD and their utter inability or unwillingness to advance an explanation for it;

3. If Apple is building many products whose major electronic components fail repeatedly within two years, Apple has a problem with design, or supply, or quality control - any one of which would be "a reason." If they, as you, blame entropy, they don't deserve to sell any more computers;

4. Thanks for the manners and vocabulary lessons. But if you're going to condescend about language, you should learn to spell.

""just the early failure of the HD and their utter inability or unwillingness to advance an explanation"

I've got one for you JA....... It just broke, deal with it......

[carpundit]

"It just broke, deal with it" would have been an answer. It would have been something other than a hair-masked, no-eye-contact grunt.

JA = Jackass?

Oh, and I love your IP address. If I worked there, I'd anonymize before I called a customer a jackass.

[Friend]

I going to speak as an outsider who may be somewhat biased when it comes to the Apple Store and it's Mac Geniuses. Someone I am very close to is an extremely hardworking Mac Genius. He has a college degree, awesome people skills, and a genuine love of Apple computers. I know many of the other guys that he works with as well and know that they are all educated, have extensive training, and try their best to help customers. I'm sorry that some of you have had negative experiences at the bar, but I feel people reading this should know that there are many more people who have positive experiences there. As in any line of work I guess, you can't please everyone...

[JustPoet]

I can't help but comment on this. The link was shown to me by another friend in the tech industry.

In the effort of full disclosure, I used to work for Apple, both in the Northshore and Cambridgeside stores, as a store associate (not one of the Genii). I often worked with the Genii for installs or refreshes or as another opinion at times (such as with unixy or development things). I've been an uncertified Mac Tech since around the time of the LC and SE/30. I am (and was while working at Apple) a network and systems administrator (*nix, Mac OS X, and Win), and I have been a designer and beta tester for many companies (including Apple, several utility companies, and a few games), and write my own software too.

That being said...while the Genii can't know everything, they do know a lot. They are, in general, very friendly unless yelled at or demanded of, and will usually try to go out of their way to help people, even when overly busy with work. If there is a recall on something, such as a battery, ANY company would tell you what is said in the recall notice, and nothing more or less. In the case of a hardware failure, these things do happen. Sometimes they fail for a reason, such as hard use, and sometimes they just fail because one in many is bound to (drives are the most common example of this). In any case, I have seen the genii at both stores be very up front and quick to respond, and while they CAN fix anything in store, the amount of volume doesn't always make sense to have them do so. Thus, when my powerbook was being fixed (I bought a damaged machine, knowing I was going to have to fix it), it was sent out and mailed to me, which was faster than having it sit in the queue in the store.

I'm not saying that some customers, apparently including you, haven't had bad experiences. I'm just saying that it doesn't happen all that often...especially in a place like Cambridgeside which has won awards for being fast and having high volumes of customer satisfaction letters and e-mails and gifts (of which I was one)...while also being one of the most high volume Genius bars.

Frankly, the "why" something has failed, isn't usually important to the customer, and most customers wouldn't understand it, nor want to. If the "why" isn't because of the customer, it really doesn't enter into the equation. The job of the tech is to fix the problem. The broken stuff gets sent back to an engineer to look at it and see why it broke and how to make it better next time. This is the way all computer companies work. Can they ALL (including Apple) do a better job? Quite possibly...but that doesn't mean it is bad.

I hope this explains a little, and hopefully you also won't jump to conclusions that everybody's experience must be like yours. There are many many people who can attest to the good quality of service, but don't comment because it is Apple, and everybody already just expects it to be better...which it is.

[carpundit]

I agree: Apple is better (than Microsoft on the software side and, say, Dell on the hardware side - but pick any PC maker). But it could be better still. One way it could be better is if its partisans weren't so thin-skinned.

[eeka]

Um...public with what? ;o)

Yeah, I lived in Seattle for 10 years of late childhood/early adolescence, so it's pretty much the place I'm the most "from."