The Genius Bar
March 9th, 2008
For the Genius Bar and its resident experts criticism runs rampant. They’re abrubt, unhelpful. Rude. Or are they? Could it be they’re doing a nearly impossible job the only way it can be done?
A memorable nerd moment from Sex and the City: Carrie’s Mac needs repairs. She tells the technician her boyfriend tried Control+Alt+Del to fix the problem. “That’s PC only,” the blunt techie tells her, nodding dismissively at the boyfriend. “You’re not compatible.”
The Geniuses behind the Genius Bar deal with incompatible customers day after day. Customers new to Apple products. Customers who know little about computers or the software they can’t comprehend. The troubled customers know they need help, but like many computer users they don’t speak the language of the experts. The frustration begins.
A common complaint about Geniuses: They’re aloof. It might look that way. But take a step back and look at what the Genius is doing at that very moment. She might be troubleshooting an iMac that won’t boot. A pair of Macbooks on the counter behind her could be transferring data for someone getting a replacement. A customer she’s already assisted could be signing paperwork she’ll need to file.
I would find this job challenging. If my wife asked me where the car keys were while I was troubleshooting a wi-fi problem I might answer, “Just mustard please.” In other words, while you’re explaining your iPod’s illness to the Genius he may be nudging a Mac through some diagnostic procedures. The Bar is covered with Macs and iPods that all look the same - - but the Genius is keeping them straight. You might be offended that you don’t have the full attention of the Genius. Frankly, that’s probably the way it has to be.
When I first saw the scene with Carrie and the blunt technician I thought only in New York. There was an endless line of customers waiting for a mere minute of face time at a folding table with a merciless repairman. If he was rude they’d take it, they needed their computers fixed. Now.
Here, in Charlotte people might not be used to the coldly efficient blunt tactics. Truth be told, there’s really no time to do it any other way. Apple can’t afford to have a dozen Geniuses manning the Bar at all times, soothing customers and making small talk. Not at South Park Mall. A Genius needs to help quite a few people each hour to earn his keep. Let’s take a closer look at customers the Genius might be juggling.
Someone with Apple gear still under warranty is highly likely to visit the Genius Bar. Customers with products protected by Applecare too. For these customers satisfaction is mandatory. The Geniuses are delivering on an obligation, their necessity clearly visible for the Cupertino bean-counters to reconcile.
But the Genius Bar isn’t just for people under warranty and Applecare. Your four-year-old iPod won’t sync? The Genius might reset the iPod for you. She might update the firmware while you dine on food court Chinese. That’s not an obligation, it’s good will, good publicity - and good business.
Can you name a computer vendor with this kind of accessibility? Does HP offer tech support in your mall? I’ve sung the praises of IBM for shipping me a box so I can overnight my Thinkpad to Texas. Apple is providing something far more useful with their growing retail presence. Let’s look at another example.
If your laptop’s ac adapter went on the blink what would you do? In all likelihood you can’t get a replacement at your local Circuit City. You’ll have to order one on the Internet. A day or two later when the replacement arrives it doesn’t work. Turns out it’s something in your laptop, not the adapter at all. Now you have to get an RMA, return the adapter you bought, and you’re still at square one for getting your laptop working.
If you’re lucky enough to have a Mac and a nearby Genius Bar the process is considerably better. Bring your Mac to the store. They’ll plug an adapter in. If it works they’ll give it to you. If your warranty is up they still might give it to you- that actually happened to me. Worst case, you buy one and your Mac is up and running the same day.
A recent comment thread on a well-read Apple enthusiast site suggested the Geniuses don’t know much. That’s far from my experience. I’ve got certifications galore from Microsoft as a former MCSE. I’ve got years and years of consulting and corporate IT experience - I know when someone knows what they’re talking about.
Here’s the thing about the Geniuses: It’s not just Macs. It’s iPods. It’s OS X and iPhones. Apple is on a far more aggressive upgrade cycle than Microsoft. iPods are frequently refreshed. Every upgrade and refresh changes the rules, the Genius keeps track of these nuances in her giant brain, explaining what’s compatible with what, and how to deal with each revision.
When my first Mac, a G5, died three months into my Apple switch I had my initial experience with a Genius here in Charlotte. He ran diagnostics that quickly identified a faulty system board. Then he let me place a drive I’d brought along inside another G5 so I could copy some data before leaving my machine with him.
Despite my own extensive MS background I hadn’t had the Mac long enough to look into its troubleshooting procedures. When my brand new G5 was sick I didn’t want to learn either. And I didn’t have to. The Genius took care of everything. Also - what other store is going to let you pop open a floor model and stick a drive inside?
Recently, a young Genius told me he was going down to the Atlanta store to work while the Charlotte store was being updated. “We’re kind of the superstars right now,” he told me. No, I didn’t laugh at him. Well - I did laugh in the elevator. But the guy took pride in his job, and he helped me with a problem. That’s something. Your Genius has been trained in Cupertino - a sure sign Apple takes them seriously.
I’m not saying the Apple Store is free of misinformation. I’ve heard shoppers ask questions on the floor and I’ve been tempted to correct the sales people. But that happens far less with the staff behind the Genius Bar. And who knows, maybe I was wrong. Maybe you have a Genius Bar horror story. Apple is a big company, and sometimes big companies make mistakes.
Here’s what I consider my most important Genius Bar anecdote: I brought a Macbook Pro in because the mouse button didn’t feel right when I clicked it. It registered a click on the Mac, but it felt dull. The machine was under warranty from a repair I’d paid for, a repair that left the mouse button in this state. I half-expected the Genius to tell me the machine was working just fine, the button was operable, move on. It took a couple trips to get the button repaired to my satisfaction, and nobody ever implied that I was being unreasonable with my request. That’s dedication to a high standard of service. And it’s rare.
I looked at Macs for a long time before taking the plunge. When the Apple Store opened here in Charlotte my decision became much easier. The manufacturer had a presence fifteen minutes from my house. Free tech support. Repair facilities. Accessories. For the consumer market this can’t be beat. It’s a massive advantage you seldom hear Apple brag about. But it’s there.
I’ll wrap up with another sitcom reference: On Seinfeld Kramer goes to a vet instead of a doctor. “I’ll take a vet over an MD any day. They gotta be able to cure a lizard, a chicken, a pig, a frog - all on the same day.” For me that’s kind of like the Genius. From Nanos to iMacs - all on the same day.
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March 9th, 2008 at 1:46 am
When I upgraded from my G4 400 (bought in 1999) to the first gen Intel iMac (2006) the experience had a few bumps in it, but the genius’ made sure I was happy. I arrived on the Monday to buy my iMac. Quick and painless, in the store maybe 20 minutes before I was on my way home with my new Mac. Spent the evening transferring data from the old machine and testing the new machine to make sure everything was fine. After the transfer taking about two hours I stuck a DVD in to watch and as the DVD settled into the machine the superdrive died. Wouldn’t eject the disk, wouldn’t spin, nothing. Called Apple, tried all the tricks to get it out, nothing. The Applecare rep decided the machine needed to be repaired, not replaced and setup a file for repair, there was no way it would be replaced. A little miffed, the next morning I went back to the Apple Store and the sales rep that had helped me the day before was greeting people as I entered and remembered me from the previous day. He asked the problem and I told him and how Apple said I would have to wait for it to be repaired. He immediately said that wouldn’t be the case, went and got the manager and told her how I’d been in the day before. There was a line-up for the genius bar but the manager immediately pulled one off the bar to look at my machine. Sure enough the drive was dead. Before I even took a breath to argue for a new machine the genius said he’d get a new machine and transfer my data. Go get a coffee and we’ll take care of it. Unfortunately the tech that would be able to remove my DVD from the old machine wouldn’t be in until later, could I come back tomorrow to pick-up my DVD. No problem, I have a new mac. I head home and play with my machine for about six hours and turn it off, my wife mentions that she needs to check something on the web and I try to turn my new iMac back on. It’s dead, it won’t turn on, nothing. Pack it back up and return to the Apple store the next morning. As I enter the store the manager and the Genius from the day before see me. What’s wrong now? I explain it won’t turn on. Now at this point I expect them to treat me like I’ve been breaking their machines. Nope, all smiles, can we just unpack it and take a look. Sure enough the power supply in the new machine is at fault. I didn’t fry it, it had just failed. No problem, we’ll give you a new machine. It took about a half day , but they did the data transfer again. And they had my DVD ready from the first machine. Now this story doesn’t say much about quality control from Apple, but the staff made sure that I left a happy Mac owner. I am currently writing this on the third machine I received that week.
They tell me that I was the first person they had met that had received two bad machines in a row. Good customer service does make a difference.
March 9th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Commitment to a high standard of service is right. This article brings up a very valid point, and this is just another one of the reasons that I love my Mac. I have been using computers for over 20 years, and professionally for 11. All kinds… from my first commodore, through PCs a plenty, to a football field sized datacenter of FreeBSD web servers, to being one of two network engineers running a 4000 user network. I’ve run the gamut of servicing them myself and getting help from manufacturers. I think a lot of Mac fans don’t realize how good we have it. A couple quick examples:
I bought my first mac, a first gen macbook, within a couple of weeks of them being released. I had never really enjoyed the underpinnings of all the previous versions of Mac OS, being the kind of guy I am… I love to tinker with the OS. The first hurdle, OS X, being BSD/Unix based helped a LOT. The second, the switch to Intel hardware now *really* had me considering it. The third, the hint of the Boot Camp beta did it for me. I figured if I bought a Mac and for some reason hated it… well I could always just stick XP on it and problem solved. So I sold my Fujitsu P5000D, and headed on down to the local Apple store (we have 3 in the Baltimore/DC area… I consider myself very lucky). I took it home, and within days had fallen in love with it. However, about a week in I got a single dead pixel in a particularly crappy part of the screen. The top left. Every time I opened any of the first few menus it was there, staring back at me. I’ve owned many LCDs in the past, and I guess I am lucky, as this was the very first time I had a dead pixel. I was heartbroken. I set up an appointment with the Genius bar, took it in, and showed them what happened. The same guy that sold me my Macbook, who was apparently a manager of sorts saw me at the bar and came over to check out what was going on, knowing this was my first mac and that I had been a little apprehensive. The genius and “the guy” went on to explain that since the dead pixel wasn’t in the center, and there was only ONE of them, that they don’t cover this under warranty. However, they made an exception since it was in a bad location and highly noticeable, and on the spot, swapped the hard drive out and gave me a new Macbook. He even waived the restocking fee for “returning” it. I was floored.
The second. My fiancee, while still a PC user (and trust me, I am *trying*), has a 23″ Cinema Display we got last year. For the first months or so of her included Applecare, it was great. Then it developed a couple “hot spots” along the top and left edges of the screen that were getting gradually worse. She does a LOT of graphics/photo editing on it, and this was a pretty annoying at the time and had the potential to render the screen useless for the whole reason we got it in the first place. We took it in, literally, with only 4-5 days left on the warranty, explained when it started, and despite not looking too bad right then, that it was getting gradually worse. The guy plugged it in, couldn’t see it under the bright lights of the showroom floor, took it in the back to look at it in the dark, then came back out and said they are sending it to the depot to replace the screen. I don’t know if people that haven’t been through the headache of getting a monitor RMA’d or repaired (CRT, LCD, even televisions…), but usually they will fight you tooth and nail trying to convince you that nothing is wrong or that it is “withing specifications”. We had it back on the day her Applecare expired, and that was the first time they mentioned that we could renew, if we liked. I did.
Last one and I’ll make this quick. The topcase on my Macbook developed two cracks along the front edge. I also recently became victim to the “brightness bug” where it sometimes fluctuates after waking from sleep and such. At the same time I found two dead pixels, both in non important areas of the screen and barely noticeable. I took it in, explained what happened, and again they said no problem. When getting it back from the depot, not only had they replaced the screen for the dead pixels (likely caused by a bad logic board, the same reason for the flickering), the bad logic board, and the topcase, they also noticed a minor problem with the DVD burner (replaced with faster new one), and put a new heatsink on the processor. They DID accidentally replace my after-market 2GB of RAM with 1GB of Apple RAM (more than my macbook came with in the first place). When the store realized this when I picked it up, they said “no problem”, got a new sealed box of 2GB Apple RAM out of the back and popped it in right there apologizing for the mixup.
Despite 3 “major” visits to the Genius Bar over the past two years, they never questioned me, told me that it was my fault, blamed my third-party-self-installed-ram, acted like my problem wasn’t a big deal, etc. Always polite and to the point, but never dismissive or arrogant. Applecare is the ONLY extended warranty that I have ever purchased, and it is 110% totally worth it for precisely these kinds of reasons.
March 10th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Good one B.