My experience at the Apple Store

[giza]

So, I took my iMac into the Apple Store tonight. I was directed to the Genius Bar, and the conversation went something like this:

Tech: So, do you have an appointment?
Me: Uh, no. AppleCare just told me to drop it off here.
Tech: *knowing look* AppleCare? Figures. Well, I'll take a look at it anyway.
Me and the Tech: *conversing about technical topics related to the issue for 5-10 minutes*
Customer (to me): You have a black shirt on. Do you work here?
Me: Oh no. His t-shirt says "Genius". My t-shirt says "Beers of Belgium" and has bottles of beer on it. *shows customer t-shirt*
Customer: Oh.


So I left my machine with them to work on and came back home with a box and the "bill". It says $760 for the Mainboard and $100 for the power supply. Total due: $0. It's good to have AppleCare. :-)

Comments

[tosdragon.livejournal.com]

Replace "iMac" with "Xserve G5," the same parts list plus processor, and you will know the same reason I love AppleCare as well. :}

[ex-tjcoyote516.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, service like that in a store... I should start a list of reasons to switch to Mac (despite the high cost), and put *that* as my first item on there! Good service is so rare these days...

[giza.livejournal.com]

It's not just an isolated incident. The two times I called AppleCare yesterday, I got clueful techs who had good phone skills. The two times before that when I called in for my Powerbook it was the same experience. That extra money is definitely well spent.

[porsupah.livejournal.com]

You do realise you missed a perfectly good opportunity to offer advice and charge $10 for it. :)

Mmmm, Belgian ales. Must get back to Abdij de St Sixtus..

[procy-raccoon.livejournal.com]

*knowing look* AppleCare? Figures.
LOL!!!

You don't know how many times I've been in those shoes saying that! Granted, the phone guys have to take way more crap than we do, it would help if they told customers that they have to make an appointment for the bar.
And better yet, it can be done online from anywhere.
www.apple.com/retail/
Click on your store, click on "Genius Bar", and the idiot proofness takes over from there.
Okay, I'm venting at this point, but I have a right to dag nabit! ;p

/wonders if he was going anywhere with this
//does it really even matter?
///attack of the forward slashes

[procy-raccoon.livejournal.com]

I so want a "Beers of Belgium" shirt for work now. :)
I couldn't wear it at the bar, but I sure as Hell would wear it in the back when doing repairs. :D

/you do realize I have to tell my coworkers this story? ;)

[kellic.livejournal.com]

Normally I wouldn't touch an extended warrantee when it comes to a desktop. for some reason Mac are the exception when it comes to things breaking after the normal 90 day warrantee. I've seen very few "normal" desktops die after the initial break-in period but then again Macs are hardly normal are they? (Note that I'm saying this as a good thing.)

Beyond that though I'd have to agree. What you get with Apple Care extends well beyond the warrantee. Something I've been trying to stress to people when they are considering a computer purchase. We have 3 Apple stores here in MN. You simply can't get the same hands on support when dealing with a Dell, Toshiba, Gateway, et al. If nothing else you can at least fracking UNDERSTAND the person you are talking too. I refuse to ever call Dell ever again on the ground that the people in India have an accent that is just the side of white noise when it comes to understanding them. Is it any wonder why the people I've warned about Dell customer service come to me for technical support. . . Too bad my rate goes up to $100 per half hour when you don't listen to my warnings. Post advice support from Tiger Technical Services is NOT cheap.

PS- If Apple introduces a dual core PowerBook next week it will be my first Apple computer since my Apple ][e. Ahh the memories.

[jlick.livejournal.com]

Maybe the customer actually was looking for beer and went into the Apple Store by mistake.

[giza.livejournal.com]

> /you do realize I have to tell my coworkers this story? ;)

That'll teach Apple to make me bring my machine in!

Next time, I'm going to wear a plain black shirt. This could be fun, yesssss.

[giza.livejournal.com]

In PA, one needs a license to sell beer. Pretty much the only place you'll find it will be at bars or distributors.

[tgeller.livejournal.com]

In PA, one needs a license to sell beer.

Does a California real estate license qualify?

*ducks*

[jlick.livejournal.com]

I used to live in OH, so I know what that's like. I think OH has loosened up on beer and wine now and only hard liquor is limited to the state stores.

[giza.livejournal.com]

I don't know, but why don't you try it? Please let me know in advance so I can watch from a safe distance away. ;-)

[giza.livejournal.com]

> for some reason Mac are the exception when it comes to things breaking
> after the normal 90 day warrantee.

I suspect that some of the weird hardware issues Macs face are simply because it's unique hardware. For example, the mainboard with its G4 or G5 chip... it's not like there are any other major computer makers out there that build boards with that chip. I'm willing to bet that the chipset on those boards is different from anything else out there. And with different chips are different voltages which means...

...different power supplies. The basics of Intel power supplies have changed little over the years, and there have been millions made. Macs, on the other hand, have this weird shaped power supply that I'm willing to bet changed between the different processor chips that came out.

What this sums up to is that the Mac hardware, while maybe more expensive and engineered to be a higher quality than PC hardware, is somewhat immature, and lacking the length of time that PC hardware has been used for, run greater risks of problems.

That's one reason I can't wait for Apple to make the switch to x86. Hopefully, it will keep a lot of problems like this from being such a big issue.

[khakiwolf.livejournal.com]

$760 just for the MAINBOARD? Now I'm glad I'm a PC person. When I upgrade my computer in April, my mobo is only going to cost me around $130.

[giza.livejournal.com]

With AppleCare, that brings my cost down to $0.00.

Anyway, that's another reason I can't wait for Apple to move to x86 hardware. It should bring down the costs.

[khakiwolf.livejournal.com]

Now if they went AMD, that would be something. =)