OT: Apple service [was [clue-tech] Qwest DSL download speed reduced]

[Kevin Cullis]

On May 27, 2006, at 5:23 PM, Nate Duehr wrote:

> I think I "get it" more than I did when I was mad... heh.  But  
> still -- I thought needing a "Genius" to tell me (or anyone else)  
> that it wouldn't even power up was a bit much.  The sales guy  
> really could have taken care of that.  (And I think he could have  
> if POLICY hadn't allowed him to... that's where I get the "stuck in  
> my craw" feeling about this... if the sales guy was smart enough to  
> pronounce the machine DOA, the whole thing would have been handled  
> in about 5 minutes... in and out... all done.)
> I really don't think he was as dumb as store policy demanded him to  
> be.  :-)

Actually, you're correct in one aspect, the sales person could have  
taken care of it, if they were techie. The reason I say this is  
because Apple hires techies to do techie stuff and while some of them  
may be able to solve the issue, a lot of the Mac Specialist are  
creatives, i.e. they use Final Cut Pro, Logic, etc, which are totally  
different systems and while even though they may be Mac specialists,  
they're not hardware level thinking. Some are, some are not, so it  
depends on the person you are talking to.

> (Actually, he tried to be "empathetic" by telling me that he once  
> bought a Mac Mini that was DOA directly out of the box when he got  
> it home.  He got points for trying to relate, but that's probably  
> not a story a sales person should tell.  Ha ha... he was a bit  
> green, methinks.)

True. Did you know that Apple employees can NOT return ANY of Apple  
products once they purchased them at Apple's discount? You as a  
customer get 14 days, I don't, unless it's defective, then it gets  
fixed.

>
>>
>> However, you are a unique individual in that you are more  
>> experienced and knowledgeable than most of Apple's customers that  
>> walk in the door. I'm the only one that is TRI-OS (Linux, Mac, and  
>> Windows). Most of the other Mac specialists are creative types,  
>> not UNIX grey beards (although I did have one individual that came  
>> in that "does PERL" scripting and I mentioned that I thought we  
>> had PERL, Python, and, I think, Ruby on Rails installed and his 9  
>> year old son stated "nope, it's not installed" as he was typing in  
>> Terminal). In fact, the more geeky they are, the more apt they are  
>> to play "stump the Mac Specialist" and then treat them like dogs  
>> for not knowing all 23,000 products and all of the peculiarities  
>> of each problem. But wait, there's more:
> Wow.  I keep forgetting you guys are dealing with "the public".  I  
> really haven't done that in years... perhaps I need a little  
> resetting of my expectations, but I think I did finally come around  
> to that... Apple Stores are catering to teenagers with cellphones  
> buying new iPods -- as an extreme example -- and then someone  
> trying to get a computer walks in and has a billion questions about  
> low-level OS stuff.  Must be maddening, actually.

But this is also changing. As more people are aware of the Apple  
stores we're actually getting more technical and IT people in. But  
yes, the bulk of our customers are average users.

>> 3. The Genius Bar deals with hundreds (yes, hundreds) of customers  
>> a day and you try and remember what you did with a customer's  
>> computer two weeks ago.
> Heh, no ticket system?  :-)  Perhaps RT (http:// 
> www.bestpractical.com) would run on a store Mac in the back room --  
> think it should work, it's all Perl.  (GRIN)

Yes, there is a ticket system, but only for the techs. My brain  
becomes the ticket system for my business customers. ;-)

>> 4. Or the customer that slams a computer at the Genius Bar in  
>> front of 15 people waiting for their appointment and he wants  
>> service NOW!!! Do I favor this disgruntled customer and take care  
>> of the issue, yet could possibly anger 15 more customers?
> Yeah, understood.  There were two "Geniuses" and one person at the  
> bar when I came in.  It was just late enough in the day on a Sunday  
> that no one in the Aspen Grove store was going to do any more work  
> that day, was the way it felt... on my side of things, I'd just  
> gotten off an airplane at DIA and rushed there trying to beat the  
> 6PM closing time.  I walked in at 5:30PM on the dot... it was the  
> best I could do.  If I would have had ANY idea I needed an  
> appointment (no where in ANY documentation that came with the  
> machine was there any mention of that policy) I'd have made one  
> before I left Indianapolis that day.

Yep, this what we try to explain before you leave, but sometimes the  
lines are difficult to keep short, we're growing fast.

> I'm good... got the new one last night (heck I even sprung for an  
> upgrade - the black one was just far too tempting... since I was  
> going back on my "I'll never do business with THEM again" crazy  
> comments of earlier in the week with friends, having a black one  
> this time seemed more appropriate anyway -- hah.   Change the  
> hostname to "blacksheep" perhaps?  :-)

:-)  Or as my wife recently saw the black MacBook and stated, "Hello  
Loovvveerrrrr!!! ;-)

> Final note for you since you mentioned you were the listed "biz"  
> consultant person at the Apple place you work at... Apple HAS to  
> get AppleCare up to the quality level of the Dell CompleteCare  
> (e.g. They'll come to you) or have insanely fast turnaround times  
> on depot shipments (cross-shipments, etc...) for machine  
> replacement/repair before any IT Department will buy them in any  
> serious quantity.  The price point is there now with the MacBook...  
> you can't beat this machine dollar-for-dollar with a Dell... but at  
> $300 or less a machine for "we'll bring the parts to your house or  
> office and fix it while you wait even if you're a moron and   
> dropped it" -- that's tough to catch up with.

Uh, try $249 for a MacBook's Applecare's 3 year hardware AND tech  
support!! Oh, and it's about a 5 minute phone wait and fixing Macs is  
much quicker than Windows. This is also being worked on as we speak.  
If you get a MacBook Pro they'll overnight a box to put your laptop  
in, over nighted to depot level, fixed and over nighted back. Or, if  
you have Applecare they can make a Genius bar appointment for you on  
the phone to have you take your computer in to be fixed. The  
turnaround time is getting much better (less then a few business  
days) because now we've got three stores in the area to handle the  
occasional broken computers. Again, the key issue: make the  
appointment!! Anytime after midnight or first thing in the morning  
the day you want to take it in. If you have ProCare, you can make  
appointments seven days in advance for this appointment (think  
FEDEX). If you have a desktop with AppleCare, they can schedule an  
appointment to come to your place. As I tell each person, it also  
depends on the problem. "Oil changes" may be done at the house,  
"transmission changes" may require shop work. Again, I'm not a techie.

>
> THANK YOU is the other one.  I know it's a serious pain to figure  
> out nowadays if you can say something in a social setting online  
> about your employer.  I am not sure if you were one of my customers  
> and you were unhappy if I'd even be allowed to say anything in a  
> public forum other than, "Call me at 800-xxx-xxxx."  ;-)
> Nate

You're more than welcome. I hope I've cleared up some things not only  
for your but those on the list as well. I really enjoy working for  
Apple and it's much easier to sell Macs than PCs, but Linux is close  
behind.

Kevin