Having a problem with your Apple gear can be a lonely road of Googling, trolling the Apple Support Forums, or paging through Mac|Life hoping we address your exact problem. But if you live relatively close to an Apple Store, you can make a Genius Bar appointment. Eye-rolling name aside, the Geniuses can get hands-on, diagnose what’s going on, and very often offer a fix on the spot. Our own Nic Vargus and Susie Ochs both have gotten great service at the Genius Bar, and so have these readers, who were kind enough to share their stories of how their day was (usually) saved—often at no charge. Thanks to everyone who wrote in! (More stories at maclife.com/geniuslove.)
Recently, I was having a problem downloading the massive Lion installer on AT&T’s DSL. I went to the Apple Store and was impressed that they immediately let me use their network to download the file, then walked me through a few of the new features and offered some additional assistance. The customer service at Apple Stores is second to none.
—Ivan Rivera, Jr.
I had an old 80GB iPod a year out of warranty replaced free of charge. The front part of my white MacBook keyboard area broke off, and they replaced that free of charge as well. I even had a jailbroken iPhone 3GS stop working, and the Genius Bar just gave me a new one, even though it was a week over warranty. I will never be switching back to a PC. Cheers to the Geniuses!
—Jennifer Stickley
I took my wife’s dead iPod nano in for repair. It couldn’t be fixed, so they had to order another one for me. After no contact for a month, I went in to follow up (it’s an hour drive away). The Genius showed me the work order, and explained why I hadn’t heard that the replacement had been in the store for a week: they didn’t record an area code for my phone number. Of course, my reply was, “I’m no Genius, but isn’t that my email address there?” Not exactly out-of-the-box problem solving, but I still love Apple.
—Brian Williamson
I walked into the Apple Store with my fourth-gen iPod touch, which had some display problems. All I said was hello, and the Genius looked up the iPod’s serial number, told me he’d be right back, and brought me a brand-new iPod touch, no questions asked. Another time I took in my MacBook when it had a hard drive failure. It was running Tiger at the time, and I asked the Genius if he could put Leopard on it for free. In the presence of other techs, he said no. But when I got my laptop back, it was running Leopard. Apple techs really raise the bar for great service.
—Nik S.
I was sitting outside when my iPad slipped out of its case and fell onto asphalt, shattering the screen. I took it to the Apple Store without even making an appointment and told them exactly what happened. They gave me a new one on the spot and even got it all set up for me so I was using it out of the store. It wasn’t even covered by AppleCare. How awesome are they?
—Gerald Ashlock
krislynch
October 08, 2011 at 11:39am
My Genius Bar Story:
I live an hour and a half away from the nearest Genius Bar, so I was considerably panicked when I spilled a soft drink on my MacBook Pro. After spending an all-nighter doing everything I could to clean it up, I visited our local Apple-authorized repair shop. I was told it would cost about $600 to fix and about 10 days turn-around - IF it could be fixed. However, they couldn't fix it themselves because they weren't authorized to handle that sort of repair, so it would have to be sent to Apple.
So it made more sense to me to make an appointment at the Genius Bar. If it still had to be sent to Apple, they could likely handle it faster. The Genius assigned to me sympathized with me about what happened, that it was my work machine, that I had to make such a long drive to get help. I understood that since fluid damage is one of the only issues not covered by Apple Care, I would need to pay for the repairs. He told me it could take at least 7 days to get fixed and could cost about $300. I was so worried I bought a new MBP while I was there, even though I couldn't really afford to buy a new computer.
When I got home, I set about restoring my TIme Capsule backup to the new MBP. The process took so long I allowed it to work overnight. When I got up the next morning, I was just about to sit down to work and noticed a message from the Genius, saying that my laptop was ready.
I drove up to pick up the laptop - with the new laptop in tow just in case I decided to return it. Depending on the cost of the repair, I was going to determine whether to keep the old one or new one and possibly return the new one or sell the old one.
The Genius had installed a new keyboard - at NO cost. I asked him how much I owed and he said 'oh, no charge - it was covered by Apple Care'. I knew this couldn't be true, and that he must have made up the work order specifically so it would be covered. I asked if I could then return the new one because I'd really just rather have my old one back. He immediately handled the return and assured me that my data would be removed.
So other than the gas money and time required to drive up there and back twice in two days, they repaired my MBP free of charge.
Another time I drove up to the store to make a couple of minor purchases, and just happened to mention to my Genius that the Home button on my iPhone was sticking. The Genius tried it and immediately handed me an new iPhone at no charge.
Shiny, cool gadgets aside, THIS is why Apple is a superior company. The Apple customer service experience is incredible. Knowledgeable, non-pushy, helpful, enthusiastic staff and top quality products create an environment where everybody wins.
I know of no other company who has been able to maintain anything on par with this type of brand loyalty.
insomnisquirrel
October 07, 2011 at 5:31pm
I had bough an iPad 2 at Best Buy on day one. I went home and set it up, and found out that it was defective. I went to Best Buy a week or two later to exchange it under it's warranty and they said that they were out of stock. They said that I would be at the top of the notification list when another one came in. I hadn't backed it up yet so i asked to keep it in the meantime, and they said that they needed it as soon as possible.and until then keep the broken one. I came back a week later to return it and no one there had any idea that I had been there. I spoke to a manager who assured me that I would be at the top of the list. I waited a month and I needed a replacement because I was going on vacation and didn't want to activate 3G on a broken iPad. I brought it to the Apple Store 15 minutes before closing time. I expalined what was going on, and we tried to get the problem to occur (some pixels would shoot off the screen randomly). They didn't physically see the problem, only a video I took with my iPod Touch, and exchanged it within in 20 minutes. They helped me even though the store should have been closed, and I walked out with a perfectly new iPad 2. I still haven't been contacted by Best Buy. I will NEVER go anywhere else to get help for my Apple products.
stevevfoster
October 07, 2011 at 4:15pm
a few years ago my mother died and I agreed to say a few words at the funeral on behalf of the family ... over a few days I worrked hard to include various comments and create a suitable eulogy ... finally finishing I was about to print it when my MacBook Pro crashed ... when it rebooted the screen was blank
I made an appointment and rushed to a local Apple store to get help ... i moved the nice Apple Genuis person away from the crowded genius bar to explain that I needed to try and get the eulogy of the drive as I couldnt remember a single word ... panic tends to wipe the brain
while he was running some checks we were chatting and I mentioned that I had been hoping to run a keynote of pictures of my mum at the party/wake and it was such a shame as I was sure all the relatives would have loved all the images I had found of her right back to when she was a little girl
it was a known fault ... it wasn't the fact that it was repaired free of charge ... or the fact that my eulogy was found first and made safe for me ... it was the way in the middle of the busy crazy colourful noise that is an apple store this man told me that he would bump my MacBook to the top of the list and repair it within an hour and that under the circumstances he figured everyone would understand ... service efficiency and kindness ... I will never forget the way he treated me that day
davidwsaunders
October 07, 2011 at 3:35pm
A couple of years ago, I started seriously following my passion of being a active photojournalist.
And it had become obvious to be that I would have to leave my PC world behind and jump into the Apple world. Being cautious person I wanted to make sure everything I needed the macbook pro to do was there or get an answer for a program that would fix that situation.
I came in with a copy of the files I needed to access on a daily basis plus a list of programs I just had to have and a note pad of questions. The folks at the apple store sat me down at one of preloaded laptops and started going through the note pad of questions. As I found more questions I put them on the pad and someone stopped by and showed me how to get around it. So by the time I was ready to plop down 3k on a laptop and the needed software I was very comfortable with the decision.
I was even running an instance of Windows on the machine for the programs that just wouldn't migrate over.
Today, The instance of that windows program is gone. I haven't had a problem since day one. I even upgraded to the latest macbook pro.
Thanks to the Apple store.. I can honestly say... Once you go Mac do just don't go back!
Thanks guys!
DavidFell
October 07, 2011 at 10:57am
I bought a G5 way back when. Not the plastic one, rather the metal case that looked just like today's Mac Pro. It failed, I brought it in, they replaced the logic board. The Mac failed again, this time it needed a power supply. When it failed a third time, they replaced it with the Mac Pro, which I still use to this day.
ebrainer1
October 07, 2011 at 9:08am
My story:
I had an iPod touch with an engraving of my name, country of residence, and phone number on the back.
After about a month, i encountered sticking pixels.
I took it in, told the Geniuses the problem, Get this: they didn't even turn it on, The guy helping me just pulled out a new one from a drawer, said "We're very sorry about that. I hope this one works better"Not sure, but I think it's because apple products can easily be recycled. That's one advantage of recycling for sure: better customer service.
