My experience at the Apple Store, which isn’t closed

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By Philip DiStefano

For a good while, my MacBook Pro had been acting up. After trying everything I could think of on the software side, I decided that the problem with it must have been hardware related because, yes – contrary to what Apple fanboys might tell you – Macs can and do break.

Lucky for me and everyone else in the area who owns any Apple product, the Apple Store in the Boulevard at the Mall of Louisiana is here to help. There’s a team of customer support specialists behind the counter at the back of the store that Apple immodestly calls the “Genius Bar.”

I headed over to Apple’s Web site and navigated to the Genius Bar reservation page, where I made an appointment for 7:40 P.M. on Monday, April 21. I arrived that day about 20 minutes early for my appointment. A Concierge employee greeted me and I told him I had an appointment at the Genius Bar.

I took a seat, expecting to have to wait about 20 or 30 minutes, as I’m used to being early and I naturally expected anywhere that I had to make an appointment to be running late. Not more than three minutes later, though, a Genius called my name.

I explained the problems I was having with my computer and he was very polite and helpful. After I told him the steps I’d taken to try to solve the problem, he immediately discerned, like I had, that the problem was with the hardware.

He informed me that they’d have to send my laptop to a repair center in Tennessee, and that it would be back at the store within five to seven days. I was actually already expecting this, but as the Genius was explaining the process, I realized that I forgotten to back up the data on my Windows partition in case they had to wipe my hard drive.

I told the Genius what I’d forgotten, but that I had my portable hard drive with me, and he let me sit there and back up my Windows data. On a humorous side note, Windows froze in the process.

The Genius wrote down everything I was having issues with, and I mean everything. We went over my contact information and after all of the paperwork was done, I was given a copy of it and I set off without my laptop, expecting it to be gone until at least Wednesday of the next week.

I was able to track my laptop’s repair status on Apple’s Web site, which I found to be very helpful. It was nice to know exactly what was happening, even if I couldn’t do anything to affect it.

Then I got a call on Friday morning from a very enthusiastic employee who informed me that my laptop was back in the store and ready to be picked up. I was very surprised, so I headed over and picked it up.

Everything was perfect. All of the issues were fixed, a list of parts they’d replaced was given to me, and I walked out with my MacBook Pro three and a half days after I’d brought it in.

I’ve gotten good customer service in the past from companies, but Apple added a special touch and made it really personal and a very good experience. Overall, I’d have to say that it’s one of the best experiences I’ve ever had with getting a product repaired. I highly recommend that you give it a shot if your Apple product is giving you problems.

Originally Published: Issue 607 - May 6, 2008

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