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Comment by fmajid | Hacker News Reader

Ahrendt's tenure coincided with a sever degradation in the quality of service levels at the Genius Bar, and no amount of bling Hermès Apple Watch straps can make up for that.

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I don't think that's true; I think it's more accurate that she didn't do the right things to fix the problems created by her predecessor, John Browett. In a mere six months he instituted layoffs across the entire retail operation and alienated virtually everyone -- and while Apple seems to have fairly quickly recognized the damage, I don't think they've done what they needed to repair it. Ahrendts had a vision of Apple Stores as some kind of town square gathering space, and... what? I mean, if they want to put an espresso bar in a few flagship locations or something, that'd be fine. But we go to Apple Stores for specific reasons, namely, to buy Apple products, to buy accessories, or to get help with our Apple products. Ironically, I suspect a relentless focus on that would do a better job in fostering a sense of community, e.g., "we are mostly all here as happy Apple customers"; that's what the stores at least had an undercurrent of in the late 2000s.

Since we're in anecdote territory, I learned that screen de-lamination issues that occurred on some ~2015 MacBook Pros were being covered under an extended warranty. Took mine in (which had some screen issues). The Genius Bar guy took one look at it. Said yep "Haven't seen quite that interesting a pattern." Asked me if I had things backed up. Apologized for the fact they have to replace the whole display including my stickers on the back. And took care of everything at no charge.

I'm sure it was all within policy but how many companies would try to put up at least a half-hearted fight?

I guess it depends. I've always had a really bad experience with Apple Stores in my country. Every problem I've had they'd brush it off or wanted to make me pay so much it would have been more cost effective to buy a new device.

Had a 2011 MBP with an open recall for an AMD graphics card issue. Took mine in, opened it up, and the genius said yup it’s a graphics card issue. Just need to run this test to get your refund.

5 tries and an hour later the computer crashed during each test. Came back 3 separate days talked to everyone I could and the computer couldn’t complete the test. Sorry you can’t get recall if the test isn’t run rule are rules.

Haven’t bought a MBP since because the new prices are insane. I’m not risking a $2.5k-3k laptop dying in a few years, or having keyboard issues, or the display-gate issue. Everything is glued in nowadays you can’t even replace simple parts.

That's very strange to me, in that my experience was literally the reverse of that. I thought it was an Nvidia GPU issue, but perhaps it was a separate recall. In any case, the Genius took my MBP to the back of the store and came back a few minutes later to say that he tried to run the test twice and the MBP kernel panicked each time, so he was calling that a confirmation of the bad GPU.

Agree, have had so many frustrating experiences lately. Recently my phone was water damaged, so I went to the Singapore Apple Store and was told there aren't any genius bar appointments available for a week, and that's as far as you can schedule out. I said OK, no problem, I'll buy another until I can get an appointment and then return the new one once mine is replaced under Apple Care. I was waiting about 40 minutes to buy an iPhone and then the sales specialist noted that I could, in fact, probably wait for a cancelation and have my phone serviced. I waited upstairs working on their (fairly good!) wifi for about 1.5 hours and then when I saw a Genius who confirmed my phone is indeed toast. The Genius then explained they don't have any phones in stock in my color, can only do a like-for-like replacements and it'd take 48 hours for it to come in stock (why can't this be identified ahead of time?).. so then I waited another 30mins to buy a phone and returned it 48 hours later. Similarly, replacing a damaged or lost AirPod is way too difficult. IMO, it shouldn't require a "Genius", especially in the latter case

(I'd also love to be able to just order a replacement piece online)

I took in my iPhone 6 with a black screen. Was told it failed the current test and was a motherboard issue and was offered a replacement for $329. Took it to a independent shop down the street and they opened it and connected the disconnected charging port inside and replaced a missing plate probably left from a third party button repair. $30. Flagrantly lied to.

To be fair when I press on it in a certain place it black screens and resets perhaps because of preexisting water damage but to not even open it up and lie to me is malpractice.

The Genius Bar is beyond a joke these days.

I went in a month ago and they quoted me >$1100 for repairs for a broken K key (the device was under warranty, and I had AppleCare+ - another $500 on top of the device cost) and I threw a fit because I felt it was absolutely ridiculous that a $4650 computer could "reasonably" lose function entirely within a half year due to a faulty butterfly key mechanism (within a YEAR!) and the guy said (no joke, brace yourselves) "I'm now terminating this interaction." He seriously said that after I responded to his initial cost estimate with absolute dejected disgust. Naturally, I felt compelled to respond with "Ok T-9000 kindly relay to SkyNet that I'm interested in communicating further with the grid." They literally prey on people that don't know better and try to extract as much money as possible unless you aggressively respond. If people knew better, they wouldn't be able to get away with this kind of behavior. It's disgusting. Eventually I was able to explain that I will literally never buy another Apple product again unless they completely fix the upper case or whatever the current terminology is for free. I was very vocal and unforgiving about how bad the design of the upper case is. What's hilarious is they actually started a keyboard replacement program for all models BEFORE 2017, even though after 2017 is when they took the butterfly keyboard model a step further. It's insane. Literally gaslighting with regard to what they are trying to "solve."

I got lucky - I got the issue fixed for free. It's sad that I have to fight to get decent repair service on a product that cost a small fortune, on top of a $500 repair warranty (that doesn't protect against water damage).

Either way I'm probably never buying an Apple product again. They are a shadow of their former self, and while Apple shareholders are probably collectively pissing themselves watching daily gains, they are moving to this cloud services model that I feel will eventually fail to catch on. It's just so expensive when you compare alternatives. Probably will take around a half decade or so, but eventually it will be felt. And if they can't move toward "larger plays" like autonomous vehicles (also certainly oriented as a service based model), the cloud pure play won't exist forever. It's just too expensive for the every day citizen.

> I'm now terminating this interaction.

Reading what you said to them I am surprised Security didn't throw you out.

Me too! Thankfully speaking and voicing my opinion isn't verboten yet!

Apple Care+ does protect against liquid damage. It's $300 for an accidental damage incident, whether it be water damage or you drop it off a bridge.

Also Apple Care+ is $379 in the US, not $500.

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