Genus Bar won't see me if 3 minutes late to iPhone appointment!!!!

[Beenblacklisted]

OP might not have been too honest

actually you have a 5-10 min grace period...unless you are rude, obnoxious and very confrontational, they will reschedule you so you have time to calm down, and blow off steam, its a very carefully made rule. For those who are having cosmetic issues with their devices, you'd be surprised what being nice and courteous will achieve in the long run. Be nice and courteous to those assisting you, i guarantee they will go out of their way to get your issue addressed and resolved.

 

[nburwell]

I would have asked to see a manager right away and lit him up. I can't count the times I've had to wait 10, 15 even 25 minutes past my appointment time. Besides, given the issues you already experienced the least thing they can do is let you be 3 minutes late.

Excellent idea. Of the few times that I had a Genius appointment, they were never on time with seeing me. I would definitely speak to a manager about it rather than having to come back later tonight.

 

[wacomme]

Simple. Don't be late.

 

[TC400]

Late is late. they are busy Gotta move on to the next person.

 

[Rocko1]

So what happens if your are there early, and they are late to see you? I'll tell you.. NOTHING. That's because your time is worthless while their time is precious.

That is because they have the golden egg. You have nothing they want, not even money, there will always be someone to take your place.

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Simple. Don't be late.

You mean someone was held accountable for their actions? So rare these days with the sense of entitlement ******s.

 

[ritmomundo]

My store says you check in 10-15 minutes before your appt. The appt is only 10 mins so I guess they think that is significant enough. If everyone is late three minutes in an hour, they will be two spots late for each hour which throws off a lot of people.

The difference is that the customer only has to worry about their own schedule, whereas Apple will have a long list.

Imagine if every customer was three minutes late and each appointment ran over by three minutes. With ten appointments, appointment number 11 could have to wait half an hour because the previous ten people were late.

Be on time. Not that hard.

If they allow it as policy, and 10 people decide to just show up when they feel like it, how do you think the guy at 5PM feels waiting 30 minutes because 10 people before him were 3 minutes late?

It's good customer service for all the customers that come after you. And a good life lesson in responsibility for you.

Never heard any one complain when your 3 min early. Live and learn.. lets see every person is 3 min late through out the day you have 50 appointments that 150 minutes are you going to work the overtime?

Did you all have the same math teacher? You guys must have failed math in school. Let me break this down for you.

If the 10AM appointment shows up 3 minutes late at 10:03, he finishes at 10:13 (assuming they use the full 10 minutes)
If the 10:10 appointment shows up 3 minutes late at 10:13, he finishes at 10:23.
If the 10:20 appointment shows up 3 minutes late at 10:23, he finishes at 10:33.
If the 10:30 appointment shows up 3 minutes late at 10:33, he finishes at 10:43.
If the 10:40 appointment shows up 3 minutes late at 10:43, he finishes at 10:53.
If the 10:50 appointment shows up 3 minutes late at 10:53, he finishes at 11:03.
If the 11AM appointment shows up ON TIME, he will wait 3 minutes. If he has to wait longer, it is not because the 6 people before him were late, but because the Apple Geniuses fell behind on their schedule or went over time on someone's 10 minute appointment.

This reminds me of those math questions on the SAT. "If appointments were made in 10 minute increments, and lasted 10 minutes each, how long would the 11th customer have to wait if the 10 people before him were 3 minutes late to their appointments?" All of you would have gotten it wrong.

 

[joeshmo2010]

If you're three minutes late to your final interview, do you think they'll cut you some slack? Didn't think so. Just shows that you have poor time management.

 

[AbSoluTc]

Wow, as if you've never been running a couple minutes before in your lives. Its not like he strolled in 45 minutes late with a Starbucks latte in his hand. Get off your high horses. If they took the next customer, they should have taken the OP afterward instead of dismissing him completely. But of course, you all are probably gonna tell me that "Apple can do no wrong." SMH. I would hate to live your lives.

Not an Apple apologizer here. Apple can do wrong, have you heard of the iPhone 4 antenna issue? What about Apple Maps? Just to name a few. I love Apple just as much as the next Apple lover but don't kid yourself.

If I was late, I EXPECT to be moved to a different time or have to wait longer. An appointment is an appointment. A notice that you will be there at a specified time to receive help. It's not a "ish" or "tentative" schedule. It's definitive. You WILL be there at said time or you don't get seen. Period, the end. If someone likes to make an exception for being late, great. If not, it's your own fault. Not anyone else's.

I will dismiss people who say they will meet me at a specific time but miss that time. It pisses me off and is a huge pet peeve of mine. Punctuality is important. It's a promise you will be there when you say you will. Not showing up on time tells me you don't give a **** and can't keep your promise.

Besides, I was taught to show up 15 minutes early for all occasions. Sometimes 30 depending on what was happening.

 

[upssucks]

Wow there are some real time-nazi people on this forum. This guy was 3 min late to a store which (i'm assuming) he spends thousands of dollars on. Turning him away and refusing to help him over a few minutes has got to be the worst customer service I've heard of. This is not a court case or job interview. He is trying to get his product replaced, which he spent hundreds of dollars on, and its defective. He is the one being inconvenienced because Apple gave him a defective product. The least they can do is accomodate him. Geesh

 

[SpyderBite]

I call BS. Bar appointments for mobiles are held for 10 minutes.

 

[Queen of Spades]

The mobile appointments are only supposed to last 10 minutes total. In that time, the Genius has to quickly diagnose, and either replace, repair, or resolve. 3 minutes means it's almost impossible to do this in the 10 minute window, and it will push the other appointments back, creating a logjam and pissed off customers.

The grace period for lateness for mobile appointments is 2-3 minutes late, computers is 5 minutes. It's done to keep things on schedule as much as humanly possible. Obviously it's not always perfect, but it's the only way to make it even remotely work.

Best advice is to get there early. If you think you might be late, call the store and let the operator know. He/she will let the G Bar Specialist know, and they can usually make a note of it and take other customers ahead of you until you arrive. If you don't let them know, they will cancel the reservation.

It's not some evil policy, it's done to keep things on schedule as much as possible. People already bitch enough, extending the window of lateness would cause chaos and make it even worse.

 

[MrXiro]

#1. Scuffed iPhone
#2. Wifi blows
and now...
#3. 3 mins late for my 12:30 appointment means I have to come back at 7pm.

Apple... you're pissing in my Cheerios a lot this week.

Don't show up late then... it's nobody's fault but yours.

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Wow there are some real time-nazi people on this forum. This guy was 3 min late to a store which (i'm assuming) he spends thousands of dollars on. Turning him away and refusing to help him over a few minutes has got to be the worst customer service I've heard of. This is not a court case or job interview. He is trying to get his product replaced, which he spent hundreds of dollars on, and its defective. He is the one being inconvenienced because Apple gave him a defective product. The least they can do is accomodate him. Geesh

I can smell a bias story when I see one. They could have saw him... but the appointments were probably pushed back by 30 minutes and he couldn't wait that long I bet. Assuming he works 12:30 was his lunch break and he had to be back by 1 or 1:30. He probably should have scheduled it at 7:30pm to begin with.

 

[bitslap47]

Did you all have the same math teacher? You guys must have failed math in school. Let me break this down for you.

If the 10AM appointment shows up 3 minutes late at 10:03, he finishes at 10:13 (assuming they use the full 10 minutes)
If the 10:10 appointment shows up 3 minutes late at 10:13, he finishes at 10:23.
If the 10:20 appointment shows up 3 minutes late at 10:23, he finishes at 10:33.
If the 10:30 appointment shows up 3 minutes late at 10:33, he finishes at 10:43.
If the 10:40 appointment shows up 3 minutes late at 10:43, he finishes at 10:53.
If the 10:50 appointment shows up 3 minutes late at 10:53, he finishes at 11:03.
If the 11AM appointment shows up ON TIME, he will wait 3 minutes. If he has to wait longer, it is not because the 6 people before him were late, but because the Apple Geniuses fell behind on their schedule or went over time on someone's 10 minute appointment.

This reminds me of those math questions on the SAT. "If appointments were made in 10 minute increments, and lasted 10 minutes each, how long would the 11th customer have to wait if the 10 people before him were 3 minutes late to their appointments?" All of you would have gotten it wrong.

"When they feel like it" doesn't mean everyone exactly 3 minutes late. I said "everyone 3 minutes late" later in my explanation in error.

You get the point that's being driven at Don't be late. Not that hard.

 

[BFizzzle]

I would have asked to see a manager right away and lit him up. I can't count the times I've had to wait 10, 15 even 25 minutes past my appointment time. Besides, given the issues you already experienced the least thing they can do is let you be 3 minutes late.

yeah i waited 35 min after my scheduled appointment time last sunday. wtf apple

 

[ericrwalker]

You mean someone was held accountable for their actions? So rare these days with the sense of entitlement ******s.

We could use you in the political threads.

 

[imazu]

I had an appointment at 410pm with genius checked in 5 mins before although I was already there hours ago when I was checking the iphone 5. And l waited 45minutes was my 1st time for genius appointment. I talked to the guy and followed up my appointment and told me it was cancelled, I was surprised cause the guy that checked me in even asked me what my concern was. In the end they tried to get one of the genius to take care of my concern. I was a little disappointed when the guy offered me to have my 5 days old phone be replaced with a refurbished one. I think I'll go back and just do a return. I don't usually return stuffs but I find it not fair for I paid a full retail price for the phone.

 

[bitslap47]

I had an appointment at 410pm with genius checked in 5 mins before although I was already there hours ago when I was checking the iphone 5. And l waited 45minutes was my 1st time for genius appointment. I talked to the guy and followed up my appointment and told me it was cancelled, I was surprised cause the guy that checked me in even asked me what my concern was. In the end they tried to get one of the genius to take care of my concern. I was a little disappointed when the guy offered me to have my 5 days old phone be replaced with a refurbished one. I think I'll go back and just do a return. I don't usually return stuffs but I find it not fair for I paid a full retail price for the phone.

Just return it and re-buy it. Don't be bullied. If they won't allow you to re-buy after a return, do it online, go to another store, or go to one of your carrier's stores. They will gladly sell it to you.

 

[wacky4alanis]

Turning a customer away for being 3 minutes late to their "genius" appt is not only poor customer service, it should be grounds for having the employee fired IMHO. It's completely unacceptable. If it was the manager of the store who set up this policy, then he should be fired. And if it was the CEO who decided to make this a company-wide policy, then he should be replaced by the stock-holders LOL

 

[imazu]

Just return it and re-buy it. Don't be bullied. If they won't allow you to re-buy after a return, do it online, go to another store, or go to one of your carrier's stores. They will gladly sell it to you.

Yup will do that this weekend...

 

[skidbubble]

In no way and I mean NO WAY is this the customer's fault.

OK then, explain how it is Apple's fault if YOU are late.

You (the customer) made an agreement with Apple to show up at a designated time. Apple held up their end of the arrangement by being there and waiting. In addition to that, Apple also provided a clock for you, on their "revolutionary" and "innovative" iPhone 5.

Apple should not have to wait until a customer is good and ready to show up, whenever they feel like it. Time is money. If customer "A" is not there, then they can't wait around all day. They must move on to customer "B".

 

[kalexn]

You're not the only one to suffer this poor service. My friend is having a real time of it too.

He ordered an iPhone 5 online, it came, scuffed to bits. He called Apple Care and they sent him a replacement phone. The new one actually had a sticker across the box opening saying it had been inspected by Apple Care, and yet when he opened it, it too was scuffed in very obvious places. It was even worse than his first one.

So he calls them again they tell him to go to a store and hand both phones in and go through their replacements to find one that isn't scuffed.

The manager of the Apple Store tells my friend he will replace the phone but he isn't going to open more than one replacement box and he can either take it or leave it (this is before he even opens the replacement).

The manager opens the replacement and it is scuffed, he decides (the manager) to "put this one aside" going against what he said previously and opens a second box. The 2nd replacement phone is also scuffed! - Silver showing around the black metal band where it has been scratched.

The manager then looks at my friend and says "Well you can choose between these two". My friend, frustrated said um no thanks and returns the two phones (his original and the one apple care sent him) and gets a refund.

He is now using his iPhone 4S again and is considering a white iPhone 5. So he has gone through in total 4 iPhone 5 blacks and every one has been scuffed.

Pictures of proof: The box from Apple Care he received: http://i.imgur.com/ZQOUb.jpg

Pictures of 2nd scuffed iPhone: http://i.imgur.com/AR3r9.jpg & http://i.imgur.com/VvKSO.jpg

Now personally my iPhone 5 came absolutely perfect with no marks and I'm very happy with it but everyone else I know has got a scuffed one. I mean how unlucky do you have to be to get four (!!!) scuffed out of the box iPhone 5's in a row?

The phone has only been available 6 days.. this whole situation could end up much bigger than the Nano scratching thing from years ago which resulted in a class action suit that Apple lost by the way. Their customer service as well seems complete cack after the way my friend was treated in-store, I can understand the staff are annoyed by people who keep going through replacement devices looking for a perfect phone but they should be perfect! if anyone is going to scratch them it should be the customers themselves.

Okay, maybe I am blind but I barely see anything. I see maybe like a pin prick size spot. I am surprised but I am pretty OCD (I mean really, I cry when I scratch something) but these really don't look too bad.

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Okay, I can see getting mad at being 3 minutes late but then I have to look at it as, late is late. I am sure if an iPhone hadn't been released a week ago it would not have mattered but since lots of people are coming in they have to stick to a strict schedule.

It would have been nice if they would have been like the doctor's offices where if you are running 15+ you have to reschedule (of course, they can be running an hour late and that is totally fine...)

 

[matttye]

Did you all have the same math teacher? You guys must have failed math in school. Let me break this down for you.

If the 10AM appointment shows up 3 minutes late at 10:03, he finishes at 10:13 (assuming they use the full 10 minutes)
If the 10:10 appointment shows up 3 minutes late at 10:13, he finishes at 10:23.
If the 10:20 appointment shows up 3 minutes late at 10:23, he finishes at 10:33.
If the 10:30 appointment shows up 3 minutes late at 10:33, he finishes at 10:43.
If the 10:40 appointment shows up 3 minutes late at 10:43, he finishes at 10:53.
If the 10:50 appointment shows up 3 minutes late at 10:53, he finishes at 11:03.
If the 11AM appointment shows up ON TIME, he will wait 3 minutes. If he has to wait longer, it is not because the 6 people before him were late, but because the Apple Geniuses fell behind on their schedule or went over time on someone's 10 minute appointment.

This reminds me of those math questions on the SAT. "If appointments were made in 10 minute increments, and lasted 10 minutes each, how long would the 11th customer have to wait if the 10 people before him were 3 minutes late to their appointments?" All of you would have gotten it wrong.

True bad logic on my part, didn't think it through!

 

[darngooddesign]

Did you all have the same math teacher? You guys must have failed math in school. Let me break this down for you...

The glaring flaw in your time table is that not every appointment is 10 minutes long. Some are longer, most are shorter. Apple plans their scheduling around a little longer than the average time, that way an appointment which takes a little longer than average won't disrupt the entire day.

No one is saying the OP should bump the next person in line, but it shouldn't take Apple 7 hours to squeeze him in. There should be a method of standby where if things are moving quickly the OP could be fit in an available gap.

 

[Quu]

Okay, maybe I am blind but I barely see anything. I see maybe like a pin prick size spot. I am surprised but I am pretty OCD (I mean really, I cry when I scratch something) but these really don't look too bad.

You don't see this?

 

[Middiebear]

The difference is that the customer only has to worry about their own schedule, whereas Apple will have a long list.

Imagine if every customer was three minutes late and each appointment ran over by three minutes. With ten appointments, appointment number 11 could have to wait half an hour because the previous ten people were late.

That attitude is irrelevant in the fact that the apple store is supposed to STRIVE to provide GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE!

All these analogies of "work interviews" and "doctor appointments" are ridiculous and is really like comparing apples to oranges.

Those situations are not CUSTOMER SERVICE oriented and thus, don't even apply to the original poster's situation.

This is not a story of consequences of poor punctuality but of poor customer service that didn't have to end the way that it did...

If apple can't have a built in grace period then as I said before... That's a major flaw in the way they set up these genius visits and will just lead to poor customer service interactions, which is something they should always try to avoid.