MacBook Air Problem - Horrible Support by Apple Genius?

[iFrankie]

I had a colleague bring me their MacBook Air seeking help. The LCD would only display gibberish/garbled/etc. It's hard to tell if it is an LCD problem or a video card problem. The screen is completely unreadable. They also desperately needed to get some school documents off the system for an upcoming event.

The laptop is less than a year old. They took it to an Apple Genius at the Fashion Island mall in California. The Apple Genius basically sent them away with a card to a local guy that works out of their garage that might be able to help get the data off. Very odd.

The Apple Genius didn't even bother to try connecting the MacBook Air to an external display. If he would have, he would have seen that it displayed perfectly fine on the external monitor. Then he could have helped transfer the school documents to a flash drive and been done. Resulting in good support and a happy customer.

I thought Apple Geniuses were heavily trained? Why didn't they troubleshoot this system properly? Are they allowed to send customers to people that work out of their garage? I think the point of this post is that it's really surprising how poorly an "Apple Genius" supported a customer. I thought Apple held them to higher standards.

 

[Dark Void]

i agree that it was a little unreasonable for him to not offer any real help, but i wouldn't let one apple genius ruin the image of them all. who knows, maybe you just were in the wrong place at the wrong time and caught this guy on a bad day or something.

 

[JD92]

...

 

[bowlerman625]

I'd call support before going back to see a genius again.

 

[iStudentUK]

Fact of life! Don't let the title "genius" fool you, some are great, and most are at least friendly, but some are just jerks.

 

[RafaelT]

I have never had amazingly over the top experience at an Apple store before like some people on here talk about. On the other hand this sounds like a below average experience. Apple is like anyone else, they are going to have some great employee's and some that aren't quite up to par.

 

[maclaptop]

Apple seems to be addicted to misleading hype, unrealistic titles, and puffery.

These people do have skill, but far from being a genious. The Apple apologists you've just heard from, will justify anything so Apple is never wrong.

The bottom line is you're paying a premium price, shopping in an upper class store, and should receive service accordingly.

When I buy my new BMW each year I receive excellent attention and courtesy. That never deviates.

 

[ibookowner2]

Best repair place in the OC is UCI ant tech.

 

[revelated]

I have never had amazingly over the top experience at an Apple store before like some people on here talk about. On the other hand this sounds like a below average experience. Apple is like anyone else, they are going to have some great employee's and some that aren't quite up to par.

I have used Genius Bar three times. All three were for the 2011 17" MacBook Pro (imagine that).

The first visit was for a replacement. Overheating, uneven backlighting, dead pixel...the machine was just not acceptable. The guy replaced it even though he did ask questions, he replaced it, and even went so far as to apply the corporate discount they neglected to give me on the first purchase.

Second visit was to see if I could get a newer model to resolve the SSD/SATA3 issues. The floor guy who was helping was extremely efficient and helpful, the Genius was a slapnuts. I asked about the newer SATA3 hardware and support and he said, "well, you're not going to be opening this up and installing a hard drive to test your theory so..." I had to give him the hand - ala The Rock - because I was on the verge of cussing him out.

Third visit was actually the same day as the second. Was asking about the newer models in the back and whether they had the high res antiglare 2.2 17" at the local store; I had called before hand and whoever answered the phone said they did. This little snot-nosed Genius Bar worker decided to interject himself in my conversation with the floor guy and rudely say "we don't have it". I asked four times to go and just check and make sure, the kid was literally arguing with me.

Rule of thumb with any retail issues: that's what managers are for. Ask for one. Clarify the problem and what SHOULD have happened. Action will be taken, especially at Apple Stores. I made sure the manager got what I refer to as Kudos and Complaints - Kudos to the floor guy for his help, Complaints to the Genius Bar staff, and why.

 

[Built]

I have used Genius Bar three times. All three were for the 2011 17" MacBook Pro (imagine that).

The first visit was for a replacement. Overheating, uneven backlighting, dead pixel...the machine was just not acceptable. The guy replaced it even though he did ask questions, he replaced it, and even went so far as to apply the corporate discount they neglected to give me on the first purchase.

Second visit was to see if I could get a newer model to resolve the SSD/SATA3 issues. The floor guy who was helping was extremely efficient and helpful, the Genius was a slapnuts. I asked about the newer SATA3 hardware and support and he said, "well, you're not going to be opening this up and installing a hard drive to test your theory so..." I had to give him the hand - ala The Rock - because I was on the verge of cussing him out.

Third visit was actually the same day as the second. Was asking about the newer models in the back and whether they had the high res antiglare 2.2 17" at the local store; I had called before hand and whoever answered the phone said they did. This little snot-nosed Genius Bar worker decided to interject himself in my conversation with the floor guy and rudely say "we don't have it". I asked four times to go and just check and make sure, the kid was literally arguing with me.

Rule of thumb with any retail issues: that's what managers are for. Ask for one. Clarify the problem and what SHOULD have happened. Action will be taken, especially at Apple Stores. I made sure the manager got what I refer to as Kudos and Complaints - Kudos to the floor guy for his help, Complaints to the Genius Bar staff, and why.

Amen on contacting the manager. The Genius...cough...Jerk...who "helped" me when I had an appointment at the Apple Store at The Grove in Los Angeles was as dismissive as could be. I left the store and followed the corporate chain with my complaint, and by the time the complaint circled back to the manager, he was on the phone with me trying to rectify the situation. I was certainly not being unreasonable...My iPhone 3G had stopped making calls...

I don't waste my time with jerks who think they can get away dismissing a legitimate question.

 

[MrXiro]

Amen on contacting the manager. The Genius...cough...Jerk...who "helped" me when I had an appointment at the Apple Store at The Grove in Los Angeles was as dismissive as could be. I left the store and followed the corporate chain with my complaint, and by the time the complaint circled back to the manager, he was on the phone with me trying to rectify the situation. I was certainly not being unreasonable...My iPhone 3G had stopped making calls...

I don't waste my time with jerks who think they can get away dismissing a legitimate question.

I prefer the Apple Store in Century City. The Grove is great but it's too friggin' busy to be efficient.

 

[chrono1081]

Apple seems to be addicted to misleading hype, unrealistic titles, and puffery.

These people do have skill, but far from being a genious. The Apple apologists you've just heard from, will justify anything so Apple is never wrong.

Where do you get that idiotic idea? Apple apologists? Get real. What they said is 100% correct. The OP's experience is far from normal at an Apple store (if it was common no one would go there), there are some great geniuses and some bad ones, just like any place, and lastly yes, the OP could have caught this guy on a bad day, it happens.

When I had a monitor problem not only did Apple exchange it after the return date, but they also credited me $179 for the inconvenience. I never even asked for that, they just did it.

I'm not saying what the genius did is right but for you to ridicule the above posters who are 100% correct is a bit ridiculous.

 

[QuarterSwede]

Where do you get that idiotic idea? Apple apologists? Get real. What they said is 100% correct. The OP's experience is far from normal at an Apple store (if it was common no one would go there), there are some great geniuses and some bad ones, just like any place, and lastly yes, the OP could have caught this guy on a bad day, it happens.

When I had a monitor problem not only did Apple exchange it after the return date, but they also credited me $179 for the inconvenience. I never even asked for that, they just did it.

I'm not saying what the genius did is right but for you to ridicule the above posters who are 100% correct is a bit ridiculous.

Gotta agree. The geniuses at my Apple store are actually very good. Most problems I've ever had they've fixed for free and without questioning me. I'm sure there are jerk geniuses out there but calling people who've had good experiences "Apple apologists" is obviously going too far.

Repairs:
PowerBook
- Hard drive replaced

MacBook
- Top case replaced: Once due to drink spillage (not free) and another due to cracking
- Hard drive replaced once

iPhone 3G
- Dust under screen: Replaced display then replaced phone when it happened again

 

[blueroom]

The ones here in the GTA are fantastic. Absolutely great service.

As for the OP's problem, something's wrong with that employee they should have never sent you elsewhere.

 

[SDub90]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8G4 Safari/6533.18.5)

Unless you having a friend that works at an apple store, you have to jump trough hoops to get the service you should be getting from the condescending *******s (or appholes, as my girlfriend calls them) that apple calls geniuses. Apple gives them empowerment and authority, but not the knowledge, occasionally you'll get the few that read forums such as macrumors and actually knows about some issues. They're always quick to tell you it's a software issue because they think they know better (granted, it is true that most problems they receive are software related).

For example, just yesterday I brought my iPad in for a replacement, I explained that it crashes while in sleep and I've restored it several times (it even crashed while restoring once), I had an apple employee friend of mine check the crashlogs and one error returned a "." which means crashed in sleep and most definitely means it's a hardware issue. Brought the iPad to the store, and explained the problem (but didn't mention I had someone look at it previously, last time I mentioned that I was quizzed on it) and after about ten minutes of me explaining that it's not software, I restored it several times, and it still crashes (I had restored it yesterday morning and it crashed by my 3:30 appointment, so she could see how you have to turn it on) she said that it's a software issue and she would restore it in a special mode that I can't put it in (DFU mode - confirmed that with another genius when she walked away). While she was restoring it I then explained that I checked the logs and it appears to be a hardware issue, she still said it was definitely software, checked the iPad and it crashed while restoring. It irks me that if I didn't know any better that I'd be stuck with a defective product because their egos get in the way of their judgement. I've had countless number of times that a genius denied a problem that was happening right before their eyes - I also had an iPhone where the battery would die in 2 hours, even when turned off. I had sit there for a half hour after he restored it to show the battery will still die quickly before he would replace it. I know that not all of them are not like this, but most of the employees around my age (early to mid 20s) think they're gods. The older ones are usually much more reasonable.

Sorry for the rant.

EditOP they shouldn't be offering other business' services, he's probably just promoting a friend's "business" and friend of mine used to give people my number when they didn't want to pay the apple premium for an out of warranty repair.

 

[bLiss]

I think the point of this post is that it's really surprising how poorly an "Apple Genius" supported a customer. I thought Apple held them to higher standards.

I don't know what kind of backbone your "colleague" has, but when I go to the Apple Store to get my computer serviced under warranty, I get the damn thing serviced. But I guess if I let myself take a garage geek's business card and get sent on my way, I'd go whine on the Internet, too.

 

[KumoWarrior]

i agree that it was a little unreasonable for him to not offer any real help, but i wouldn't let one apple genius ruin the image of them all. who knows, maybe you just were in the wrong place at the wrong time and caught this guy on a bad day or something.

==============

Archlord: where have you been? My niece bought a brand new MBP 13" and so called apple genius insulted her resulting in a complaint filed against him... in the santa rosa, ca apple store... she had her defective MBP in the store at least twice and sent to apple and the story was the same, computer is fine it must be software... and still it freezes.. oh did i mention the only software on the unit was OSx? Additionally, we met an older couple who their new 13" was freezing... with theirs though it turned out to be a defective hard drive... the unit was four weeks old.

With Steve Jobs now not very active we are wondering if apple is going down the tubes again just like it did the last time....

One thing is for sure, the shine is definitely off the apple especially when it comes to so-called genius'.

 

[Dark Void]

well, there are stories about their "horrible support" but there are also stories of their generousness - sometimes even giving new models to those who are having problems with their older ones. simply because you or others have had bad experiences doesn't put a label on every apple genius is all i am saying, it would be ridiculous to think such. in any case i am sorry that your experience wasn't a good one.