Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

ghporter · Jun 20, 2006, 07:40 PM

...and why I can't sign up to see a Genius at my local Apple Store because I haven't paid their $99 for a year's worth of hand-holding. What's the deal here? I have a simple problem that the Genius fixed several months back-my son's iPod doesn't like to charge on his charger so it gets REALLY low and dies until I plug it into my charger for about 36 hours. I want to have the thing checked out and see if, since it's still in warranty, it's eligible for a replacement iPod. If not, I'll buy a new charger, but I want to know what's going on with the hardware. So what's this apparent extortion over their "for newbies and old folks" ProCare? Yes, I'm steamed.

mduell · Jun 20, 2006, 07:56 PM

I've never had a problem getting a same-day Genius appointment. Hop on the website about 6am and 90% of the slots for the day are open. Even if I don't make the appointment until noon, I can usually get one in the afternoon.

Unless I really misread your post, it sounds like your son's charger is bad, not his iPod.

Railroader · Jun 20, 2006, 08:18 PM

They'll still see you. You just can't make an appointment ahead of your visit. All you have to do is go to the Apple store and sign up for a same day appointment. ProCare lets you make an appointment from home and a priority in scheduling.

I've never had to wait more than an hour at the Somerset Mall in Troy, MI and it is a very busy store.

Make sure you bring EVERYTHING that came with your iPod. It will make things a lot easier.

mduell · Jun 21, 2006, 04:48 AM

Originally Posted by Railroader

They'll still see you. You just can't make an appointment ahead of your visit. All you have to do is go to the Apple store and sign up for a same day appointment.

Yes, you can, even without ProCare.
Pick your store from http://www.apple.com/retail/, then click Apple Store Concierge
Get hands-on help. Make a reservation at the Genius Bar.

darth-vader000 · Jun 21, 2006, 05:07 AM

The Apple store closest to me is very busy and the wait times typcially exceed 3 hours. I've seen people come in, to make an appointment and are appalled that they have to come back in the late afternoon.

I'm not sure this is a good business tacket, while being busy is a good sign that things are going well, you start ticking people off with long waits, they'll move on. Just look at how Dell sank in the rankings because of low customer support over the phone.

GSixZero · Jun 21, 2006, 05:33 AM

You can make genius appointments from home on the same day. Procare allows you to make appointments up to a week in advance, and usually there's a genius set aside for you at that time, where same-day appointment times are more 'estimates'. With same day appointments, your time may be 4pm and you may get served at 4:10 or 4:15... with procare a genius is waiting for you at your appointment time, in my experience.

I think apple would love to have no wait at the genius bar, but it would be so unfeasible it's not funny. Big stores like Soho have dozens of geniuses, and there's still multi-hour waits. I don't think Apple can have 50 geniuses on all the time in flagship stores, 10 in large stores, and 3 or 4 in mini stores. However long it takes, it's light years ahead of talking to some dude in India on the phone.

ghporter · Jun 21, 2006, 08:40 AM

I was trying through the Concierge last night for an appointment today-I got home at about 7:30 and I certainly wasn't going to head out the the Apple Store to rush in for an iPod issue. But this morning my son got an appointment through the Concierge without any problems. I guess it was just an overnight thing...

Thanks for the feedback. I'll keep in mind the "same day" thing for future issues.

ghporter · Jun 21, 2006, 03:45 PM

Update: the Genius (Joey) was great and very helpful. My son's iPod seems to be OK so far, but that calls into question why it took so bloody long to charge on my known good charger and cable, so Joey is running the exhaustive tests on it and we'll pick it up (or ship it off) on Friday or Saturday.