Apple is planning to make a number of changes at its retail stores ahead of the upcoming holiday season, which include adjustments to Genius Bar appointments and training for its employees on a new initiative, according to 9to5Mac.
The report notes that Apple will do away with the suggested 15 minute time limit for Genius Bar appointments in favor of a system that allows customers to book sessions with time limits based on how many issues they have. A few Apple Retail Stores have already started training for the new measures, as a full rollout of the new policy is expected to take place in the near future.
The company will also reportedly be training its employees on a significant new initiative from Sunday, August 10 to Thursday, August 28, which may pertain to in-store iPhone activations. During the aforementioned time period, Genius Bar employees will receive three hours of training while sales employees will receive five hours of training.
Lastly, Apple will be standardizing its attire for all of its U.S. retail employees, as those on the Apple Store Business Team will switch from their black polo shirts to the blue T-shirts worn by other retail employees.
Top Rated Comments
Stop taking your iPhone into the bathroom...
And while you're sitting around waiting, your Genius is helping four other people. That's my experience.
If it's a 5 min fix then why don't you do it yourself? They're either going to show you what settings you have input incorrectly, restore your device or repair/replace it. Only the latter requires you to go to the store. Take some ownership of your issues before complaining about someone else trying to help you with them.
[LIST=1]
* Arrive at 5:25 to check in - I'm told someone will be with me right away.
* 5:30 - no one has yet to help me.
* 5:45 - still no one has yet to help me
* 5:50 - finally being helped - (I dropped my iPhone in the toilet)
* 5:55 - Genius agrees to swap my phone out (says it'll talke 5 more mins)
* 6:00 - still no replacement yet.
* 6:05 - dude arrives from the back with my replacement.
* 6:15 - out the door and on my way home.
Something that should literally take 10 mins ends up taking almost a full hour. Ridiculous.
Every damn time I go to the apple store this is my experience. My appointment was for 5:30, I expect to be talking to a genius at or around 5:30 (I'll wait till 5:40 cuz I'm nice like that).
And those 4 people you saw your genius with? Those are the 4 people booked in front of you! Not four people that the genius chose to see INSTEAD, as some people seem to want to make out.
Some interactions are easy for them. "Oh you liquid damaged your iPhone? $329". Some are harder. The customer doesn't know their appleID, they are unable to check for a backup, they dispute some third party repair, there is debate, they have to talk to a manager, they have to CS-Code it (customer satisfaction code), there is paper work, wiping the old device, some snide remark, and several "oh just one quick question".
Add on to that that if someone calls in sick (which for a large Family Room team the odds are high) someone else needs to pick up that set of reservations (and where is that person pulled from? Repairs? Open Training for the one to one members? Hope that there is a Red Zoner that happens to have mobile genius access?
Not to mention that 1/3rd of reservations are no-shows. So how do they balance between wanting to maximise the amount of sessions in the family room, whilst not screwing themselves over on those random occasions that everyone shows up?
Guys, the point is stop looking at it from such a microscopic view point and start looking at it as a whole. If you can think of suggestions on how they can improve it, put it on your NPS form (customer survey). Just make sure that it can be implemented Family Room wide, and not just about your own single interaction.