Main Content

Apple Stores are Brilliant

As I stand here in the Southdale Apple Store, I can’t but think about how great it was that Apple brought products and support to the people. You can’t get this kind of support over the phone.

So what happened? Well my hard drive gave out this morning on my iMac G5. I immediately tried all the tricks. Booting off the install CD, tried target disk mode with another Mac, tried just letting it go and nothing worked. Having Apple Care on the computer, I called support and in seconds was connected with a very helpful person.

She walked me though all the ideas she could over the phone and we had no luck. So she called the local Apple Store and setup an appointment for me in an hour and a half.

Once at the Genius Bar, they did some tests and told me the news, my hard drive was dead. But we kept trying to run Data Rescue II and it eventually worked. It took quite a while, and I’m still here hours later, but it’s recovering my data. 😀

It’s been hours since I first had this issue an no one has made me feel stupid and have been more than willing to try anything to help out. They offered to do all the recovery for me at an additional cost, or they said I could do it myself, in their store with some of their hardware (keyboard and mouse) right on the Genius Bar. They even offered to let me sit here and use the internet while Data Rescue worked at recovering my files. I basically have an office setup now as I’m checking work email and catching up on whatever I can.

I doubt that the car dealer would let me do work on my car in their shop, or that other computer stores would let me sit here and use some of their resources while I wait.

It’s that kind of in store support that makes it so great. I’d hate it if I had to just send it in and wait for a phone call about what was up or be charged by the hour for someone to look at my computer. Today I’ll get to find out the problem, the solution and I’ll get to go home with my data. How great is that?


10 Responses

  1. Justin says:

    I need to find out where that store is! Here in Tulsa, the only Apple Care support facility is within CompUSA and they are not very nice about stuff…

  2. Thomas says:

    I was there a long time and they eventually let me work on a 24″ new iMac as needed to burn a lot of data. I hope you get an Apple Store around you Justin someday. I think they build by where most registered users are, so make sure to register your stuff.

  3. Agreed. The Southdale location is my most frequently visited Apple Store. If you haven’t been to the new Roseville store yet though, go check it out.

  4. Daniel says:

    Been to the MOA store in Bloomington a few times and seems pretty good as well. Same can be said of Apple stores down here in Atlanta area. Apple Care is great too as I had a hard drive fail on my PowerBook; DHL came out with a mailer the next day (Tuesday) and the PowerBook was back on Thursday with new HD and all! Beat that Dell — not a chance!

  5. Thomas says:

    My computer’s hard drive and logic board replaced in less than 24 hours with no shipping required. Just dropped it off yesterday and I’ll pick it up tonight. SWEEET. Gotta love Apple Care and the connivence of Apple Stores.

  6. M says:

    The technology is there to support an effective and painless experience, but it must be supported by the staff to create the successful brand moment. In Dallas, my experience has been quite the opposite, with good technology, but with Apple drones who seem very unhappy that you’re buying one of ‘their’ products (Knox-Henderson store). Although I continue to love Apple, I’m reminded that the Apple experience is made more meaningful when a smiling face accompanies it.

  7. Joe Batt says:

    Apple told me to expect a 10 days turn around for a failed drive. That;s ridiculous. They never mentioned that I could pick up a commodity drive at Best Buy and be on my way in hours instead of days.

    Here’s my experience http://battjt.soliddesign.net/AppleSupport.html

    Joe

  8. Thomas says:

    Sorry to hear Joe. I guess each store is different or maybe it had to do with in stock parts.

  9. munggur says:

    Hmm… Perhaps I will agree you if I go to that store. Yet, in Singapore there are only authorized dealer and the premium reseller.

    The shops are very clean and modern. Yet, three of them have ‘staff that make you feel so stupid’. The staff are short of stupid. Some of them even did not know ‘is it possible to toast/burn data to VCD using Combo-drive’. Some of them are not really genius, yet another no-brain sales. Unless you seems to buy something, they will answer all the questions you ask. Even to ask the products make you eat your own heart.

    Yet, I found the solution, the best one. If you want to ask the product, ask through e-mail. That’s better coz they will politely reply your answer.

  1. 10/19/2006

    […] var button = ’10’;var partner_name = ‘Blog on a Stick’;var feed_url = ‘https://www.twistermc.com/blog/feed/’;var feed_service = ”; « Apple Stores are Brilliant […]

Leave a Reply