Why I think the Genius bar is hurting, not helping, Apple




The Apple Retail Stores have a killer feature: free technical support and troubleshooting. As described by Steve Jobs (tour link below), the concept seems like a Godsend for Apple's customers and a huge coup for Apple's image. What other computer company offers this kind of service? But in practice, the Genius Bar falls short of expectations. In fact, I think the experience actually tarnishes Apple rather than providing a deeper connection with their customer base.

The first Apple Retail Store was a welcomed wrinkle to the life of an Apple Computer fan. If you haven't been inside an Apple Retail Store, here's an opportunity to get a tour from Steve Jobs. It's well worth a look; and it's actually still quite relevant as most of Apple's Retail Stores are similarly designed. Each store has several sections where products are displayed. There's a theater for demonstrations, and there's a Genius Bar for technical support.

Dozens of stores later, Apple's Retail Stores are exposing customers to Apple's products in a new way. One that long time loyalists could only dream about just a few years ago. New store openings and new product introductions, the iPod mini most recently, are met with lines often several blocks long; some waiting overnight for a spot close to the front door. Can you imagine anyone sitting outside a Gateway retail store for anything? The contrast between Apple customers and those of other computer manufacturers is a stark one.

With loyalty so high, you would think that Apple would have the experience dialed in. Having been in several stores, for several different reasons, I can say that this isn't true at all. Despite the fact that the store interiors are often similar their reputations are not. But that's a different topic: I'll limit my criticism to the Genius Bar in this post, but I've got several other opinions to express at sometime in the future.

In theory the Genius Bar is an insanely great idea. Free technical support and troubleshooting advice from actual Apple employees. The Genius Bar itself looks fantastic. Early on, Evian was even part of the experience. First class all the way.

Then reality set in. Two-plus years after my first grand opening visit, I'm finding that I avoid the stores. The Genius Bar has much to do with it. On slow days, the Genius Bar works as I imagine it was designed to work. But depending on when you arrive, its weaknesses really start to show.

On busy days the lines can be terribly long. That's to be expected, perhaps, but what's not expected is the order in which customers are served. Geniuses appear to handle lines an an art rather than a science; the tension is thick enough to cut with a knife on busy days as new customers approach the bar. People who appear to be "cutting in" are met with sneers.

I've found that the Geniuses were not trained in humility. The phrase, "I don't know" isn't part of the Apple Genius dialogue. I've witnessed some really poor advice passed along to customers who would have been better off looking elsewhere for answers rather than leave with the wrong information. This aspect of the Genius experience can be confirmed by visiting an Apple-related message board (or ">blog ) where detailed stories are recounted.

Apple Geniuses are technically experienced, but their customer service training seems to be non-existent. The disorganized way in which they field the "line" of customers is an example where customer service training would put the customers at ease knowing exactly what position they held in the order.

I've also found that Geniuses juggle too many customers at once. Because some customers require only brief attention (what memory fits in this Powerbook?) and others longer attention (let me try to recreate the issue I'm having with the DVD player application), the temptation is to assist several customers at a time. But from my experience, the Genius often leaves the "brief attention" required customer sitting (or forgotten on occasion) while being held over with the "longer attention" required customer. When a new customer steps up to the bar and interjects a question of this juggling Genius the delays can be further extended.

Among the worst was a scratched Apple G4 Cube and Display which I brought in for a video card replacement. I got the Cube home and discovered that the Geniuses had put a few deep scratches in the Cube's enclosure. Then It had to go back three more times because the Geniuses installed the wrong video card four times in total.

Those are just a few of the issues I've experienced at the Apple Retail Stores. All of which could be remedied easily with little or no expense to Apple Computer. Apple if you're listening, contact me and I'll outline some quick fixes.




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Posted: Fri - March 19, 2004 at 06:50 PM          

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