I paid a visit to my local Apple Store a couple of days ago, and by coincidence had the chance to witness a One-on-One session in action. I was really impressed with the help the customer was getting, and I was pleasantly surprised with the level of knowledge and friendly demeanor the Apple employee had.

Did I witness a one-off event, or are other people getting similar experiences?

Jeff

Interesting news! Even in this day and age I have never set foot in an official Apple store so I am curious what the tech service is like there. (I was the one providing such help in a local Mac shop, so I have a only witnessed these things from a completely different angle. )

Mixed experience

I’ve had mixed experiences with my “local” (1.5 hr drive) Apple Store. The sales people in general don’t seem much different than any small electronics shop, more polite and helpful than say Best Buy but that isn’t saying much.

In terms of dealing with the Geniuses I’ve been generally underwhelmed, both when it was me with the issue and the couple of times I’ve gone there with friends who had broken iPods. While not quite as condescending at the “IT Guy” from SNL, they pretty much talked down to both my friends as if they were trying out for the role of “Stereotypical Snobby Mac User” in a new play their friend is directing. On top of that, their general knowledge about Macs and Mac OSX seemed almost entirely derived from the Apple paperwork in front of them, not once have I talked to one thats nearly as knowledgeable as any of the more technically-saavy members of these forums, for example. I’m sure most of us get paid more than they do for whatever it is we do, but I’m also sure the majority of us do not do tech support for Apple products as our fulltime job, so its sad that the geniuses are not a bit more “authentic” I guess.

I’m sure its also a managerial issue to some extent, no matter how much control apple tries to assert over training and practices its probably still dependent on the manager hiring good people. Glad that they aren’t all like that though, seems like the one you saw helping a customer was good.

With one exception, I’ve been very, very pleased with the local Apple Store.  The employees are very knowledgeable and very, very helpful.  The one exception was the time I visited the store to pick up an educational release of some software or another—after I’d been told by Apple Sales that I could buy the software at the store—and the manager said that only Apple Sales or the online store carried any educational titles.  I was majorly pissed as that was a day when I was in rip-roaring pain (I have fibromyalgia) and wanted to scream my head off on general principle and he was an ass.  I think I refused to go into the store for the next six months. I went back after my personal boycott and there was a new manager and I got whatever I’d come into the store to purchase.

The Mac Geniuses have always been helpful.  The local store is ALWAYS busy, especially the Genius Bar.  Consequently, they don’t take people without an appointment, which is truly unfortunate.  Nevertheless, they will take a minor question or two and go get a chair for me since I can’t sit on the bar stools they normally have.  One of them worked on my old infirm PowerBook for a couple of hours, trying to get it to function properly so that I wouldn’t have to send it back to Apple.  As it turned out, I eventually did send it back, but they replaced it with a Mac Book Pro.   Granted, that was AppleCare, but I’ve found Apple Store employees here just as service oriented as those I’d ring up at Apple Sales or AppleCare.

[Edited to fix a smiley.]

The One-to-One folks are not (at least at the Coconut Point Store) sales people.  these are individuals who are on a contract with Apple and are Apple Certified “experts” at whatever the topic is that they are teaching.  My wife has a One-to-One membership and loves it.  The instructor she has been with is very knowledgeable on iLife and even Photoshop.  However, her needs being what they are since moving up to Final cut, she has to travel a little further south to the Waterside Shops store in Naples, FL to get a Final Cut Certified instructor.  This program is a fantastic way to get people into the stores, USING the machines, and proselytizing about the mac.

My first One To One impressions

I recently had my first one to one at my new local apple store.  I thought the idea was great.  Im not new to the Mac but there is always more to learn so I signed up.  I have to say that I was not extremely impressed with one to one so far.  I know its kinda early to make this judgement so take this with a grain of salt.

I kind of thought that being my first session the trainer would try to get to know my experience level, maybe ask what kind of stuff im into and that kind of “getting to know you” kind of stuff.  Maybe its my fault for not really bringing a project or specific idea to the table, but being my first session I wasnt sure what to do. Also, I didnt really hit it off with the trainer.  He never even introduced himself to me and I didnt feel as thought he was much of an “expert”.

This week I will bring with me a more specific task or project that I want to learn about and maybe it will be better.  I really hope so!  This could be a great program!

I will try to keep you all posted as to how future sessions go.

Mike