I’ve been saying this for years about Apple Stores....

[tenders]

Harsh. I’ve always received reasonable and attentive service at NYC Apple Stores, which are often chaotically busy.

One way to get same-day service: fix stuff yourself. There is really no reason to take an iPhone to an Apple store for a screen or battery repair unless they’re doing it under warranty.

[anonymouse1]

I think it varies enormously by location. Dense urban area? Longer waits.

[3d]

If you make an appointment it's a breeze. The moment you walk in the door you are greeted and directed to someone to check you in. Wait time was literally 5 minutes tops. In the past year, i've gone to the Apple store twice for work/office iMacs. Once for iPhone. 75% of customers had issues with iPhones. 24% had issues with laptops. 1% lugged in an iMac (me).

In my experience, the biggest complainers are people who did not make an appointment and expected immediate on the spot service. They are also (in my experience) not Mac users who are unfamiliar with the process of making an appointment online.

[RAMd®d]

Apple is a victim of its success.

But hell on earth? What a bunch of crybabies. My worst day at an Apple Store was better than my best day at the DMV.

I've always had good service there. It hasn't always been quick if I don't get in early. I have no complaints, but then I tend to be somewhat patient compared to a lot of people. An appointment can mean a three-day wait, but I've been successful with going stand-by.

Apple has greatly expanded one of the local Apple Stores and there are a lot of sales associates there. Something I'm not crazy about is the triage they do before opening, and try to do beyond that. It makes it a little awkward to get in to just browse, but I really don't mind.

[JPK]

My Apple store is crazy busy, especially on the weekends. But I have to say the chaos seems pretty well managed. Make sure to make an appointment online, in advance. It has never been more than a 10 minute wait.

I have to say the Apple stores are pretty impressive.

JPK

[Don C]

When I had to replace the battery on my iPhone 6S (it was bad enough that I could not wait) I made an appointment for a day or two in advance, for a time when I would be near the store. A young lady checked me in at the door, sent me to another young lady who sent me to the line waiting for iPhone repairs where I waiting maybe 15 minutes. Fellow finally got to me, checked the phone and declared the need for a new battery under warranty and told me to come back in 3 hours.

Of course, they could not page me when the phone was ready because they had my phone so I had to stop when I thought it would be ready. It wasn't and they did not tell me when it would be, so I waiting in the lounge chairs outside the doors and guessed when it might be ready. Second try it was so I took my phone and went on my way.

[tortoise]

RAMd®d wrote:
Apple is a victim of its success.

But hell on earth? What a bunch of crybabies. My worst day at an Apple Store was better than my best day at the DMV.

:agree:

Just recently had free battery replacement on my iPhone 6S+ (was just under the wire for 2 year applecare so the $29 fee was waived) and the total experience was very pleasant. Took a few weeks for the battery to arrive, and they forgot to call to notify me, but once I called in and found the battery was in it was smooth sailing from there. I dropped the phone off and returned a few hours later and picked it up. It helps to not have unrealistic expectations such as instant gratification. They are incredibly busy retail successes with a high traffic flow so one merely approaches it with a sensible plan to avoid the waits.

[C(-)ris]

jdc wrote:
=

Theres no way to get my car serviced in the same day at the dealer. The only thing they will do is look at it for $100. And that takes 3 days.

Are there still brick and mortars selling things they actually make?
So a Whirlpool appliance from the whirlpool store?

I think it varies depending on location. I get same day service on my vehicle (In warranty), might be different if it was out of warranty. Loaner car or a shuttle as needed to get to where I want to go...

There might not be an actual manufacturers shop, but there are plenty of places that sell and service in house particular brands or lines. I buy most of my power tools at work through here: http://www.lackoreelectric.com/ Local business, they service everything they sell. If something breaks I walk it and they fix it if they have the part, or order it next day if they don't. No waiting, no fuss.

[Buzz]

Our local "flagship" store often has lines, and appointments are often noticeably late. They have a couple of huge tables as staging areas for peeps w/ appts that are often full and have SRO's waiting for help. I had a couple of power adapters go bad a couple of years back; the one w/ the gaping burned hole couldn't be swapped out fast enough... the "gatekeeper" saw the hole, and the incident was shuffled thru in record time. The one that eventually blinked and wouldn't charge, left me sitting at a staging table for 20 minutes past my appt time, then another 10 - 15 mins to get an extension outlet from the appointed genius, then rather than taking the adapter in and checking it out at their leisure, I had to wait another 40 mins for the wonky adapter to get wonky enough to demonstrate, then wait more time for paperwork, then wait more time to finally get a replacement power adapter. All in all, well over two hours hogging space at the staging table.

Had I known what was in store, I woulda/shoulda prepped the wonky adapter by plugging it in first for an hour, before going to the AS..., but, I hadn't used it since booking the appt for it a week, or so earlier. I woulda been happy to drop off, log in the adapter, and come back at a later time to pick up the replacement. I knew the adapter was bad, and I'm sure it would've made the experience for the droves of others at the store better than having me tie up a space at the table for over two hours. As much as I love Apple, there are things they do wrong. My neighbor is the manager of one of the smaller, mall based AS's, and she says they would've taken the adapter in and had me come back later. I'm thinking when we get around to the $29 battery jobs on our iP6 and 6s+, we'll avoid the flagship store.
==

[decay]

We need to schedule an appointment to replace my daughter's iPhone 7, which drops connections to AT&T (a known problem).

Looking at the website for our local store, we can't even schedule anything for a week out, or more.

And it's near a mall, so parking is hell.