Mark Gurman, writing for 9to5mac:
This Concierge program, spearheaded by Retail Senior Vice President Angela Ahrendts, moves away from the classic appointment model. Instead, a customer describes the issue to an Apple Store employee, who inputs the issue into an updated iPad application. Using a special algorithm, the application provides the customer a wait time based on issue priorities. For example, a customer seeking an iPhone screen replacement will automatically be placed higher in the queue than a customer seeking help with a minor iCloud issue.
Once you are in the queue, the new process will send you a sequence of three iMessage/SMS notifications:
• An initial text message confirming the Genius Bar request and providing the wait time
• A text message telling the customer to start heading back to the Apple Store
• A final text message telling the customer that their technician is ready to help and where they can be located in the store
Given that the vast majority of Apple Stores are in malls or adjacent to high traffic shopping areas, this would give you the chance to walk in, get on the queue, then take care of other nearby errands.
For the time being, Apple Store Genius Bar appointments that are booked online will remain mostly unchanged and will not gain the text message-based system that will replace walk-in appointments.
Question is, will a timed, online appointment place you at the front of the queue if you arrive on time?
Good question. I would be bummed if I arrive on time for my 3 pm appointment only to be bumped by someone else’s urgent issue.
re: A text message telling the customer to start heading back to the Apple Store – what if your phone screen is dead or severely cracked so bad you can’t even see anything on it? how will they contact you?
*For deaf cusotmers
Apple already “bump” customers if a Joint Venture customer or VIP come in. It’s just that you don’t see it happen at the moment.
I think this is quite interesting when taken in the context of discussion about Apple Watch Edition prices and the rebranding of “Genius” to “Concierge” (i.e. something you’d get in an upmarket/upscale hotel).
If the Edition is priced at the $5k price point suggested in the other article then it’s easy to see how that ownership could confide “other” privileges – such as prioritisation by the “Concierge” service.
It’s easy to see how the process outlined would allow this to take place without annoying the other customers.
Easy, they give you a ‘loaner’ iPhone.
Insert Seinfeld “Reservation” joke here…
Interested to see how this works. Hopefully some of this can be done over the phone as well. I live an hour plus away from the nearest Apple Store, so I generally schedule my appointments before I leave the house. There have been several instances where I’ve had to wait until the next day to go up because the store I go to is already booked up.
Not sure about this. What if you’re in the fitting room at Macy’s when the notice to head to the store comes in? I think if you can’t have a hard time to be there, it’s going to annoy a lot of people (such as me) who want to set up the appointment for later in the day, or even further out.
I’m sure the notification will give you enough time to change back and walk to the store. Trust that they have worked out most rational scenarios.
I don’t think this is going to end in a rebrand. Genius Bar is a strong, established brand for Apple, and 9to5Mac never mentions a rebranding effort.
They instead reference “the new Concierge,” which makes perfect sense as the existing, appointment-based Genius Bar scheduling system is already called Concierge. (Think “the new iPad”.)
That’s good to know. So ‘loaner’ is like just for couple of minutes to hours?
This article has a ton of bad info in it. I have a source that actually worked at one of the store’s that designed the new system and has been using it for months.
First off there are still pre booked appointments and they are handled like they always were. When a day is staffed only some of the staff handle the walkins while the rest take those booked slots. This is even accounted for by the system. Say there are 5 device techs and on average 2 techs worth of appointments were always no shows. The system now only opens up the other three to be booked ahead.
Also those messages don’t give wait times, don’t give tech names or locations. They are utterly generic, setting zero expectations about anything. Oh and that whole bumping issues thing. The only things that get bumped are accessories and physical damage, because they’re quick to handle. Everything else goes to the end of the line. And even those aren’t guaranteed to be all that quick if all the walkins are all on break etc. Which my source says happens more than you might think
No they don’t. The only time they give a loaner is the iphone 5 sleep wake program
If you can’t receive texts and are by yourself you don’t get the texts. Depending on the wait time you are encouraged to come by and check in x time. Or if one of the prebooks has a no show they step up and take it. Especially if it’s a cracked screen which is more often five minutes of paperwork and come back in an hour when your screen replacement is done. A phone that won’t power on is basically the same.
Oh and the reason why they use texts and not pre recorded audio is for those deaf people.
The bar is NOT being rebranded as Concierge. That’s the program that they use to track queues.
If you are in a fitting room and can’t make it back when paged, that’s your issue not theirs. If you want a set time to come in, you book an appointment, even if it means waiting three days. If getting your phone or whatever fixed today is so vital, you get it fixed. You don’t fart around trying clothes etc.