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Having had occasion to need help with an Apple product and visiting one of their stores to receive advice from one of the “geniuses” (I am not making up that term ... it’s what the company calls them) I’d be pleased to see every one of those places shuttered and the incompetent yet arrogant asshats who work in them out on the street.

Apple has the highest customer service rating in the consumer electronics industry. I took a client to one of the Genius Bars three years ago with a problem with a MacBook Pro that was two years out of warranty. They could not repair it. When they informed her it was not repairable, she was starting to talk to me about buying a new one when the Genius interrupted her to tell her they had decided to REPLACE it instead. They were transferring her data from her old hard drive. A half hour later they brought out a BRAND NEW MacBook Pro and gave it to her. . . with all of her files intact. No Charge.

THAT is customer service. THAT is why Apple has a 98% customer service satisfaction rating.

Why were you not satisfied with your service visit?

After registering with the "genius" manning his iPad at the front of the store, which was not at all crowded with customers, I waited about one hour to speak with a person at the counter. My iPhone 4s was malfunctioning in several ways (WiFi was inoperable, could not transfer photos to Cloud or via cable to my laptop, and with a near fully charged battery the device would occasionally shut off until I could hook it up to a power supply). I had had the phone for around 14 months and was eight months from upgrade time. I was told it could not be repaired and my options were to buy a new 4s for about $100 or wait out the period till I could upgrade.

My provider, Verizon, allowed me to switch upgrade dates with my daughter and I replaced the phone within a month. But besides being no help I left the store fuming over the smarmy and aloof attitude that everyone I dealt with in the Apple store seemed to exude. The service in any specific store in a chain of them is dependent on the specific manager, so I do not discount the excellent service your friend enjoyed. But count me in with the two percent whose experience with Apple's customer service was less than satisfactory.

The Mac store has been a very good Partner for me...as well..

a Mac Pro also out of warranty....they checked it out and gave it a 100 percent pass

Thanks

Like your friend, I have had nothing but positive experiences with Apple Stores and the Genius Bar folks. This is with locations in both the USA and Canada. Included was hauling in non-Apple gear that I was having compatibility issues with.

Your example of top level customer service was impressive. I had a good example of this as well from Texas Instruments back in the day. I was in college and really laid out big bucks for a high end scientific calculator. It fell out of the car seat into a snow covered parking lot then I topped it off by backing over it. I gathered up the several pieces, mailed to TI and asked if they could fix it. A couple of weeks later a new calculator showed up in the mail.