Apple Store

This Apple Store is as busy and bustling as they all are, but they seem well equipped to handle the crowd. I came in on a Saturday afternoon, which I assume is one of their busiest times, and was able to get an appointment at the Genius Bar immediately to fix my cracked screen. It completely slipped my mind that I should’ve booked ahead online until I walked up to the crowded store.
My «Genius» was knowledgable and friendly and informed me that if I allowed them to run a few tests on my phone, I might be able to get a brand new one for free. It turned out that was the case, so I was obviously over the moon. I came in anticipating spending a solid chunk of cash, but walked out with a shiny brand new replacement phone and $ 200 on an Apple gift card from selling back my old, damaged, and gross iPhone 5s :)))
I wish I could remember the names of the people that helped me, but I’m terrible with names and there were a lot of them. I know the man that helped get me set up on my new phone was named Jeff, but thats it. Thanks to you all!

Usually I get good service but today I stopped an employee just to ask where I was in the line, and he said no and kept walking, pretty rude.

Thanks Phil B. For your help today! Quick service at the Genius Bar with an appointment. Explained issue I was having with my laptop and created additional space on my hard drive. Friendly knowledgable employees.

Far better than the Michigan Ave location. This Apple Store is a single floor, giant open concept set up with the new Apple electronics near the north side of the store, accessories located towards the south end. It’s also easily accessible to the redline and halsted /​north Ave buses. It does get crowded, but far more tolerable than its Michigan Ave counterpart.

I got to this store at 12:15pm, and was told 4 people were ahead of me in a queue to be helped with sales. I sat down and said I would wait so I’d be easy to find (I am really considerate of other people’s time). I sat on my 5s, using my apps and texting in preparation to say goodbye (and because what else do you do when you are just sitting in a store waiting to buy something someone else has to go get for you?), and after about 30 minutes, I started to wonder why it was taking so long. I didn’t want to be pushy — the people greeting new customers seemed to be pretty stressed out, so I sat it out and waited for my name to be called. After an hour and 10 minutes (YES, 70 minutes on a bench), though, I was like, «OK, this is a giant store and I see what seems to be a 1:3 ratio of Apple employees to customers, so I finally had to ask. Turns out they «lost me in the queue.»
LOST ME IN THE QUEUE? How does that even happen? No, seriously, how? You have an iPad with a list on it. Names don’t just disappear, unless you are me and apparently another poor soul my eventual sales person laughed about also «losing» as if that’d make me feel better??? I didn’t even have time to complain because I needed to get my new phone and do the iCloud restore STAT to be able to make it all the way to Countryside for a car appointment I had at 3. My car had been acting up, and as a teacher who works around 80 hours a week while also being a grad school student/​human being, this 3-​day weekend was the perfect one to get this kind of thing done since I don’t really have «nights» and «weekends.»
Anyway, instead of pushing me through and helping me quickly set up my phone after inconveniencing me, they sent me to a table where the person helping me switched out about 4 times, and each person leaving had to tell the tale of how they wasted my time and needed to get me out quickly, which then took more time. They even started to help another customer set up her phone simultaneously, but I think we all know what that means: it took more time.
I kept asking about the lot I was in and if they could validate. They promised they would, but that it only validates for 2 hours. At this point, it was already 2:30 and my phone wasn’t ready. I literally had to ask them to borrow a phone so I could call the service department in Countryside to tell them I’d be late and beg them to keep my appointment, since I had no other day to do it based on their hours and my job schedule. Luckily, they had amazing service — a first for me that day! Actually, no, that’s just a joke. No one at the store was unfriendly. They just, logistically, are strugglebus city.
Finally my phone was ready with the settings restore, but I couldn’t stay for my apps to complete (meaning I had to deal with Apple Maps instead of my beloved Google to get somewhere 45 minutes away), and I got to leave at 2:45 (yes, 2.5 hours after I parked my car right across the street), to come to a $ 16 parking fee since I surpassed the amount of time they could validate for. Profanities were uttered. Speed limits may have been surpassed.
I was 30 minutes late to my car appointment, in case you were wondering.
Moral: just nope.

I had an appointment at 6:20pm with the genius bar to fixed my cracked screen. I got there early, they said they were running on time, and I may even get in early. I wait at the genius bar, as I was told to do. I even ask if they know I’m still here, an employee says yes, they’ll come to me when a technician is available. Now its 6:23, 6:27, and then 20 minutes later they tell me they lost me (I was sitting at the genius bar the whole time), but that they’ll get me in asap. They take my phone, tell me to come back in an hour. I come back at 7:45pm. Oh they’re still working on it, they tell me. 8:00pm rolls around, they bring back my phone — untouched. The guy was like oh, i should’ve noticed this but the home button is a different white than the rest of your screen, so you had this done by a 3^rd party and we can’t fix it. WHY did I wait WELL over an hour to be told this? My time was wasted and nothing was done to fix my phone. The guy just laughed it off and halfheartedly apologized. I did not find this funny. They should have told me this to begin with, especially if it was apparent in just looking at the phone. I was under the impression they were diligently working on my phone the entire 1+ hour. And to top it off they «validate» my parking ticket and I go to pay and its the full price of $ 16. SO they didn’t even validate it correctly as the employee «validating» it said it would only cost me $ 4. The customer service was terrible. It wasn’t even as busy as I’ve seen it in the past. I will never go back to this store.

Nice products, terrible customer service.
Stopped in the North Ave store earlier to exchange a brand new device for a like device in a different color. As every store has different return and exchange policies, I called ahead in an attempt to avoid any issues when I arrived. Didn’t help. The visit turned out to be a frustrating waste of time. Will be avoiding this store and writing Apple corp to let them know how they are being represented.

I was so disappointed with service, they made me wait 40 extra minutes even though my appointment was due. And the guy was soooo rude I just wanted to leave. it was the last time I was over this location! Can’t believe it’s Apple Store

Considering it was the day after Christmas, I was assisted within 5 minutes of entering the store. I wish I was given more information on the product I bought before asking about a couple of the features but I guess I seemed in a bit of a rush. On another note, parking sucks but the store is beautiful.

My phone isn’t charging properly, so I went into the Apple Store to sort out the fault. I quickly found out they only take appointments the morning of that day and when you go in for help they tell you that no one is available and no appointments are available. However I’m sitting here waiting to get picked up and there are at least 15 team members standing around doing nothing. Either poorly managed or a terrible new strategy… I’ve always enjoyed my experience in an Apple Store but this has been disappointing. Try a different apple store if you need any help.

Apple is apparently too big to care about its customers.
Today I stopped in at the Michigan Ave location because the home button on my iPad was screwed up (really hard to press). Unfortunately, their wi-​fi was down, so they could do literally nothing. They might as well have been closed. So, I hopped on the redline to the North Ave location. I told one of the sales people what the problem was, which can be diagnosed by doing ONE thing… wait for it … pressing the home button. He pressed the home button, we discussed that the iPad was still under warranty, and then I was put on a list to wait for the next hour.
After an hour, I asked what the hell was going on. A couple of minutes later, I had a girl helping me, and her manager, Jeff, telling me that they were right on time. Actually, he told me they were early because it had only been 59 minutes since I came in. I was surprised by his petty smart-​ass remark, so I confirmed the time, and clarified that it had actually been an hour and two minutes. I also told him that it was ridiculous that I had to wait even 5 minutes, let alone over an hour, for something so simple. There were lots of Apple employees hanging out and talking with each other. He told me that only certain people can diagnose these problems, and that’s why there was such a long wait, and also why so many people were standing around but unable to help.
When one of the special people who did have the magical powers necessary to diagnose the problem, Cara, did help me, her diagnostic procedure consisted of this: (1) press button, (2) determine button is broken. Wow! I wonder how many college degrees that level of problem solving required.

Police horses in large urban areas are meticulously trained to hold their composure. Noise, gunshots, crowds, screaming, banging drums, pans, having things thrown at them, you name it, they endure and maintain their composure all day, every day.
That’s what comes to mind when I visit the Apple store, especially on a weekend and shortly after the release of a new phone.
The place is just slammed all day long and the people working there run hard. Yet somehow, despite the swirling madness, impatient crowds, the lines, checking in, registering to pick up the phone, getting set up etc, their is a process and it works.
It always amazes me, and everyone I have spoken to agrees, that the people working there, like our police horses, are remarkably friendly, positive, helpful, competent and professional despite the impatient, sometimes frustrated and potentially unruly crowds. These folks work their tails off, they do so with an high degree of knowledge, as a team and to the highest standards of customer interaction.
Kelly my set up person is a rock star. She worked the table 2 – 3 phones at a time and kept her cool despite numerous interruptions, frustrations etc. Ivenca was brought in to do a magic black box transfer for me and navigated it like the wizard that he is.
I don’t know how Apple finds, trains and motivates these store teams but individually and collectively they are truly best in class.

The following is my reply to Apple in the survey they asked me to complete after my visit to this store’s «genius» (to use the term lightly) bar. Geoff was the supposed «genius» referred to below and Robert the tech «support» (again, I use this term lightly) with whom I’d spoken on the phone the previous week or so. Enjoy!
«My husband and I are competent, intelligent people; however, we both felt that Geoff talked in circles and didn’t ever articulate the root of my problem. He could not firmly locate the issue, nor could he fix the issue. Due to this, I finally just exchanged my brand new iPad for another and went home. This is not satisfactory to me at all. I still have no concrete answers or remedies to the issues with my iPad. Furthermore, the only reason I had to go into the store in the first place is because the Apple tech support representative who spent hours on the phone with me attempting — but with no end resolution — to fix the issues on the iPad and who finallŷ set up a call-​back time for 18:00 the next evening, never kept this appointment. And despite my response to the survey after my initial interaction with him (stating very clearly that he had not resolved or kept his following day appointment) I never got a reply from ANY Apple representative. Needless to say, I pretty much expect the same will prove true after this survey. How disappointing, considering what a loyal user of Apple products I have been over many years. And how disappointing, considering I have paid and continue to pay such high prices for said products. Is this all your company cares about — the money? It certainly seems so. No, I will not be referring anyone to you. »

Due to the new appointment policy, plan on your wait being more than an hour. If you ask about any other store times the manager will tell you he can’t help with that and to go to the other store.
I was being helped by an apple associate and another associate said she had spent enough time with me (less than 5 min) and that she needed to help the next person in the a cue.
I’ve always been an apple product person but if this service remains I’ll be moving on to android for my next phone.

Like all Apple Store locations I’ve been to, the staff here is as helpful as they can be. Sometimes even more: I recently went in to this location and unfortunately they weren’t able to help me with an issue I had. While I understood, and the Genius that helped me was very nice, I was still a little bummed. Apple sent me a survey and I mentioned in a comment that I had hoped they would’ve been able to help me out a little more.
A few hours later I got a call from Michelle, one of the store managers. I told her the issue I was having, she was understanding, and was able to take care everything for me.
This is the reason I recommend Apple products to so many people; partially for the products, but largely for the support and service you get from the Apple Stores and their people like Michelle.

I hate the fact Parking is limited, and even stock is limited. But the store is clean and staff is nice. I would recommend it, but call to check for inventory or check on site.

Stopped into the Apple store today because I couldn’t get my iphone to update. When I walked in I was told that some of their systems were down and it would be about 45 minutes before I could talk to a tech person. The nice bearded guy took down my name and told me without these much needed systems the place was like hell today. Awesome. I’ve been told to go to hell many times and I’ve often wanted to visit.
The store was crazy crowded today and to my surprise the wait was more like 30 minutes. My techie was named Carol, and she was amazing. While she was helping with my phone the lights flickered and the internet went down for a second or two. But, Carol was kind a patient, and since my phone hadn’t been backed up for some time, and it would take WAY longer than both of us wanted to wait, she walked me through the process of of updating my phone at home. She answered my questions clearly. We chatted a bit and she said she loved her job.
I’ve never had a bad experience in this store. I’ve always had excellent customer service. I love browsing the bright and shiny Apple toys in their minimalist displays. The location is easy to get to, with the North/​Clybourn red line stop only steps away, and the convenience of a parking garage just across the street.
If you want to a go-​to Apple store, this is a great choice. It’s definitely not hell.

My phone died.
You do not understand how catastrophic this is: The screen went black, the home button useless, my office halted and functioned barely in a primitive jerking zombie-​pained manner, hysterical, sent a panicked message with my Genius Bar appointment reading approximately thus:
«My phone has died! Promise I did not try to teach it to swim in water or drop it from the Sears Tower! Plugged it in after it died and it will not respond. Asked my boyfriend to help– he yelled at the phone for a half hour and it (of course) did not respond. I am desperate and would appreciate any help or advice you can provide!»
I arrived early for my appointment and saw a very cool musician. They STILL helped me first with enthusiasm. Actual statements: «We were taking bets if you were real– that post was hilarious!» «Whoa, and you are real, and NICE!»
A lightning fast two minutes later, my phone was restarted by the calm, capable Katie P. It was impressive. What’s more? They were humored not patronizing in help.
I’m grateful.
I’m sending a thank you note to corporate soon as I figure out how to make it funny. These geniuses (Katie P. especially) deserve a raise!

Not the biggest fan. Nope. Not having it.
It was a pain int he butt to make an appointment during the week.
Walking in grated on my nerves as I saw a clusterf*k of customers and employees and nobody greeting or talking to me.
I freakin’ hated finding someone to check in. There was a disorganized gaggle of people crowded around a man with an iPad who were also checking in. I was confused and on the outskirts.
Then they made my festering wound burn when they made me wait beyond my appointment time for someone to assist me.
Every. Single. Other customer had to wait for help too. One guy was looking to purchase something and couldn’t find someone to help him. I’ve never seen that in an Apple store.
The guy who helped me was fine but ultimately told me that my issue was a lost cause. That’s not his fault. He was actually the best part of the whole experience.
There were supposed to be classes going on. I saw tables of people but they didn’t appear to get instruction from anyone.
I got my parking validated and was pissed that I had to pay $ 2. Nearby stores and businesses (J. Crew and FFC) don’t make their customers pay for parking.

Excellent customer service today from Matthew in adding our new Apple to the family!
Easy process, we did our research online and just showed up to purchase what we had already pretty much decided on.
No complaints with Apple products or the people who work at the stores. Always a positive experience in my book.