On Tuesday, there was a record single-day spike of 60,000 new coronavirus cases reported in the U.S. It also said on its website that it will close four additional stores in the Melbourne, Australia, area as the city goes on lockdown because of Covid-19.Įfforts to restart the United States economy are faltering as states are increasingly pausing plans to ease restrictions on businesses. I have also had problems making an appointment by phone. This response is not at all helpful, it just take you back to a screen which is easily accessible, but useless if you know what you need and just need to make an appointment at your local Apple Store. We take this step with an abundance of caution as we closely monitor the situation and we look forward to having our teams and customers back as soon as possible."Īpple has continued to reclose stores, including one location in Georgia and one in California this week. Then choose one of the options below the store. Previously, it had been reopening many locations with social distancing, mandatory masking and curbside pickup or service appointment options.Īn Apple spokesman said at the time in a statement: "Due to current COVID-19 conditions in some of the communities we serve, we are temporarily closing stores in these areas. Last week, Apple said that it has reclosed 77 stores in the United States because of rising Covid-19 cases in many regions. "As of July 7th, 410 of 510 Apple retail stores, or 80% of all stores, are reopened, down from 457 the week prior." Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty wrote that last week saw the first net increase in Apple Store closures since March, when Apple first shut down all stores outside China. suggests Apple sees a significantly riskier environment for retail in its home country versus the rest of the world. The company's stores are often in major malls or business districts, making it a key indicator of how smoothly and where retail operations can restart amid the Covid-19 pandemic. What’s your view? Useful, or annoying, given that it may not be wholly accurate? Please take our poll and share your thoughts in the comments.Apple was one of the first major companies to close its retail stores during the pandemic, and the company says it monitors the coronavirus situation to determine whether it is safe to operate its stores. If it’s 45 minutes, I might decide to go to a coffee shop for a cup of tea. If I can see it will be 20 mins, I might decide to look around the store.
If I can see in the Apple Store app I’m due to be served in five minutes, I’ll hang around in the Genius Bar. The benefit to customers would be that they can do something useful with the time. So long as the app made it clear this was an approximate wait, I’d say that would be fine. We’re all used to things like metro departure boards that remain stuck at 2 minutes for several minutes, and which sometimes jump from 1 minute to 5 minutes. That time too might fluctuate or freeze, but I think that would be more understandable to people than losing their place. Customers wouldn’t know why they are apparently being bumped down the line, and would likely get upset.īut it would be easy enough to use average service times and the number of Genius staff on duty to convert your line position to an approximate wait.
#Apple store appointment free#
So it could easily be the case that you are next in line, but with an issue on which the first free technician isn’t trained, so someone else takes your place. In particular, there are technicians who can help with iOS devices but not Macs. Having the Apple Store app show your actual position in line could be tricky, as I’m told that can be somewhat fluid. It struck me that would be useful info to make available to customers through the Apple Store app. Not all of our stores have resumed in-store Genius Support. To change your Genius Support appointment, you can also go to or use the link provided in your confirmation email. Thirty minutes later, I checked again and was told I was next in line – information the point person could see on their iPad. A: The best way to get Genius Support is to make an appointment before visiting the store.
I went upstairs to the service tables and got to work on my iPad. I had a blog post to write, so was happy to wait. I was told when I arrived that there were five people waiting, and that I’d likely be seen in around half an hour. That disappointment aside, it was a relatively painless experience …ĭespite the online booking system often showing no appointments available for around a week, they had some walk-in slots on this occasion. It turned out they couldn’t, as they all need to go to the repair depot even when it’s obvious that a replacement will be needed. I mentioned recently dropping into an Apple Store to see whether they might be able to replace my broken Watch on the spot. A small request for the Apple Store app …