

Apple's Genius Bar Manual That Teaches its Employees How To Manipulate Customers - vilgax
http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/08/30/apple_genius_bar_training_manual_a_brilliant_manipulative_guide_to_customer_service_.html

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calinet6
Standard customer service really. This is nothing new, just a well-executed
image and customer relationship plan with a system to put it in place
effectively across their whole company.

Customer service and sales is apparently is A-OK if done by any other company,
but if done by Apple suddenly it's "manipulating customers?". Absolute
hogwash.

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autophil
I’m sorry you’re feeling that way, but I personally found value in the
article.

Thanks for the comment and listening to my feedback. And thanks for "giving
it!"

~~~
calinet6
Oh I found value in the article, it's very interesting; just think the title
was a bit inflammatory. :)

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philbarr
"But while he reads Apple’s tactics as outlandish and creepy, if brilliant,
I’d just call them brilliant."

And I would read them as standard sales technique. "Feel, felt, found" or "the
three F's" is well known.

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igorgue
They won me when I spilt water on my 2 months old Macbook Air and they gave me
a new one at no charge.

The genius thought it was really cool that I am a programmer and I was
developing apps :-).

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calbear81
I've spent thousands more on Apple products once I got a taste of the return
policy. My iPhone 3G was 2 months from the end of it's warranty period and the
speakerphone stopped working (most likely from me dropping the phone too much)
and because they couldn't solve it at the Genius Bar they just gave me a brand
new one.

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se85
My taste of their return policy involved me taking back my busted iphone 4
that was 3 months old into the Apple store expecting a good outcome, like I
always hear on the internet, instead I was accused of being a liar and that
the phone was water damaged and that they could not do anything for me.

Mind you, I had not even gotten to the genius bar at this point and they had
not even looked at the white stickers inside the phone and socket to look for
water damage.

Looking up my name also would have indicated I too had spent thousands on
apple products.

I had to fight and claw my way through multiple managers and then multiple
people at the genius bar before I finally got my phone replaced, and in the
end, the way the replacement phone was issued to me was almost like I was
being given hush money to shut up and go away. It was pretty ridiculous and
extremely unprofessional.

It's not even my worst experience at an Apple Store, which says a lot.

I'm still a big fan of Apple's products, but not a fan at all of the Apple
Store, and it is unlikely I will ever step foot in one again after what I've
had to endure.

Then again, this all happened in Australia, and our standards with customer
service are noticeably much, much lower than in America, so maybe that had
something to do with it and the Apple Stores in America do have the excellent
customer service I keep hearing about

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calbear81
Well, I've always gone to the stores in the San Francisco Bay Area and people
here are generally Apple friendly and those I've talked to at the stores seem
to be fairly happy. Maybe there's less Apple-geeks working at the stores down
under?

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se85
I believe that. San Fransisco is an amazing place full of amazing people.

Unfortunately over here in Australia, I suspect it is just the general state
of any industry involving customer service.

When going to many of the restaurants in Sydney it is extremely rare to
experience the kind of customer service which you take for granted over there.
We don't do tipping, so that probably explains that.

There are no shortage of apple geeks in Sydney. Theres two Apple Stores in
Sydney now as a matter of fact - both on George St (the main street that goes
through the Sydney CBD)!

Sydney is a lot like SFO was to me in the sense that its impossible to go out
in public for more than a couple of minutes without seeing somebody using an
apple product!

For whatever reason though, it seems that Apple Australia keeps hiring the
people who really don't show a great deal of passion in Apple at all (or
people for that matter)

I'm sure theres plenty of good people working at the Apple stores around
Australia, unfortunately I always seem to get the opposite, perhaps I'm just
extremely unlucky, but I feel its gone well past that point now.

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bunderbunder
_BREAKING NEWS: Sales people use sales tactics to make sales!_

Details at 10.

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Too
Blogspam.

Original article: [http://gizmodo.com/5938323/how-to-be-a-genius-this-is-
apples...](http://gizmodo.com/5938323/how-to-be-a-genius-this-is-apples-
secret-employee-training-manual)

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danso
Though the OP is referring to another blog post that calls the techniques
"creepy", the word "manipulate" is a bit strong for what the OP chooses to
excerpt:

    
    
      Customer: This Mac is just too expensive.*
      Genius: I can see how you'd feel this way. I felt the
        price was a little high, but I found it's a real value
        because of all the built-in software and capabilities.
    
      [from the OP:]  This tactic dovetails nicely with the section of the
        manual on things to avoid saying and doing. For
       instance: “Do not apologize for the business [or] the
        technology.” Instead, empathize: “I’m sorry you’re
        feeling frustrated,” or “too bad about your soda spill 
        accident.”
    
    

Yeah, that's not really "manipulation" in the way that most people conceive of
it. Manipulation would be, "Yeah, but can you put a price on the happiness of
seeing your child's photos seamlessly imported and displayed beautifully on a
retina screen? I mean, if you really love your child..."

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fab1an
They're simply using the standard "Feel, Felt, Found" formula , which I
believe was pioneered by Roger Dawson in "Secrets of Power Negotiating" -
[http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Power-Negotiating-Roger-
Dawson...](http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Power-Negotiating-Roger-
Dawson/dp/1564144984)

