I spilled coffee all over my M1 MacBook. It’s done. I do have Apple care plus because this is not the first time that has happened to me unfortunately. (Kids) the nearest Apple Store is an hr away and Genius Bar appointment is booked up until next week. I noticed however when I make a Genius Bar appointment, bust buy shows up and it’s around me. I’ve used them for my thinkpad. They usually fix it in store but I know Apple is funny about things. I don’t really have a lot of time as I have a deliverable… do they repair it in store or does it have to be sent out to Apple?

So my Apple Stores near me seem to have no appointments available, plenty of Best Buy appointments though.

Any differences I should be concerned about? Will the quality of service be different? In the past I've gone to the Apple store for these type of things as it feels more direct.

AppleCare + Best Buy=weeks of waiting

Do NOT get Best Buy Total Tech for your iPhone or, probably any apple product. These two companies need to acknowledge that the relationship isn’t working and it is at the customer’s expense. Honestly, Best Buy, he or she is not that into you, move on. And customers- neither is interested in you, you’re just in a custody battle.

On 1/3 I brought my beyond repairable iPhone into Best Buy for repair. I have Total Tech with Apple Care so it was fully covered. That all sounds good but what happens after is the most maddening b.s.

1. The person I talked to at the Geeksquad counter looked at my phone, could see it is well beyond repair and said they could not take the phone in because I would need to make a Geeksquad appointment because they need to “run diagnostics to see if it is covered by Total Tech AppleCare”. It is. Is this something I can look up online on my account myself? He says, “Yes, you can do that.” This makes no sense then why an appointment is needed to determine that because if I can look it up (and I already had), why can’t the Geek Squad dude standing in Best Buy who has my account pulled up in his Best Buy computer not find this information himself? But I don’t want to make his life difficult because whatever they have going on for an inefficient system isn’t his fault. I ask if I can get in for that appointment that day or evening. No. It will be 3 days. Wait three days for them to look up my Apple Care. WTF. Ok, corporate bullshit has me waiting a few days.

2. 3 days later I make the time to drive back over there again with the same issue-need the phone replaced. The person at the counter this time is more helpful to the degree they can be. She is like, “I don’t know why they made you wait and make an appointment we can just do this right here.” She says she worked in the phone section but that they don’t cross train which leads to that stuff—As in being required to make an appointment to verify AppleCare coverage. And my Geeks Squad appointment says customer want to verify Apple Care coverage as my reason for the appointment. Um. NO, I DON’T, I want to move the repairs forward. I let her know that I appreciated her help and thought it seemed excessive to have to go in twice, 3 days apart just for that. She processed the phone, could see it is unrepairable and charged me for a replacement. She says it may be up to THREE WEEKS for them to replace. The phone but it does get overnight shipped both ways. Ok. So I have to use an old phone that does not get texts from almost numbers, that does not get data because my SIM is 5G and the phone is 4g. But, it’s temporary, it’ll be fine. It is, however, my work phone so I have to tell everybody that I do not get texts nor do I have data.

3. Days pass. Weeks pass. I go to AppleCare to find out what is going on. There is no record of a repair for my phone with them because they run it all through Best Buy and cut the customer out. You cannot talk to ANYONE at Apple because they have no record of your repairin their system. This leaves tracking a repair through Best Buy. When that happens it simply says, “We are moving forward with your repair’ or some unhelpful sentence like. No timeline, no deadline, no contact info.

4. I am now 25 days in from the start of this. I decide to call the store to speak to a human. Instead it’s AI that tells me the phone attached to my number is currently in repair. OMG I KNOW THIS. I say I want to talk to a person and AI tells me it “understands” I want to talk to someone and the wait will be 7 minutes. 5 minutes in someone answers. BUT it is clear I have been forwarded to a call center. I explain what I want to know, they tell me they will see what is going on. Hold. They return to tell me that my phone is being repaired. That is so inadequate. I KNOW THIS. I want more accountability on that end- what is going on, give me a date, etc. He tells me I should call the store and would I like the number.. No- because that is where I called and got sent out to them.

5. Today I go in to Best Buy again. They apologize and say they are unable to talk to any human being there and are only able to escalate the order and they say they have been doing it every other day and, will now, on day 24, start doing it daily. And they tell me this is typical of Apple with them.

DO NOT GET TOTALTECH for your Apple device. Pretty sure Apple deprioritizes their Best Buy work, Best Buy gets your Total Tech money so they don’t care as it is still profitable for them and you are out your device for weeks on end, with zero accountability on either company’s end. Absolute bs.