My experience with this store compared to other stores wasn't bad. I am happy that their is one so close with a big free parking lot across the street. Some experiences for so good that I still remember the people who waited on me. And then had some mediocre and one terrible experience with this one person. But after the terrible time I had with the one, I insisted on seeing some one else who had given me his card before. So I would say that all apple stores are very similar. (I have been to many now, including Walnut Creek and Emeryville and other cities too. And my opinion is that it completely depends on the staff there that day and the amount of people who show up at one time. That's it. Come early or come real late and you have a better chance. It is best if you have an appointment and try to be nice to people there who are really business a lot of the time. Remember they are dealing with people of every age and different learning skills. Some take more time than others. I did complain about that one guy because he said a couple of things that I knew were not Apple policy. And the person I called over, apologize for his co-worker. I love Apple, but I do wish they had a better system for helping people. More classes would help. More phone lines open, more of help period. Apple care shouldn't be limited to one year and then just an add-on two more years. I would be happy to continue with Apple care for a longer time. then I wouldn't have to come in so much. And they would being getting paid. Where as the in-store help is free. Or they could try out having longer appointments with more hands-on employees at the Genius bar employees. Not wanting to hire more employees I think, is being cheap. Apple makes big bucks I know! Not employing more people doesn't make sense for Apple. They can afford to expand their Genius Bar during busy times. They could even open up some space behind the bar (there is room behind that wall) where you could go see Geniuses in quieter surroundings for older, slower learners who can't hear well. I am one of those. On the other hand, I catch on rather quick. I do need a chair though. You should be able to plan your trip, your appointment time and bring in whatever you have...phone, iPad and watch or computer. Just make an appointment time for each in a row. Why make people come back over and over again. I love my Apple computers since the 80's and I love my iPhone now almost more. I have lapses in memory and this phone tells me what I am forgetting. Great service from my phone! Keep telling Apple supervisors,all the time. that they need to have more help, more space with better acoustics, and offer more classes including advanced classes. They really need to. I saw the front door picture of the car inside. I just know people who can think up the computer, iPhone, iTunes, and iTV, all in one great space, can also think of a new way to deter criminals without loosing the esthetic appeal. How about bullet proof glass, called Guerrilla glass? Solve the problem, Apple, and you may have another patented product to sell to store owners! Be Creative! Thanks Apple read more

There are a lot of people who want apple's service. The wait times, even in the middle of the day, can be quite long...even more so when they missed my appointment altogether and could not find me in the store (I was sitting at the bar). They could not locate a previous repair and previous quote for repair and the new quote was now three times the price. They told me that to repair water damage they need to replace everything. Once again, Apple's way of limiting themselves. Not even an apology for being late. I am not impressed. read more

OMG I've been dreading to come into any Apple Store. The lines seem to be sssooo long and making an appointment when I'm desperate was not happening. I've been to  the Walnut Creek/Palo Alto stores before uuuggh so I wasn't too keen on coming to this particular branch. But I took a chance on because 1 I was freakin desperate and 2 - It was close to work. I figured what I needed was super easy and I would hopefully be in and out in a matter of minutes. From Ashby down town to the Apple Store I went. Got there and got great parking, probably because it was around 10 or 10:30am. I can only imagine how parking is after 12noon. Any hoot walked in and was greeted right away. Sorry dude I forgot your name - but he was super helpful. (Bro I love you!!)  My i-phone 8+  was disabled something serious and the only way to get it back from space was to have everything erased. Okay cool. But I needed an appointment. NNNNOOOOOOOO bro. Told the guy I escaped from work just to have this done and I couldn't be gone long before someone figured out I made the great escape. He understood - called one of his colleagues over and everything I needed was taken care of. 30min minimum. Needless to say I was a Happy Ass Camper walking out of there. Thank you so much APPLE! You literally made my day that day and even today and to the 2 guys that helped me out... again so freakin sorry I forgot your names but you guys rock!!!! read more

I just received the best service from Eric at the Apple store. I had issues with getting a price adjustment on the iphone I had recently purchased and he was so helpful. I was turned away rudely at the stanford store but the berkeley apple store was so helpful, trying their best to find a resolution for me. Eric was friendly, attentive, patient and asked all the experts in the store to see if there was a way he could help me. After 15 minutes of trying different options he found a solution for me. This was after 2 hrs on the phone w At&t, a visit to the Stanford mall Apple and 3 total phone calls to apple stores in The bay area which told me They couldnt help me. Thank you berkeley Apple!! You made me a very happy Apple customer! At&t on the otherhand is useless read more

TERRIBLE. I called in said that I would be a little late for my appointment, and they were ARROGANT AND IMPOLITE, and just said that my appt. would just be cancelled, but the dude told me to show up anyways. I did. I waited and said that they could get me in at 5pm (I came in at 4.20). So I waited. And now here I am, writing the reviewing the store, because another son of a b***** told me that I have to wait till 6. and simply said that I must have miscommunicated. GRRRRRRRRRR read more

** Please note this is not a review of Apple products but of this particular store and the horrible customer service** I'd like to start by saying I am a devoted Apple consumer and love their products. I have never had a bad experience with the Apple store on Bay Street- but decided to try the 4th Street location because it is closer to my house. NEVER AGAIN will I go here for support. To consolidate my long, awful saga I will say that the technicians did not communicate with each other and the store manager had no idea what was going on with my computer. I took it in for a quick fix of the optical drive and wound up with a whole mess and a still non-functioning drive. I was called 5+ times asking for permission to proceed with the repair... and all 5 times I gave permission. I was told my computer would be ready in a couple hours, then the next morning, then that evening, then the next morning... a whole lot of hassle. When I asked for a hard copy print out of all the "notes" the technicians kept referring to... they were magically not printable. Sounds like some BS to me. Never again will I go to the Apple store on 4th street for support... I'll stick to Bay Street forever more. read more

We went here the day after Xmas to try to finish transferring files from an iPhone 3Gs to a new 4s we got at Radio Shack. The Shack guys did not know how to transfer the files, and the photos were still on the old phone. The Apple store has several tables set up where one or two Apple employees attempt to help about 5-6 customers at the same time. They call it "multitasking" and they maintain a good attitude, all the while getting interrupted by both other Apple employees (the most frequent interruption) and the other customers who, like us, patiently watched the poor Apple employee with the kind attitude providing a little help, then moving on to the next person (or the next Apple employee asking them something) and returning to help us for a few minutes. I get it that they want to limit customers having to wait, but what kind of stress are they putting on their employees? With the employee acting as our ally, we worked as a team to try to recover loads of photos from mobile.me, the cloud service that Apple uses. A few months ago, at the Bay Street store we were told by an Apple employee to not renew mobile.me, since iCloud would handle our photos. Well, that turned out wrong. We lost all or photos. The Berkeley Apple employee got on chat with Mobile's, and even bumped up to a supervisor via chat, only to be told that there is no way to recover the photos. She thought they would have had a backup system, but they do not. So we left without our photos and feeling sorry for the Apple employee who had to endure more hours of this system. I get it that Apple likes to think different, but i wonder if they really evaluate the effectiveness of this customer service system. read more

I am so impressed with my experience at this Apple store (4th st. in Berkeley, CA) that I felt compelled to write a review, something I don't do very often. The events that occurred on 09/01/2015, a Tuesday (2 hours before closing): I came into the Apple store without an appointment at about 5:45pm carrying my macbookpro from early 2011. I had replaced the hard drive (which had died and I replaced it with a SSD drive). Problem was I needed an OS installed on it. It was then that I was introduced to Charmayne Young. CHARMAYNE YOUNG = awesome!!!! (That's Charmayne with a "ch"!) :-) She is a true genius and a credit to the Apple empire. Someone should buy this employee a lunch/dinner and possibly even a paid super-vacation (i dunno what that is, but it sounds about right). I'm here to tell you APPLE, that this is your best. Your very best. This is the kind of employee that instills brand loyalty for life. The story: She had every right to deny my request to install an OS on my computer. But instead, she welcomed me to the counter and somehow fit me in. As is usual in a case like this, it wasn't as straight-forward as it sounds. And after several thwarted attempts, again, I could reasonably have been told to find another alternative elsewhere. But Charmayne, nearing the end of her shift, persevered and was able to initiate install of the OS on my laptop. Meanwhile, I asked her about my iPhone(5), which was having a issue (no storage space). She promptly worked on my iphone and after 30 mins. and backup of all my data, a wipe clean, and then a re-install of the iOS, I now had a perfectly working laptop AND phone. In all I was there 2 hours and Charmayne worked diligently to help me for that entire time. She was so pleasant to be with. Cheerful even when facing some of the install difficulties and never let me know what a struggle she was surely having. I am so grateful to her and to Apple for this service. I would have gladly paid for this (and anywhere else, I surely would have!). I hope this reaches Charmaynes seniors. This was undoubtedly NOT a "one-off". As it would be impossible to be this good and then revert back to another standard. I can only believe that Charmayne is this talented (at computer/tech problem solving), this cheerful and energetic ALL of the time. If I had a tech business or startup I would try to steal her away. I am not joking. I would offer her double/triple what she is making now. BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE EVER for me. Thanks Charmayne for the terrific help. You are the best! Chris F. read more

Did they read my review? Or did I just happen to walk in on a good night to greet a very awesome employee? Surprisingly 4th street has their own special car dinging tight spaced parking lot for 3 hours but that's not the point of this update. I originally purchased a space grey iPhone 5s on opening date and maybe 2 weeks later I was able to pick up a gold iPhone 5s, which lest to say looks super amazing. What do you do with the first iPhone? You return it after wiping the data and making sure it is in sellable condition. I parked outside the store on a yellow curb ( after 6 on a weekday) and waltzed in. The closest employee was fixing one of the store displays and I approached him. Sam ( his name I think) quickly finished what he was doing, greeted me, and asked how he could be of assistance. It was very smooth sailing from there. Sam was very genuine, nice, always smiling, and willing to help. Got my return processed very quickly and had me on my way. Before some of you grill me and say, "how can you tell he's genuine within the short time you talked with him?" I'm going to respond by saying, because it only takes about 1 minute of interaction to find out how he/she operates. If you ever find yourself at the 4th st. Apple store, ask for Sam, you won't be disappointed. read more

This store is great. I have been here twice. I returned because my first visit was so awesome. Tonight I walked in without an appointment to buy a new computer because it is time. I worked with Jessica and I bought the new Macbook Pro. Jessica spent lots of time with me and explained everything. She reminded me that as a student I qualify for a discount. She helped me install the Microsoft office software I bought. She even stayed with me 10 minutes past their closing time just to be sure everything was in order for me to come home and get to work writing my masters thesis. (except instead I am here on yelp...) first visit: I came to this store in the past to get my old computer evaluated. The people were incredibly helpful and generous. My problem was unfixable but they spent a really long time finding a work-around solution for me, and it was a really good solution! On that same occasion there was a woman acting really impossible and disrespectful to them and I watched them kindly and graciously interact with her, she was refusing to leave until replaced her phone but they couldn't. Throughout the interactions they were unflappable. The three people she interacted with perfectly maintained non-violent communication strategies, it was very impressive. Thanks you all. read more

Really enjoyed the experience at this store. If you can hit it in the daytime during the week you'll be pleased with the lack of crowds. Of course apple is apple but it's nice to be able to walk in and just get service! read more

Sad fall from grace. Their Genius Bar has served me well over the years, but I've observed the 15-minute support slots at 4th St become more and more meaningless. Finally, today, while the store bustled with sales staff, I had to leave after a half hour of waiting for a tech to come out for my appointment. After a while, I made several inquiries as to how long my wait would be, but no one would ever give me a specific answer. "Soon" became never. No one apologized or explained the circumstances for why they couldn't serve the appointment slot they invited me to sign up for. Meanwhile, they advised drop ins that the wait was 4 hours. Only one person was being served at the long Genius Bar. With all the information they have about me (!), you'd think they would be able to tell me if they had to cancel my appointment because too many Geniuses were out sick, or at least notify me via the app how long appointments were running behind so that I could choose to reschedule if necessary. Parking is difficult and the store is always crowded. Online research and shopping are more effective for shopping for new products. If the Genius Bar is mostly inaccessible, there's little reason to go into the 4th Street store unless you're bored and have time to kill. read more

At both the Bay Street and 4th Street Apple Stores I have had poor customer service experiences. Most recently at 4th Street I was 10 minutes late to my genius bar appointment, mostly due to the hectic holiday parking situation. When I arrived I waited at the genius bar for a few minutes only to be told by a snarky, subtly arrogant, more-concerned with cool than friendly "genius" that I was two minutes too late, eight minutes being the cut-off time. I completely understand they've got to move things along, but the lack of empathy and ultimate message of "we don't care THAT much about helping you with your problem" was upsetting. Why could I have not received at least five minutes of attention for the remainder of my appointment time? Why was I made to feel like it was my mistake for not getting checked in that front door when there was clearly no greeter handling check-ins when I arrived? Why was I not listened to as I said a new appointment twenty minutes later would be too late? Oh, at least I know the answer to that question: the guy was overly focused on his iPhone genius appointments app instead of actually engaging on a more human level with the person standing in front of him. On my way home I called the M.A.C. Store, a locally-owned independent place in downtown Berkeley, and was greeted with someone friendly, compassionate and helpful. I took my computer in there - no appointment necessary, relatively easy parking, no lines - and was treated with respect and professionalism. And from what I hear, I am almost sure the repairs I'll need on my MacBook Pro will cost less than they would through Apple and I'll get my computer back several days earlier. Apple: great design and products, but my impression so far is that customer service in stores is too tech-centric and there is an air of "we're so hot and sophisticated right now" elitism and arrogance, that if you're not with their system you may or may not be helped. Really, Steve Jobs is the only one that helped Apple by being a snarky genius, and the Apple Store employees need to know their place as more modest cogs in the company. Apple can certainly afford adapting their system to prioritize friendliness and being more available to help, and would be wise to make the investment to minimize the inevitable post-cool backlash to their products. As a point of action to take away from this review, If you're in or near Berkeley I strongly recommend choosing the M.A.C. Store instead for your Apple-related needs, especially if you are not on warranty any more. read more

I'd pre-ordered a new iPhone online, using a gift certificate. Apple quickly filled my order and notified me that my phone was available for pick-up at the local store. When we arrived, they weren't as swamped as I've seen the Emeryville store before, but I made it all the way to the back of the store before I had to approach a sales associate myself to be helped. I think the fellow must have been new, because he said he'd have to find someone to help me. left and eventually came back with my phone, but said someone else would have to help me set it up. Meanwhile, I waited for 15 minutes with an antsy toddler for someone, anyone to help me. When the fellow finally showed up, he did give us fantastic service. He tried valiantly to recover the old data from my drowned iPhone that was being replaced and even took care to try to show my kiddo some things to play with on the iPad. If I'd had an extra 500 to drop (and they'd build a toddler-proof version) he might have even gotten me to purchase an iPad that day, with just that little extra attention. It was a mixed experience. read more

Hate to see all the negative reviews of this place - I've had nothing but positive experiences here as a customer, including one recent one from the store manager that really stands out. Recently my iphone 5's sleep/wake button stopped working - I was able to make a Genius Bar appt within 48hrs (not amazing but not bad) on a Saturday. I walked in 2 minutes late for my appt, checked in, was seen right away, and had a fresh new iphone 5 within 8 minutes! Yes, I had purchased AppleCare+ when I bought the phone, and you should probably too! I also recently received a gift certificate for an iPad air, so after some browsing (during which several customer service reps offered to help me and were polite when I declined), I took the leap. The store manager himself (Henry?) helped me with my purchase, helped me pick out a case and an adapter I needed (he grabbed them all for me as I waited), and wished me happy birthday. I can't say he'd do this for everyone, but the amount on my gift card was just slightly under the actual cost of my items, so he gave me a discount! How great is that?! Not to mention the fact that he is probably the most upbeat and positive customer service rep I've ever dealt with. This guy creates customers for life. Finally, parking is tough on 4th street, but if you want to beat the lines in walnut creek or emeryville (let's say on iphone release day), this place is a sleeper store and you can get a nice spot in line without having to camp out the night before. Again, I've had nothing but positive customer service experiences here - sorry to all those who haven't experienced the same! read more

Go to any other Apple Store. The service here is the worst in every way. My appointment was given to someone else even though I had been waiting for nearly an hour (with an appointment!) and when I did get someone, he was so jacked up on his own "genius", he spent the entire time with me arguing vehemently that my analysis of the problem was wrong EVEN AFTER I SHOWED HIM SUBSTANTIATION on the Apple Support site! That's what happens when you hire "geniuses", many of them turn out to be village idiots. read more

I cannot believe that I JUST found out that Berkeley has an Apple store! Knowing now that there is one so close to my new home is awesome...especially this week, since I decided to purchase a new computer and learned I could pick it up locally instead of waiting to have it shipped to my home. It was SO simple to set up a local pick up from Apple's website. Getting an Apple product makes me feel like a giddy five year old awaiting the holidays and opening up presents. This Apple store is like a giant futuristic techy nerd heaven. My face hurt from smiling so much while I was in there today waiting to pick my purchase up. To make my brief wait even more pleasant, their staff greeted me as I walked in, told me it would be about 10 minutes until I was helped, and I didn't mind, because I had fun checking out their other products. My order was then brought out to me, opened up, checked out, and I was on my way. I had a great experience at this store and hope you will too if you are coming in for the first time or are returning. The staff is really wonderful, the store is clean, they are stocked up well on their products, however, the street parking should be free for 30minutes since it's an outdoor mall like area ;) read more

Poor customer service and folks confused- I came here to buy a phone and guess you lost a customer. No one knows how to handle the customers. Apple should do something better as this has by far been my worst experience read more

Sarah and Joe very helpful - great customer service. They saved this store getting a 1 star. Unfortunately, Leon was unhelpful and condescending. We were leaving frustrated and amazed. I thought this was an premium Apple Store - not Home Depot. Why? We walked into apple store 4th Street at the request of our son to wipe and reinstall the OS on a Mac Pro ASAP as it wasn't reinstalling for him. Apparently not a difficult or job. Knowing almost nothing Mac my wife asked a guy named Leon at the personal setup station. He said to turn it on. She didn't know where the concealed button was. He laughed saying "you don't know Mac?" She explained what was required and he said you have to make an appointment - the earliest a week away. He wasn't listening - didn't answer our questions and seemed uninterested except to tell us to make an appointment online - turning around a computer for us to do it ourselves. He then started taking with another customer while we were still trying to get his help. It was a disgrace to this Apple store. While leaving we were asked at the exit if we were satisfied. NO WE WERE NOT. We were directed to Sarah who listened, said it was a simple fix and arranged us a waiting appointment at the Genius Bar. Joe appeared, listened, explained simply and started the process. He was very polite, friendly and spoke to our knowledge level. It was a set and forget task but he checked in regularly while attending other jobs. Thank you to the helpful staff for resolving the reputation damage done by a employee who either doesn't know better or is too lazy to listen and help. read more

Bought a brand new iPhone X 256gb within a month from light use the cable it came with started ripping possibly defective. I remember Apple used to have a good policy with replacing ripped or defective lightning cables. And they did not replace it due to a "wire being exposed" then I was just brushed off cable was used for less then a month ridiculous!!! read more

I came to my appointment 3 mins early and checked in an employee named Leo. Waited for over 30 mins. Multiple employees just saw me sitting there. Not even on a computer or anything looking like I was just shopping. I was just reading. Then I noticed that someone who came in after me got served. So I asked when I was going to be served at the Genius Bar, and he said that they forgot me on accident. All I needed was a new iPhone, which I got. That took less than 10 mins. Please don't forget your customers. It's very rude. I could have been out way earlier. read more

Great above and beyond service. I returned a new phone in the store. The item was not properly processed. I was in the process of being charged for an item that was returned the previous week. Store management spent over an hour(reviewing the cameras for that day) proving that I indeed returned the phone and thus, correctly processing the return. Management also was very apologetic for the mix up. Inconvenient yes, but the good spirited customer service made up for the inconvenience. I highly recommend the 4th street apple store! read more

I swear yo ass better have AppleCare or it's all bad!!! The ears on my MacBook charger broke one day and I was like lemme get this shit fixed because I did not buy AppleCare for nothing. My charger took more hits than Solange did Jay-Z in that elevator okay, it was all bad. I didn't make an appointment or nothing when I came, but I told the service specialist that I had AppleCare and she instantly squeezed me into their already packed list of appointments. Praise tha lord because ya boy didn't pay for street parking and I wasn't about to wait around all day. I was instantly directed to the Genius Bar, where Aaron immediately assisted me. He took one look at my charger and he had that god damn look on his face. Apparently I've been looping my charger around the ears all wrong, you're supposed to make a loose loop and then start wrapping it around so that you don't damage the part where the cord meets the power adapter. They only had one of my power adapters left in stock, so praise tha lord that I was the one to leave with it. Best part is, they gave it to me for FREE! Aaron even made me show him how to properly wrap the wire around the ears so that I wouldn't have to come back next time for another charger. I was outta there within 20 minutes. Loved the service, they were quick, prompt, friendly, and attentive. But that's probably because I had AppleCare. I skipped all the other people ahead of me that didn't have AppleCare, so I was like #BYEBITCHES!!!! Get AppleCare and I swear Jesus will be on yo side #praisethalord #hallelujah #amen they treat you like Beyoncé if you have AppleCare, so get on that Queen B level. read more

I think Apple Stores tend to get the short shrift in reviews because people usually only go there when they're experiencing difficulty and have to make an inconvenient appointment at the Genius Bar or when they're prepared to drop a ton of money on an electronic that will have a newer, better version in a year. My boyfriend and I fell into both categories when we visited. His Iphone was acting up by not charging well and having a broken home button. Since he bought the phone in November of 2012, he wasn't eligible for an upgrade and was resigned to having to purchase a new or refurbished phone to last through his contract with Verizon. We sat down with Morgan and in a few minutes she cleared up the charging problem (which was the number one priority) by just cleaning out the port. Turns out, having a case protects your Iphone, but it also allows dirt and debris to stay pretty protected too. Morgan said most of the time if people are having difficulty charging, they just need to get it cleaned out. She also helped us out with the home button situation. Turns out Apple will fix that for free because it was a defect with the Iphone 5. She had my boyfriend back his phone up and restored his phone before preparing it to be sent off to the people who actually fix Iphones. She told us the process would take about a week or so and Apple would provide a loaner phone in the meantime. A quick switch of a SIM card and boyfriend had a loaner phone while his phone was out to be fixed. All free of charge. I'm tempted to lower this score because I think it's shame on Apple for not providing more consumer information about their products. If we had known about the broken home button being a widely spread issue, we would have brought it in sooner, but companies like Apple and Verizon rely on consumer ignorance and hope that we'll just buy a new phone or up a contract instead of attempting to get it fixed. However, given the stellar customer service from Morgan I am a fan of the Fourth Street Apple Store and will return here for all of my Apple needs (provided they don't suffer another car through the window). read more

I'm an Apple consumerist whore. Let's get that put of the way right now ok? That said... this store is AWESOME. Henry, Brandon, Joe, Chris... you guys are the cat's pajamas. Had an issue with my brand new iMac. Made an appointment (cause that's what you have to do) and went in... Joe said it should be fixed by doing a complete wipe and restore to factory settings. We did that. I went home. It wasn't fixed. The next day I made another appointment (same day available?? YES!!) Went in... told them what happened the day before and Brandon remembered me and said that this was probably a big issue and I needed a new computer. But since it was a custom machine I needed to call Apple Care to have it handled. I called Apple Care. They kinda sucked a big one. Had me on hold for 30 minutes. Told me they would call me back as I waited in the parking lot... (see, they were saying I couldn't get a new computer and they had to call the store.) After 20 minutes of waiting I stormed back in the store. Annoyed and pissed as hell. I walked up to two dudes and said something along the lines of "I need to talk to your manager now cause I'm about to blow a gasket..." the looks of shock on their faces checked me immediately... "I'm sorry guys... I'm PMSing and spend three grand on a machine that is broken after a month and you guys told me one thing and now Apple Care is telling me something else." Henry was all like "No problem boo... I'm a manager here... let's make this happen." (well he didn't really say that but whatever. My story.) He calls Apple Care and I can tell they are giving him the high horse. He's all "I have the customer in front of me and the tech next to me and my sole priority is making this customer happy." Long story longer the store themselves decided to handle the return. They took my computer, told me it could be up to a week to get the new machine in and Brandon said he would call me today and let me know the status. Cue Chris. Chris called me.... decided that they were going to upgrade RAM on the top of the line 27" they had in the store thereby getting me a faster processor than I originally paid for and a better graphics card. He told me it would be ready in a few hours. Done. Guys... thanks for showing me time and again why your store really is top notch. read more

I have to agree with the negative reviews. Apple has gone way downhill over the past 10 years or so generally, but the Berkeley Apple store is really terrible. The first time I went there, the associate did something to my iPad that totally screwed it up, said "oops," and handed it back to me with a shrug. When I asked her how to fix it, she told me I'd have to make an appointment with the so-called Genius Bar, and come back another time. I declined and ended up figuring it out myself because, ya know, I have a job and a life and I can't spend my time running back and forth to the Apple store. The second time I went in there, I got completely wrong info from the sales associate, which became obvious later. And the third time, when I went in to make a purchase, I had to explain what I wanted (which was pretty simple) three times -- the person clearly wasn't listening to me, just was interested in ringing up the sale. I'm done with that place. It's enough to make me switch to an Android... read more

Listen, folks: I think we all know by now that we NEED Genius Bar appointments, no matter where the Apple Store is. I was greeted by a team as soon as I walked in and only had to wait a few minutes after sitting down at the bar. The store is a busy one, so you won't get a Genius's undivided attention. Personally, I'm fine with that as long as they resolve my problem with care, which they did. They ran some diagnostics on my computer (which I was praying wasn't totally busted), explained the issue to me, and told me they would have to send the computer out for repairs but that I would have it back within a week. This was on a Friday, and I got the call on Tuesday that it was ready for pickup. I have no complaints whatsoever about my experience. In fact, the employees at this store made me feel quite relieved, and I really felt like I could trust them with my computer. read more

This store is the friendliest one I've been to. I walked in for my appointment and was immediately greeted and checked in. The tech guy with the purple hair was helping during my appointment. He was quick, and communicated very clearly. I was there for maybe 30 minutes total. Thank you to the team here for always providing the best customer service! read more

While I've owned iPhones since they came out and a few iPads, I've never owned a Macbook. I went in today to buy a MacBook Pro. Was quoted a business discount based on my employer and left happy. Came home, turned it on. After about an hour and a half of the "spinning wheel of death" through the Setup Assistant, I rebooted. Ok, all good. Then I realize I was never sent my receipt. Call the store - they look it up, send me the receipt. Great. Then I see on the receipt that the discount I was quoted was not what was applied to my purchase. I call them AGAIN. They verify that my discount is actually the lower percentage and they will not honor what I was quoted in the store (after the guy went and verified it originally). Apple is KNOWN for their customer service and smooth setups. This was not smooth. I really expected more. Good customer service is acknowledging when you mess up and making it right, not saying "yeah sorry about that". Let's hope my venture with this new laptop is better from here on out or it will be returned in my 2 month window. UPDATE: As soon as I posted this, they emailed me inviting me to come back in to the store to adjust the purchase price as I was quoted. We'll see if they make it right. :) read more

Is there anyone who builds better notebook computers? Worth the price. They are so popular that there can be a long waiting list to see someone. read more

I am always afraid when something with my computer goes wrong. I purchased a nearly $3,000 retina macbook pro last year around this time and it had started to develop permanent marks from the keyboard where the protective coating was eating away... (it was such an odd problem and has been happening to other's retina screens so I wouldn't be surprised if they did a recall at some point). I came in and was FIVE DAYS OUT OF MY WARRANTY! (read: this is the worst thing ever). But you know what? The kind Applepeople said I was within the seven day grace period so it wouldn't be a problem. Also, they said they could completely cover a screen replacement (over $700 job) even though someone had mentioned it was debatably user-damage (newp!). I would say, come in with patience (you'll be in there multiple times and talk to a dozen different people). Everyone working in retail appreciates manners and if you leave your self-entitlement at home. Do that, and you might be pleasantly surprised. read more

This place was busy on Saturday afternoon, but we were helped fairly quickly. All of the the workers were nice and attentive; the woman that ultimately helped us was very patient and spent a lot of time with us -- even though we were not spending money (we had to transfer data from phones). The place looked like any other Apple store and the parking situation was good. This is a much better alternative to the SF store I always find myself in -- much less hectic and more customer focused. read more

I visited this store for a Mac problem at perhaps the worst time I could have chosen - the day the iPhone 5 came out. There was a long line to the end of the block, but even though Genius Bar appointments were consequently not being made I was allowed in to see a technician named Keith. From the outset he was efficient, helpful and, above all, not condescending. He explained how to deal with the issue I had, gave me tips on how prevent a recurrence, did not try to rush me out even though he had multiple customers (all other hands were dealing with the iPhone 5 rush), and was a perfect gentleman throughout. I cannot more highly recommend an employee for top notch customer service. If you ever pop into this location with a technical issue ask for Keith. read more

Went to the Apple store because I have a gnarly crack on my phone. Didn't have an appointment and a cool chick with weird purple hair was super nice and found me help right away. I didn't get Apple care - which I like should have. And it was out of warranty. They actually were pretty sure it was cracked so bad that it wasn't fixable. Dude that was helping me wrapped my phone in tape so I wouldn't get stabbed by glass shards while on the phone. So nice and helpful! And the tape has held up great! Thanks 4th St Apple store! read more

i just want to say this about that: i love going to the apple store on 4th street. the staff is darling and helpful and caring. and apple charges way too much for everything!!! i usually shop online, where things are cheaper, but when they figured out what was wrong with my computer; the power cord; i paid $86 for a new one. that's highway robbery, especially since my computer and its accompanying power cord are only 2 years old. shame on you, apple. read more

They are awesome here. the emeryville store refused phone replacements twice and this Berkeley store took care of me. all the employees at the 4th st store seem to operate with a sense of pride and believe that they can offer the elevated customer service that the apple brand demands read more

If it wasn't for Javier who helped me, this place would get only ONE star if they're lucky! Anyone who has iPhone or iPad problems, I sure hope he helps you. He went above and beyond my expectations. Phenomenal customer service! He made up for the first associate's lack of customer service, and I couldn't have been happier leaving the store. Had an appointment at 6:50 PM for a repair. Arrived at least twenty minutes early and checked in. She said someone would help me soon. Ten minutes went by, asked another associate how long it would take for my repair and was told it would depend on how many other repairs were ahead of me. There was a chance I would have to leave it overnight and come in at noon the following day or reschedule because my appointment was so late (I wasn't told this when I had to choose from the openings available). Mind you, I live in Vallejo so that would've been an inconvenience. 6:55 rolls around and I was finally approached, thankfully by Javier. Apparently my appointment was lost but he figured it all out and I was out before 7:30. read more

I bought an iPhone yesterday from a team member named Faith. She was very nice and informative. This store is also taking precautions to avoid the spread of COVID-19 (temperature checks, sanitizing, social distancing) and I felt extremely safe. Overall I had a great experience! read more

While it never starts out as a good experience taking your device to the Apple Store, I did have a pretty dope experience at the Berkeley one on 4th Street. Long story short, my macbook pro would either fail to boot up, or would immediately direct me to reset my password. I brought it in without an appointment and w/o apple care (Mid 2010 MacBook Pro). I was told it wold be a 30 minute wait, BUT I was helped immediately (may have helped that I said it was a business issue). They let me crack open a brand new backup hard-drive to back-up my files in case my data was lost for good, fixed the issue and gave me a new power block after seeing how stripped the wires were on my old one... OVERALL I came out w/ $120.00 worth of stuff (power block & use of HDD) & got my CPU fixed. So even though I life in San Francisco, I'm always going to avoid the shit-show that is Apple Store SF and hit the Berkeley one on 4th Street... Thanks Guys! read more

I went in with a sick laptop and found the staff to be friendly, knowledgable and caring-- retail qualities not found in too many places today. The resolution to my problem was definitely a positive one. If they sold organic vegetables and free range chicken I'd go there for all my shopping needs. Maybe a good latte too. read more