I came here for the first time on Monday for a Genius Bar appointment at 12 noon. My MacBook is already 13 years old, which is why a lot of the the updates I downloaded for Safari, Mozilla Firefox and Chrome were not compatible with my old OS operating system. Initially, I connected with Apple's online services to see if they help me troubleshoot this before I had to resort to making a Genius Bar appointment.
However, after an online Apple associate named Sonia could not troubleshoot my issue just through online services, she was really helpful and helped me to schedule a Genius Bar appointment at the closest Apple Store near me, which happened to be at the Northstar Mall.
I was a few minutes late past my 12 noon appointment, but checked in with an associate named Ethan for my Genius Bar appointment to troubleshoot my OS operating system. He told me that an associate would be able to assist me after assisting the previous customers who also had appointments prior to me.
I told him this would be fine. However, after about an hour, i still had not been assisted, and had to use the restroom. I checked in with Ethan again to let him know and to ask if I could keep my place in line. He was really courteous and understanding, and said he would inform Vincent (who was still busy helping another customer to fix her laptop) that I just needed to step out to use the restroom, but would be back shortly. Ethan assured me that I wouldn't lose my place in line.
I darted out to the food court area, just so I could quickly use the restroom, and then come right back to the Apple Store.
Vincent finished up with the previous customer. Then assisted me as soon as he could. He troubleshooted my MacBook very quickly and determined that my OS operating system was indeed many operating systems behind that a lot of the browser updates would not work. But instead of recommending me to buy a new MacBook right away, he decided to try using his Ethernet cable to update my operating system from a 10.13 to a 10.15 to see if this might help me to successfully download browser updates and use them to access key websites I frequently used.
I was really happy when his tactic worked and he helped me tremendously to update my OS system to 10.15 :D !
He did explain to me, though, that although I could still use my 2012 MacBook Pro in 2025, I would still eventually run into issues with software and websites because the OS on my 2012 Macbook Pro can not be upgraded past macOS 10.15.
So I will still have to eventually buy a new MacBook in the near future.
I really appreciated his extraordinary and phenomenal help :D ! Despite being swamped with back-to-back customers on a very busy Monday!
I give 5 stars for Vincent and Ethan for their extraordinary assistance and phenomenal customer service :D ! I really felt like they went out of their way, and the extra mile, to take care of my customer needs as best they could :) !
I just took off a star because the long wait (even with an appointment) was more like a 4-star experience. By the time Vincent was able to assist me, it was close to a 2-hour wait time. It's not Vincent's fault because Apple Genius Bar (and the Apple Store itself) is generally always busy. But it was just such a long wait time!
He explained that this particular Apple Store location gets really backed up with appointments because it is the most central location for a lot of people in San Antonio. It is also very close to the San Antonio Airport, which explains the constant foot traffic from both locals and also travelers. He mentioned that the Apple Store in La Cantera shopping mall generally has shorter wait times because it is further out. I was grateful for this information because it was very nice of him to inform me.
The quality of customer service is still fantastic at this Apple Store location inside the North Star Mall, once you are actually assisted :) ! At least with the associates who assisted me. read more