How-To: Getting An Apple Genius On Your Side

What if you accidentally drop or spill something on your Mac, iPhone, iPod, or iPad? For most people this means you could have a very expensive paper weight. Not everyone has insurance on their devices, which you can read more about here. Your best choice is to go into your local Apple store and see what the Genius Bar can do for you. I’ll use my recent experience of spilling water on my MacBook Air, which left my machine completely dead, as a guide. There is a certain mindset you need to adopt before you even go into the store. You need to understand that what happened to your device is your fault and you are held responsible for the damage. If the genius can fix it for you then great. It is not Apple’s responsibility to repair your liquid spills or drops. With that mindset go into the store and speak with the genius in a completely open and honest manner. Do not try to beat around the bush about it. You must be completely honest. They will know if you are lying and there is nothing a genius hates worse than being lied to. So if you did drop your iPhone in a toilet … say so! The basic approach is to go in saying exactly what happened and that you know it is not covered by AppleCare or warranty, but you would really appreciate it if they could fix it. If all goes well the genius should be able to give you a one time exemption for a free repair. If not, you can always try to meet with another genius. It can also be helpful to make your appointment early in the day. You will have less of a risk of a previous terrible customer upsetting the genius you will be working with. That approach is what allowed me to get my MacBook Air, that did not have AppleCare, to get both its logic board and top case with keyboard replaced free of charge and shipped overnight to me. A cost that would have been over $1,000 anywhere else. Let us know (in the comments below) if you have any other tips for getting a genius on your side.