Best Buy makes it easier than ever to get certified Apple repairs
Apple’s in-store Genius Bar is an excellent place to get support and repairs for your Apple kit, but many locations are so busy it can be difficult to bag an appointment at short notice. Plus, not everyone lives near an Apple Store!
To help combat this and lessen the load on the official stores, Apple has for years authorized third-party service providers to give officially-certified repairs. Your experience at an authorized repair shop may vary slightly from Apple’s own approach, but the certification guarantees everything is up to Apple’s exacting standards, including the quality of parts used in any repair jobs.
As of this week, the number of certified support providers in the US is increasingly massively thanks to a partnership with superstore Best Buy. Every single Best Buy in the country will now offer full support for iPhones, iPads, Macs, and more thanks to this partnership. That means nearly 1,000 new repair locations in one fell swoop, with Apple training 7,600 of Best Buy’s “Geek Squad” employees in preparation!
“At Apple, we’re dedicated to providing the best customer service in the world,” said Tara Bunch, Apple’s vice president of AppleCare. “If a customer ever needs to repair their products, we want them to feel confident those repairs are done safely and correctly. We’re always looking at how we can reliably expand our network of trained technicians and we’re excited to partner with every Best Buy store so it’s even easier for our customers to find an authorized repair location near them.”
Considering there are only around 300 official Apple Stores in the US, that should really make it easier for users to find somewhere to get their devices fixed. In fact, Apple says that 8/10 customers now live within 20 minutes of a certified service point. If you think you need a repair, head to apple.com/repair and start a request – it will ask for some information and then direct you to the nearest repair location.
Of course, this Best Buy news only affects those in the US, but it bodes well for the future – could we see Apple partnering with other retail chains around the world to provide an even bigger support network in the near future?