Apple tops tech support success poll
But HP support 'inferior', says Consumers Union
Apple's consumer-oriented tech support is rather better than other vendors' equivalents, US non-profit organisation the Consumers Union has claimed.
CU asked subscribers of its Consumer Reports magazine to detail their computer tech support experiences. Some 10,000 incidents relating to laptops and desktops were logged by the organisation, it said.
Apple topped the poll on phone and internet tech support, solving problems in 80 per cent of cases, well above the average success rate, 60 per cent. The success rate of the company's in-store tech support teams was 90 per cent, CU said.
That said, the organisation criticised Apple's free post-purchase support period, which lasts only 90 days, as "very brief". However, CU said the company's extended support offering is better than Apple's "stand-out... track record for solving problems among consumers without paid [support] plans".
CU also named Lenovo and Dell as purveyors of above-average tech support. Not so HP, which the organisation reported "offered inferior support" under both the HP and Compaq brands.
In general, CU said paid support plans "aren't good buys" unless punters are buying laptops that will travel frequently or a Mac - for the reasons cited above. Novice PC users should also consider extended support packages, it said.
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COMMENTS
Oh god that's funny.
Apple top? Dell above average?
I think it's safe to say that this consumer report is one that can be safely ignored unless tech support really has reached such a sorry state.
Dell is hands down the worst technical support experience I've ever encountered anywhere in any industry. Apple certainly isn't the work but at absolute best it's mediocre and that's only assuming you're lucky enough to get someone competent which I'd guess is about 1/100 chance.
Have to agree Toshiba is probably one of the best, ironically I've had okay dealings with HP but this could be luck as I've dealt with them very few times.
It's largely irrelevant though anyway, even when Apple's support is mediocre, their hardware is crap, the very fact I've had to contact them so much about hardware faults talks volume. With Dell whilst their support is the worst ever, their hardware is at least much more reliable so you don't have to deal with them _too_ often. It's down to the difference in the way Apple/Dell work - Apple produce products of completely new form factors that haven't been tried and tested which leads to all sorts of defects when they reach the consumer. Dell on the other hand uses standard form factors as well as standard tried and tested PC hardware so is a lot more defect free.
The software debate is different, OSX is great if you only want to do the things OSX lets you do but if you want to do anything outside the box like for example persistent static routes then expect to have to go through a hell of a lot on Mac OS to keep it between reboots and upgrades whilst in Linux/Windows it's a simple one line command. This is exactly why Apple will never make it into the business marketplace though because their hardware can be too problematic with some models and their software is worthless outside the most very basic standalone desktop user scenario.
Re:Amazing
>It's one thing to sell computers by the truck load (and Apple sure are doing that lately) but then to be there if they go wrong is the sign of a really great company.<
Really? I thought it was just a legal (and moral) obligation. For the 1st 12 months at least...
Mark
Warranty
As many have pointed out, the 90 days is free software support, you may have noticed that you don't get that at all with any of the other manufacturers for free.... the hardware warranty is 1 year and AppleCare is pretty darn competitively priced compared to other extended warranties i've bought in our office over the years.
That said of all the dealings i've had with warranty companies Apple certainly do come out trumps, Toshiba were also excellent.... Dell, IBM and HP were all rubbish (HP for servers are a world apart but hell do you pay for that!!)
Then again i have experience so what do i matter.... that should never get in the way of a flame war now should it.
Apple-haters
"Funny, how many Apple-haters are still around. If you don't use a product why make idiotic statements about it? No life? Nothing better to do?"
Well, yeah. People hate on lots of products. Apples are a good target though; they're expensive, the Apple fans like to argue they're not expensive. And, reliability varies a lot by model from fantastic to absolute lemon, while Apple fans like to "prove" the whole line's perfect by citing examples of long-lasting (reliable) models they've owned.
"First of all, Apple's software warranty is 90 days, hardware is 1 year. Both can be extended to 3 years by purchasing a single AppleCare support plan. Which, after all these years of using Apple products, I have never had to buy (my 20 year old Mac SE still boots and runs)."
The SE was solid. Some Apples have not been.
"Secondly, to the idiot that said, "Apple runs what.... 4 or 5 applications", Apple computers can run more software than any other computer system, including all software for Mac OS X, Linux/Unix, and Windows. (Mac OS X currently runs thousands of applications.) The fact that you assume "Apple" equals "Mac OS X", shows you have no idea what you're talking about."
Well, "4 or 5" is harsh, but the fact of the matter is, Apple essentially does equal Mac OS X. Otherwise, you might as well just have a PC, they can run Linux/Unix and Windows software (although, personally, I wouldn't recommend Windows on either machine.) However, you're right though, I run Ubuntu and don't lack for apps; if I ran OS X I wouldn't lack for apps either.
Where IS Webster?
If Webster doesn't comment on this article then it can only mean he's died. If this is the case, then why didn't I get an invite to the memorial service?
