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Amazon's service is great

I'm not surprised Amazon scored so high. Their customer service is incredible.
 
Poor Reporting

Those companies are so close together that, statistically, the difference is zero.

The important conclusion is that the other companies stepped up their game to tie Apple. And Amazon continues to have a wide lead.
 
They...

I wonder what Samsung, Microsoft and Sony did to improve so much?

...didn't do anything. Between this survey and the one before it accounted more morons than previously. Thus letting us know that no matter how many silly people you may think there are, there's always a few more out there.

Me for instance. Every morning there's an issue with my phone. It's Apples problem I have no power to turn it on! :D
 
Fake results?

I don't care who does better than who...

but a lot of those brands seem to be taking similar dips or rises
 
Let me give you an example:
I know a lot of people that always talked about how great the iPhone was. They never talked anything bad about the iPhone. After iOS7, they told me their first bad comments about Apple.

See? iOS7 made they speak for the first time something bad about Apple.

I think iOS7 is the Windows 8 of Apple Land. There were a lot of cosmetic changes that weren't necessarily for the better, and the shock of something relatively new didn't gel well with everyone. But when you get right down to it, it's not that much different than iOS6.

I think the biggest problem with the iDevices is that they no longer feel like they're two years ahead of everyone else. There's a ton of solid competition, and the other platforms can do most things just as well as iOS, and some things better. It's no longer the only option if you want a great smartphone or tablet, and people are starting to view it as such.

That's not to say it's become crap. Far from it. The iPhone and iPad are still about as good as they've always been. The problem is, everything else is good now, too. There isn't as much to separate Apple's stuff from the rest of the pack besides that patented Apple style. And that only goes so far.
 
Having recently tried shopping in one of Apple's newly opened stores in my country, I'll happily put myself in the less than satisfied column.

Part of the concept behind the Apple Stores is that the experience should be the same regardless of which country you're in. I work part time as a mystery shopper (Google it), and the experience I had at the Apple store was downright appalling. The staff lounged about, talking to each other, not noticing customers who wanted to buy their stuff and get out. That was made allthemore difficult by the idiotic decision to leave out having a counter. Instead I was instructed to download an app on my phone and complete the purchase myself. This is in a country where plastic bags cost money and you're required to recycle just about everything yourself, so I'm used to doing a lot myself, but that the company wanting to sell me stuff can't be arsed to do the actual selling? Absolutely ridiculous! This sort of sleazy "hi how are you buddy let's be friends" type of sales strategy might work in the USA, but not here.

Add to that Apple's moronic insistence on their scamalicous warranty racket to gouge customers on an insurance which only applies to things already covered under European law, or their increasingly abject dismissal of repairability as a key point in consumer electronics, and it's not hard to understand why some of us are more and more sceptical of their practices, even though we like the products themselves (or at least aspects of them)
 
The lagging supply of new products is honestly killing their image. I can't recall seeing as many complaint threads (across the web not just here) about people waiting for new phones, ipads, and even some newly released computers within the past year.


This has nothing to do with "lagging new products" and everything to do with Forrester "Research". Nothing but a hack outfit which will find whatever result you pay them for.
 
Really? Cause I read on a couple Win sites the other day that MS is rushing Win 9 to market next year because of the Win 8 Debacle.

HP just sent me an e-mail advertising "Windows 7—back by popular demand" on 1/19/14. Being the largest PC Vendor in the world, that says lots about the perception of Windows 8.

When Vista came out there were no "XP Machines back by popular demand" or when Win 7 came out there were no "Vista machines back by popular demand".

Only if they were rushing 8 because of the Windows 7 debacle ...
 
I wonder what Samsung, Microsoft and Sony did to improve so much?

Microsoft and Samsung have opened stores, plus put branded street team staff in to other retailers over the last year and a bit. The bump could be related to people just being aware of they spoke to the company directly in the pleasant part of the transaction.

The 4 companies clustered together have some physical presents now. People might just naturally rank higher. Although Sony have had stores longer than Apple so not sure why the bump is now other than high profile product releases this year.

Just not sure that fits with Amazon being higher still. Is Amazon that much better again to over come the fact they have no presents or do they get a boost by selling other peoples products so any negative interaction still seem positive if Amazon handle it well.
 
The lagging supply of new products is honestly killing their image. I can't recall seeing as many complaint threads (across the web not just here) about people waiting for new phones, ipads, and even some newly released computers within the past year.

"was". That has all been corrected. Now it's just supply issues

----------

It's because of iOS7.

Maybe if:

1) The UI appealed to more people (the sterile extra flat design turns some people off - Google Android managed to produce a more exciting flat design)
2) The OS performed as well as the predecessor (although this is fixed in 7.1)

Not to mention how badly the iPad's software was/is performing (which is most of their market). They launched iOS for iPad while it still felt like a beta. Hell, my iPhone 5S still runs iOS7 like it's a beta. Crashes every once in a while and I still see bugs daily. Not happy buying the latest specs and still having the software run poorly.

On a side note, my local apple store smells like a Zoo everytime I go in there. The first time it happened I thought maybe some baby just peed everywhere. I've been in there 8+ times since (over the course of 2 years) and it smells the same every time. Disgusting

I have had absolutely NONE of those experiences.
 
So, let us continue to strive to find deep significance in every MacRumors article. Every so often, one of us may get lucky.

You're right, of course. And since it's not significant, you might post what might be the longest response to the response to the response. If there were nothing to the report, your response would be Shakespearean: "Much ado . . . "

Walk well.
 
iPhone 4 Flawless? Remember how everyone got free cases? :rolleyes:
I wasn't listing problems that occurred to everyone, those are my own personal experiences listed. I didn't have the "antenna" gate, although I had the later release, Verizon in February.

You forgot 2012, 2013/1, 2013/2 uneven yellowing issues. Also, 15" 2011-Macbooks failing because of GPU overheating. Apple support is not really great when you don't have an Apple Store nearby. Dell, on the other hand, provides support at home no matter where you live. In short, in general big companies provide good support options, better than the others depending on the situation.
Again, sorry if I am not clear, I am only stating my own experiences with Apple. I understand that there are various other issues, but a lot of times Apple isn't to blame, but their supplier. Yellow tinting can be related to Samsung, as ghosting to LG.

My 2011 doesn't have the weird screen fluctuations, but random shut downs sleeping intervals whilst working. :eek:

It is true, but even in rural areas you're bound to find a store within a 1-2 hour radius. I'm about 1 hour away from an authorized repair/retailer and it isn't a big deal for me. However, if you call Apple and state you live far away, they'd be more than happy to print you a label to ship to their authorized warehouse repair center.
Yes, I had a Dell technician come straight to my home, superb support too.
 
Here are some problems I have been having:

I've been through 5 iPad Airs/minis with uneven screens. Yellow on the left, white on the right. On the iPad Airs, you even have a dark shadow on the left side of the screen. Of course when you bring it in to the genius bar, they can never see it or they give you some spiel about how it will go away (after your return date).

I've had terrible experiences with my iphone 5. Went through 5 genius bar swaps after owning a new phone for only one month. This is what I got:

1. chips in the bezel
2. Phone drops calls immediately after it picks it up; cannot place calls
3. Camera won't focus
4. Loose battery
5. Yellow screen/chips in bezel

After a lot of convincing, and after emailing Tim Cook, I got a brand new replacement. Finally! It was great. None of the above problems, no chips/scratches, perfect screen.

1.5 months later, power button fails.

Back to genius bar replacements. So I paid for a new phone, but ended up owning a refurb.

Complain to higher ups at Apple about the ipads, and no one knows what I am talking about. "Maybe it is a software problem, try resetting your ipad."

Was just at the Apple Store last night, checked out a rMBP: worst screen I've seen yet on an Apple product. Red left, then some white, yellow and red on right. How can you market these as "retina" screens when they are multi-colored. I'd rather have a lower resolution with an even color. Oh, and the trackpad stopped scrolling midway through playing with it.

Apple is falling apart. iOS7 introduced so many new bugs (Safari crashing, restarts, resprings, etc.) that you can't even call this the old Apple experience. Apple had a major advantage over Android, which was "just working." Now, I would say Android is more reliable and less prone to those things. Sure this will all be worked out with software updates, but iOS7 has been out too long already. They needed to have fixed this in the 7.0.4 update.

I used to love Apple. Now it's a mild liking. I am not so sure what my next phone or tablet will be. Still a fan of my 2009 17'' MBP though. That thing has been reliable for over 4 years, and shows no signs of needing to be replaced (although I swapped out the HDD for an SSD).
 
Glad this thread has held true to common MR protocol:

-Article praising Apple as the best: GO APPLE!!!!

-Article suggesting Apple being beat by competition: question the accuracy of the statistics.

+1

my thoughts exactly....you can be all for Apple but some of this fanboy crap is just ridiculous. Just face it, Apple is nothing more than a gadget company these days, customer service sucks bigtime no matter how you put and like mentioned before there products always come up with issues...yellow tinting, graphic card problems on the previous MP that where never addressed...list goes on...
 
My personal experience having used their products over the last decade is that I am disappointed with their focus on computers as appliances.

Soldered in memory, I can live with it, I don't like it but I can live with it. Glued in Batteries? I can't live with that, that is so anti-consumer. I feel like my government should step in and force a law to make batteries user serviceable in every product even if you need a screwdriver.

If I was asked how I felt about Apple today I'd probably give them a 7 out of 10. I feel they have become so hostile to consumers ownership of their products. They don't want you upgrading anything they don't want you fixing anything they don't want you servicing anything.

I know some of you don't see it as a big deal but I'm not talking about you and your opinions, this is just how I personally feel, I'm from an era where if something breaks you fix it, you don't just throw it away and buy a new one. For all the "green" score points Apple gives themselves they are creating more eWaste in the long run than any other electronics company. You cant even swap your battery on your iPhone like you can with a Samsung Galaxy device, another flagship from their competitor which its very existence proves you can still do removable batteries and sell 10's of millions of high end devices.

Just how I feel.
 
Glad this thread has held true to common MR protocol:

-Article praising Apple as the best: GO APPLE!!!!

-Article suggesting Apple being beat by competition: question the accuracy of the statistics.

Well then, why are you here? You and some other goblins present in this thread must live boring lives indeed.
 
Apple is going to need to start pulling out all the stops if they want to keep their customer base happy. Releasing stuff like iOS 7 which was so not ready for prime time is a huge black mark on a company that was all about stuff "just working".

And Maps was not ready for prime time when it was released either. There were a lot of complaints about Final Cut Pro X too.
 
...didn't do anything. Between this survey and the one before it accounted more morons than previously. Thus letting us know that no matter how many silly people you may think there are, there's always a few more out there.

Me for instance. Every morning there's an issue with my phone. It's Apples problem I have no power to turn it on! :D

Why do you think the morons started buying Apple products en masse?
 
Good news for us Apple consumers. Nothing stifles innovation more than a false sense of, "We are perfect!." I bet Tim will take away some keys to the executive washroom over this.

Oh wait... we're talking about Tim Cook here. Never mind.
 
Why consumers are turned off by Apple products

Two words: Jony Ive.

No, it's not a personality failing unless you consider his penchant for hiding user interface elements like "won't show you a scrollbar unless you first try to scroll" and making text too small to read (and that can't be enlarged - see Contacts detail) and/or with so little contrast that it blends into the background. I don't have that issue with Android devices.

The only thing worse than Jony Ive was Scott Forstall...so I guess there's been some sort of improvement. But are my only choices between illegiblility and leather trim?

*sigh*
 
I would have filled out "average" on the client experience survey due of my brand new iPad Air. I really don't like how the new iPad frequently falls out, and starting iOS up just in a sudden, no warning nothing.

On Apple forums on the apple website itself many people encounter the same problem. Very very very annoying. And Apple, after months, still does't come up with a solution.

Also disappointing is the lack of keyboard typing support, meaning, on android you can 'swipe' text, why not build inside Apple as well?

----------

Two words: Jony Ive.

No, it's not a personality failing unless you consider his penchant for hiding user interface elements like "won't show you a scrollbar unless you first try to scroll" and making text too small to read (and that can't be enlarged - see Contacts detail) and/or with so little contrast that it blends into the background. I don't have that issue with Android devices.

I agree.
 
Consumers blame Apple for the problems they have with their devices, when 95% (a trumped up percentage) of a user's problems arise from incomplete/incorrect product/technical knowledge. Don't blame Apple; make an effort to learn.

But Apple and their supporters keep spouting how their products are so easy to use that even a baby learn them... Now you conveniently need "technical knowledge"?
 
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