Apple Tops U.S. PC Customer Satisfaction Survey for Eighth Consecutive Time

[Azathoth]

Apple are not only superior products that are bought by superior people they also have a superior customer service and reliability experience.

I love

Then why did we have to bring the Apple Premium Reseller into our office to complain about the poor support for Apple HW?*

Just sayin' the reliability is no better than that of business PCs (e.g. thinkpads) - and the business support is definitely worse.

If the survey compared computers in the same market segment (e.g. similarly priced) - then the results might be much less clear-cut.

*10 Apple computers (mainly MBP) - 6 HW failures in <18months - slow warranty service, no offer for a temporary replacement.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

yea, overpriced hardware manufactured buy $0.80 per hour sweatshop chinese labor.

I think it's fairly self-evident based on continued quarter over quarter sales growth that plenty of people do not believe Apple hardware is overpriced. The reality is basic PCs are under priced because they have become commodities with low markup. When you look at higher end PCs, such as the Sony Vaio Z series, the MBPs are quite competitively priced. And I've yet to see any PC maker compete with the MBA 11" on price -- I'm talking about a super slim, ultra portable laptop w/ SSD & i5 or i7 chip.

 

[Popeye206]

Then why did we have to bring the Apple Premium Reseller into our office to complain about the poor support for Apple HW?*

Just sayin' the reliability is no better than that of business PCs (e.g. thinkpads) - and the business support is definitely worse.

If the survey compared computers in the same market segment (e.g. similarly priced) - then the results might be much less clear-cut.

*10 Apple computers (mainly MBP) - 6 HW failures in <18months - slow warranty service, no offer for a temporary replacement.

You are not describing he typical Apple product or warrantee experience. I think your issues are not with Apple, but your Apple Premium Reseller.

 

[mijail]

Wow. She must have some real problems getting around in life.

Maybe she, you know, just has a life. That is, something to do instead of learning/fighting computery thingies.

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Fourth, where the **** else would they come from? :- )
With microsoft having +90% there is few other ways to grow in a sector that itself experiences very little growth (pc market is quite saturated).

So what? The point stands.

3) Customer service is always nice. Just dont go around thinking its free, or something only Apple can offer. You'll miss out... :- )

I understand you haven't had the pleasure of talking to HP's Customer Service.
Well, you're lucky; now you won't. (I only knew their non-bussiness Customer Service, and won't miss them)

 

[MH01]

Ditto...tell me something new.

Where are the Winblows PC trolls now?

Right here!

Let me help you out, lets look at your sig

1. iMac 27" Core i7 3.4, 8Gb, 2GB GPU,1TB HD+120GB SSD+1TB HD
- My custom gaming PC cost me less, has 6 cores and spanks your setup. Even used my 2.8 i7 Imac as a monitor

Harman Kardon Soundsticks II,
- Image is everything I see, could not afford bose??

Creative XMod,
- Imac + Kardon and this?? Call the fashion police!

OS X 10.7;
- Win 7 was less buggy at release

iPad Wi-Fi 32Gb
- Almost a base model... not even 3G..

On a serious note, no need to troll mate, there is only one company that really makes a huge effort when it comes to customer satisfaction. Expect the same result for the next 10 years. Its not the PC people trolling, its the Fanboys who thing this is actually news.... this is the norm.

 

[olemrboston]

And that is why I bought my MBA yesterday.

 

[mbh]

Also high price products like Apple tend to be forgiven more often for the faults ...

Apple is regularly pilloried in the press for every fault, actual or perceived. Remember "antennagate"? Interesting that this so-called tragic flaw in the iPhone 4 just sort of fell off the radar screen while the product went on to be very popular.

Sometimes it looks like people/organizations single out Apple for attack or criticism simply because the attacker knows that it will get them more press than if they went after a lesser player.

I think this forces Apple to be even more proactive in releasing quality products because they know that any issues will be blown out of all proportion. Their high profile makes them a lightning rod for criticism.

 

[RedRaven571]

The idea that every gadget on the market is manufactured on campus at the tech company's American factories is laughable, every company on that list uses chinese labour to keep cost down, don't be so high and mighty

For the premium paid for Apple products, they should/could be manufactured in the US; HP, Dell, etc. products are manufactured in China and they cost 1/2.

 

[Piggie]

Superior people.

Tony

You know some people need something to offset their tiny penis

 

[*LTD*]

Apple is regularly pilloried in the press for every fault, actual or perceived. Remember "antennagate"? Interesting that this so-called tragic flaw in the iPhone 4 just sort of fell off the radar screen while the product went on to be very popular.

Sometimes it looks like people/organizations single out Apple for attack or criticism simply because the attacker knows that it will get them more press than if they went after a lesser player.

I think this forces Apple to be even more proactive in releasing quality products because they know that any issues will be blown out of all proportion. Their high profile makes them a lightning rod for criticism.

Good point.

I'm waiting for the day Apple will slip in quarterly results ever so slightly. For many others that's the norm and it's passed over. But when it will concern Apple - even if the slip is minuscule - you'll see comments here about the Death of Apple, The Beginning of the End, etc.

 

[Sackvillenb]

This is why Apple is successful

This is precisely why Apple has grown so much and so fast.

And think about it: their products cost much more than "similar" competitors (looking at hardware specs at least), but they have CONSISTENTLY ranked highest in customer service from various surveys for years now. And that's why customers keep coming back.

The Apple retail stores have played a big role in this too, since they offer direct customer service which is typically much better than elsewhere. Sure, there's always some people who have a bad experience, but generally, most people are much happier there than at other stores.

That's how you build brand loyalty. Not just through the products, but through how you treat the customer. Although Apple does still shaft us a bit from time to time, of course. Mac mini with only 2 gb of ram, I'm looking at you!

 

[Exhale]

When it comes to Desktops - it should not be a surprise. Any PC user in the know does not use a OEM PC due to the oft shaky quality, but rather a custom. The quality and warranty (5 years) is vastly superior to any pre-manufactured system obtainable.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

For the premium paid for Apple products, they should/could be manufactured in the US; HP, Dell, etc. products are manufactured in China and they cost 1/2.

You clearly have no concept of the complete cost of manufacturing in the U.S. and also seem to be unaware that the quality of case materials Apple uses, and the designs it employs are of an order of magnitude higher than what budget PC makers use.

 

[ericinboston]

Of course I give Apple props for being #1, but let's not fool ourselves into thinking that this is some kind of comparison of an 87 score to a 55 score.

All the Wintel haters out there/here have for decades stated that Wintel/MS/Gates sucks yet here we are and in reality, it doesn't suck. If these were scores in High School, Apple would have a B+ (87) while the other fellows here would have a C+ (78). Yes, it's a letter grade difference...but not the F compared to B+ that so many people here have been screaming about for a very long time in terms of support quality.

I'd also like to point out that Apple has 100% control of the Support experience...Apple makes the OS, the hardware, the included software with the OS, and the Support department. That is completely different than how the Wintel world works (as you should know) where things are split out between hardware (HP, Dell, etc) and the OS manufacturer (MS). Surely there are a reasonable percentage of calls to HP (for example) about a Windows or MS Office question and HP replies "well, we don't support those for free because it's software and not our software...so you can either call MS or you can pay us $40 to help you today" which in turn would drive down any consumer's happiness. And ditto for folks calling MS stating their HP laptop doesn't work right.

I'm not saying all the Wintel folks should get a 10 point bump, but I think the support is relatively similar when you consider the business model differences. And yes, I've had my fair share of crappy support from Dell...mainly in the form of long hold/transfer times and folks who can barely speak English.

Again, I am giving a big congrats to Apple...someone has to be #1. But considering the difference of business models between Apple and the Wintel world as well as the scores, things are relatively similar....yet definitely Apple wins in my book. My personal belief is that the Wintel world needs to drop the overseas/poor-English-speaking reps for US-based calls...so much time is wasted repeating comments/questions that it just frustrates the consumer greatly.

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This is precisely why Apple has grown so much and so fast.

And think about it: their products cost much more than "similar" competitors (looking at hardware specs at least), but they have CONSISTENTLY ranked highest in customer service from various surveys for years now. And that's why customers keep coming back.

The Apple retail stores have played a big role in this too, since they offer direct customer service which is typically much better than elsewhere. Sure, there's always some people who have a bad experience, but generally, most people are much happier there than at other stores.

That's how you build brand loyalty. Not just through the products, but through how you treat the customer. Although Apple does still shaft us a bit from time to time, of course. Mac mini with only 2 gb of ram, I'm looking at you!

True...and would be more true if you were comparing HP to Dell.

But you/we are comparing Apple to the Wintel world...2 completely different business models...and 2 completely different OSes. This survey is about satisfaction (most likely Tech Support calls or lack thereof)...but it is essentially comparing 2 different products...although not totally different. It would be like comparing noise cancelling headphones (say, Bose) vs all non-noise cancelling headphones. Very similar, but not everyone buys the more expensive Bose (for any and all reasons).

 

[BaldiMac]

Of course I give Apple props for being #1, but let's not fool ourselves into thinking that this is some kind of comparison of an 87 score to a 55 score.

All the Wintel haters out there/here have for decades stated that Wintel/MS/Gates sucks yet here we are and in reality, it doesn't suck. If these were scores in High School, Apple would have a B+ (87) while the other fellows here would have a C+ (78). Yes, it's a letter grade difference...but not the F compared to B+ that so many people here have been screaming about for a very long time in terms of support quality.

I'd also like to point out that Apple has 100% control of the Support experience...Apple makes the OS, the hardware, the included software with the OS, and the Support department. That is completely different than how the Wintel world works (as you should know) where things are split out between hardware (HP, Dell, etc) and the OS manufacturer (MS). Surely there are a reasonable percentage of calls to HP (for example) about a Windows or MS Office question and HP replies "well, we don't support those for free because it's software and not our software...so you can either call MS or you can pay us $40 to help you today" which in turn would drive down any consumer's happiness. And ditto for folks calling MS stating their HP laptop doesn't work right.

I'm not saying all the Wintel folks should get a 10 point bump, but I think the support is relatively similar when you consider the business model differences. And yes, I've had my fair share of crappy support from Dell...mainly in the form of long hold/transfer times and folks who can barely speak English.

Again, I am giving a big congrats to Apple...someone has to be #1. But considering the difference of business models between Apple and the Wintel world as well as the scores, things are relatively similar....yet definitely Apple wins in my book. My personal belief is that the Wintel world needs to drop the overseas/poor-English-speaking reps for US-based calls...so much time is wasted repeating comments/questions that it just frustrates the consumer greatly.

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True...and would be more true if you were comparing HP to Dell.

But you/we are comparing Apple to the Wintel world...2 completely different business models...and 2 completely different OSes. This survey is about satisfaction (most likely Tech Support calls or lack thereof)...but it is essentially comparing 2 different products...although not totally different. It would be like comparing noise cancelling headphones (say, Bose) vs all non-noise cancelling headphones. Very similar, but not everyone buys the more expensive Bose (for any and all reasons).

First, these aren't grades. The second place company has a 70% higher percentage of unsatisfied customers. That is significant.

Second, having a business model that results in more unsatisfied customers isn't an excuse for not satisfying customers. It's a reason. It's a cause.

 

[D.T.]

Also high price products like Apple tend to be forgiven more often for the faults ...

Actually, it's generally the opposite, i.e., higher priced products tend to receive more scrutiny (this is well documented in the car industry). I expect my $80K Porsche C2S Cab to not have a single squeak or rattle, I except the service department to be immaculate, better QA, higher quality components, etc. (Porsche used by design as I think they're a close match to Apple).

However, I think maybe you meant "high price products tend to have less faults".

And I'd generally agree, and with this post:

I see more complains about the low end crap because it is exactly that low end crap. Higher end stuff gets less complains plain and simple.

That's what you seem to be saying. I think I'm on the same page

The Apple retail stores have played a big role in this too, since they offer direct customer service which is typically much better than elsewhere. Sure, there's always some people who have a bad experience, but generally, most people are much happier there than at other stores.

Apple has certainly created a nice end-to-end model. Apple stores, servicing Apple hardware, designed by Apple, with an OS and core apps from Apple. It avoids deflecting blame between hardware/software and gives many people an option for dealing directly with the manufacturer/seller.

Google sees the value in that model too with their recent acquisition of Motorola (in addition to patents, etc.), though it will be interesting to see how that plays out since they'll have end-to-end hardware/software/OS, but also are providing licensing to 3rd parties (which Apple doesn't do). Sorry, that's a topic for a dedicated thread

You clearly have no concept of the complete cost of manufacturing in the U.S. and also seem to be unaware that the quality of case materials Apple uses, and the designs it employs are of an order of magnitude higher than what budget PC makers use.

Apple definitely has an additional markup that covers some of the less hardware specific value (storefronts, OS), but I definitely agree that when you start pricing out premium Windows PCs (particularly notebooks) the costs start getting closer, even more so for ultra thin products.

[Car metaphor again ] That's another reason I compared Apple to Porsche, both have a limited product line (assuming you don't count the 10,000 911 variants!) and only deal from mid-upper to high end. You can obviously buy a cheaper PC, just like you can buy a cheaper vehicle with lower quality materials, build quality, poor service.


***

I've been happy with Apple so far, I'm a recent adopter, but worked/supported Apple products years ago at my previous company. If the MBP continues to work flawlessly, I'll likely migrate to a MBP too (though I'll need Parallels to run a couple of Windows apps). The one service dealing we had was when I was up in DC, and the Wifey's iP4 crapped out, and she was able to drive to the Apple store (~25 minutes away) and get it corrected while she had a cup of coffee. I really appreciate that since she was home with our baby girl and needed the phone and didn't have any other technical resources with me OOT.

 

[ericinboston]

First, these aren't grades. The second place company has a 70% higher percentage of unsatisfied customers. That is significant.

Second, having a business model that results in more unsatisfied customers isn't an excuse for not satisfying customers. It's a reason. It's a cause.

1)huh? Show me the math about this 70%. And regardless of what you think, comparing 87 and 78 to a letter grade is completely relevant. The difference between 78 and 87 is 9. 9/78 is .11 or 11%. Apple has 11% happier consumers.

2)I never said it was an excuse...I'm saying there is a fundamental business model difference in the Wintel world vs the Apple world...and hence there are DEFINITELY consumers calling the wrong company (HP or MS for example) for help vs. an Apple person simply calling Apple...because, well, Apple makes the whole darn thing. That's the beauty of Apple...1 phone # to call for all your problems. If there was 1 phone # to call in the Wintel world, I'm sure there would be happier Wintel consumers.

3)As someone else mentioned, this story is not news...only news to the fanboys. It's also obvious that the Wintel folks don't really care about this report because in their eyes, everyone on the Wintel side is pretty much the same score...and they understand the point I made in #2 above.

From 1994-1996 I did Tech Support for numerous MS titles including NT, Win95, MS Access, and VB. For the Win95 (and my counterparts doing WFWF 3.11) a high percentage of my calls were folks calling me by accident...they should have been calling their hardware vendor to find out why the battery no longer charges or why their floppy drive stopped working. Most of these end users were unhappy to hear my "I'm sorry but you need to call..." but I was very thorough in helping them understand the difference as well as providing the direct phone #s for their Vendor. Flash forward 15 years and unfortunately the world is still full of people (like my 65 year old dad) that picks up the phone to call Dell when Windows or Office gives him some error message. People out there think "The box says Dell, I'm gonna call Dell" which is totally predictable and makes sense...I think the hardware vendors should really include Windows support in their Support contracts.

I'd also like to add that MS provides unbelievable support for consumers...not just technical support but the whole we-want-you-to-be-happy experience. MS has been doing this forever. It's too bad Dell and the hardware vendors don't share this motto.

 

[BaldiMac]

1)huh? Show me the math about this 70%. And regardless of what you think, comparing 87 and 78 to a letter grade is completely relevant. The difference between 78 and 87 is 9. 9/78 is .11 or 11%. Apple has 11% happier consumers.

The fact that this is a index and not a measured value makes it hard to equate with grades.

70% comes from the increase in "dissatisfaction". The difference between HP and Apple (9) as a percentage of Apple's "dissatisfaction" (100-87=13). Yes, I realize it's a made up number because we are talking about an index. I was just pointing out how the grade comparison is not necessarily a good analysis.

2)I never said it was an excuse...I'm saying there is a fundamental business model difference in the Wintel world vs the Apple world...and hence there are DEFINITELY consumers calling the wrong company (HP or MS for example) for help vs. an Apple person simply calling Apple...because, well, Apple makes the whole darn thing. That's the beauty of Apple...1 phone # to call for all your problems. If there was 1 phone # to call in the Wintel world, I'm sure there would be happier Wintel consumers.

Yep. But then you said that you should consider it when looking at the differences between Apple and HP. Why should you consider it any more that it's already considered in the scores?

3)As someone else mentioned, this story is not news...only news to the fanboys. It's also obvious that the Wintel folks don't really care about this report because in their eyes, everyone on the Wintel side is pretty much the same score...and they understand the point I made in #2 above.

Not news? As if whether a company satisfies it's customers is irrelevant to our purchasing decisions?

 

[carmenodie]

Ditto...tell me something new.

Where are the Winblows PC trolls now?

Isn't it obvious that all the pc pimps are all alike? No one has anything they can really call their own. MS holds 5000 patents on the pc. All of their OEMS use the same damn OS and the same chips. They only differ by name. LOL!
Call up customer support for any issues concerning the pc and you get the same call center folks reading from the same text because the effing pcs are all alike.

 

[divinox]

I think it's fairly self-evident based on continued quarter over quarter sales growth that plenty of people do not believe Apple hardware is overpriced. The reality is basic PCs are under priced because they have become commodities with low markup. When you look at higher end PCs, such as the Sony Vaio Z series, the MBPs are quite competitively priced. And I've yet to see any PC maker compete with the MBA 11" on price -- I'm talking about a super slim, ultra portable laptop w/ SSD & i5 or i7 chip.

This'll boil down to semantics i guess, but i'd say that there are many people who in spite of finding a product to be overpriced still buy it (for various reasons). Obviously then, we run into semantic conflict of what "overpriced" means, but i think you get my point - just as i get yours.

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Maybe she, you know, just has a life. That is, something to do instead of learning/fighting computery thingies.

And in what way is running Windows more of a struggle than running Mac OSX? To be honest, there is not one single thing that i through all the base-support in my life have performed that i can think of which would be made simpler by running OSX. Which - in itself - isnt that strange, seeing how both OS's are built on the same paradigm, and for the average user operates in pretty much the same way.

So what? The point stands.

And which point is that?

I understand you haven't had the pleasure of talking to HP's Customer Service.
Well, you're lucky; now you won't. (I only knew their non-bussiness Customer Service, and won't miss them)

In fact i have, on a faulty monitor. Had no problem at all. Its still a matter of getting what you pay for. For obvious reasons the higher the margin of the product, the more they care about you returning as a customer. That said, i have a feeling that hp at large dont care much about the consumer market - and perhaps rightfully so.

 

[marksman]

For the premium paid for Apple products, they should/could be manufactured in the US; HP, Dell, etc. products are manufactured in China and they cost 1/2.

If any of them provided the same quality of product, integration, software, support and service you might have a point. Since they do not, though, that money is already spoken for...

 

[davelanger]

The thing you have to remember is apple is not at 100% satification, they are at 87% so of course 13% of the people are not satified but that is a very low number compared to others.

I rarely ever hear any of my friends complain are apple when it comes to customer service.

I am very satified with them, they gave me a $1000 monitor for free because I bought a new mac pro last summer and the 19 inch apple cinema display was hving issues with it, so they had me ship it to them and they sent me a 30 inch display for free.

 

[D2803]

First, these aren't grades. The second place company has a 70% higher percentage of unsatisfied customers. That is significant.

Second, having a business model that results in more unsatisfied customers isn't an excuse for not satisfying customers. It's a reason. It's a cause.

And this is why they made Philosophy classes. ^^

Mac = all hardware and software supported by Apple

Customer: How do I do this?
Support Rep: Click here.
Customer: Thanks...great support!

Dell = hardware only support from Dell, OS supported by Microsoft

Customer: How do I do this?
Support: You will need to call Microsoft for that. We only support the hardware.
Customer: Well that sucks!

Learning is easy...it is teaching a moron how to understand that is hard.

The business model doesn't have more unsatisfied customers. The business model is just different. I know it is hard to get it through that thick Apple symbol imprinted on your forehead. Second...Mac's do break. Third...when Mac has a virus they pretend it doesn't exist. For the life of me I cannot understand why Mac only users are so damned determined to create a repugnant culture of hate. I don't hate Mac and I don't hate PC but for the sake of all you really think that Mac rules all. Sorry but everything Mac is actually made from PC parts and the OS is Unix and NeXT. You don't actually own a Mac...doh!

Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Anyone try to run Lion on a PowerPC recently...no...I didn't think so.

 

[BaldiMac]

Mac = all hardware and software supported by Apple

Customer: How do I do this?
Support Rep: Click here.
Customer: Thanks...great support!

Dell = hardware only support from Dell, OS supported by Microsoft

Customer: How do I do this?
Support: You will need to call Microsoft for that. We only support the hardware.
Customer: Well that sucks!

Yep.

The business model doesn't have more unsatisfied customers. The business model is just different.

According to this survey, it seems the WinPC model does lead to more unsatisfied customers. Not sure where your info comes from.

Second...Mac's do break.

Yep.

Third...when Mac has a virus they pretend it doesn't exist.

No pretending. Mac OS X has never been targeted by a virus in the wild. There have been other limited malware attacks, particularly a well publicized trojan.

For the life of me I cannot understand why Mac only users are so damned determined to create a repugnant culture of hate. I don't hate Mac and I don't hate PC but for the sake of all you really think that Mac rules all.

Mac users don't create a culture of hate. The crazy ones do. Just like the crazy Microsoft users do. And the crazy Android users. And crazy Flash users. Stereotyping a whole group based on the fringe crazies is ridiculous.

Sorry but everything Mac is actually made from PC parts and the OS is Unix and NeXT. You don't actually own a Mac...doh!

 

[DeathChill]

You know some people need something to offset their tiny penis

I use large pants.