Apple’s OS/Hardware Bundle Pays Off
by Wyatt WalterA study performed by VocaLabs has shown that overall satisfaction with Apple’s support is rated higher than rivals Dell, Gateway, HP, and Toshiba. The survey is conducted at the end of a conversation between an end user and tech support at each company. Company, call, and agent satisfaction were highest for Apple over other PC manufacturers except for company satisfaction which was a tie with Toshiba. Should this really surprise us? Courtesy shouldn’t really affect this, but the Apple model of hardware and software is much simpler. The hardware and OS were built by Apple which makes it much easier to predict what kind of hardware and software configurations the user is in, thus creating less confusion between support technicians and end users. One of the advantages with going the PC route is that you can use a lot more hardware within your PC which can make for awkward situations with tech support people. Variables like wireless managers and anti-viruses really make it difficult for tech support staff to predict what the end user sees on his or her computer so of course it will lower satisfaction when it’s harder to communicate.
I’ve had the same experience with Apple support vs PC support staff. I’ve only had to call the actual Apple support line once but have worked with local Apple repair shops who interface with Apple for me on other occasions. When I went to get my hard drive replaced in my MacBook about a month ago they even replaced the top cover on my case for me because it was cracking. I didn’t even ask! They just offered to do it. I can counter that with a really bad experience with a PC manufacturer. One time I was working on trying to get a Lenovo desktop to use a second video card alongside the built-in one. I finally got desperate and called the Lenovo support line. After spending 20 minutes waiting on the line they told me that it wasn’t a supported configuration. I knew the video card worked because I had tested it in another system but they said it wasn’t supported and basically hung up the phone. Wow, what service. Okay, I’ll stop my ranting now 
What’s very interesting about the results is that customer loyalty to both Apple and Dell are the same: 70%. While I’m not sure exactly how these terms are defined, I think there’s an interesting statistic here. The survey suggests that 52% of customers are satisfied with Apple as a company, yet they have a 70% customer loyalty rating. The same goes for Dell. They are showing as a 45% overall company satisfaction yet their loyalty is 70%. I’m not quite sure what this could suggest. It could mean one of two things: that people were trying to make cool designs in the bubbles when filling out the survey (Yes, it’s a phone survey. Yes, I’m kidding) or consumers are not satisfied but keep coming back for more. An interesting human trait, indeed. I’m sure it has something to do with the fact that humans are never satisfied but I thought it was worth noting. At any rate, Microsoft’s separation of hardware and software policy seems to be catching up with them. Of course, you are sacrificing some level of freedom when using a platform such as OS X since it can’t be run on anything besides Apple hardware (according to the EULA at least). However, end users seem to lean towards solutions that “just work” rather than caring about the ability to pick exactly what chipset and processor they are using. Of course there will always be those few (I count myself among them) but the consumer market seems to be swinging in the opposite direction. Like everything, it will most likely swing back in a few years but that seems to be the trend for the moment.
Tags: apple, dell
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Nov 20th, 2008
