apple news/media reports
09/18/2006, 1:00pm, EDT
Monday, September 18th
Apple vs. Dell customer support
Apple is dealing with angry users who are lashing out at the company amidst a flurry of heat issues surrounding its MacBook portable computers, as well as random shutdowns and other problems that surfaced since the new notebook's debut. This is due in part because customers have come to expect prime service as well as support, and the Cupertino-based company is still trying to uphold its reputation of taking care of its customers, according to David Morgenstern of eWeek.com. Dell, on the other hand, might be happy to have Apple's current support-related problems, as well as some of its good reputation rather than its current situation. Dell customers are complaining about poor support and a lack of innovation, with numerous websites citing past problems related to Dell's hardware as well as customer service. Dell is reportedly planning to funnel millions into its support program in the near future, and is admitting its poor support issues.
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Dell, now thats another story. First, when you call, you have to go through a maze of "Press 1, Press 2" auto-attendants. I once went through 10 levels for one reason or another.
Once past this, you get the Indian tech support guy, who can barely understand me, and whom I can barely understand. Now, I have no issue with Indians, but if they can't communicate, they are useless. DELL fails miserably with customer support. The issue isn't outsourcing, its that Dell is outsourcing to illiterates. If they think hiring these illiterates is helping the bottom line, think again. I bought two Lenovo's last month instead. DELL sucks period. I sat on technical support for nearly 3 hours for something that would require an APPLE technician 30 minutes.
We took it to an Apple store (we're in a Virginia suburb of DC) whereupon a dead logic board was diagnosed. The Genius asked if my wife was familiar with Monty Python (hint: think parrot skit). So far, so good. The MacBook went off to Apple and is due back this week.
In short, there are going to be a few bad Apples in any batch. It's how a company deals with the problem that forms consumer opinion. And on that score, Apple handily outdistances the competition.
The new battery showed up in 2 1/2 weeks with clear installation instructions and easy return instructions.
So, on this note, Apple has done just fine in fixing the problem.
What does innovation have to do with customer support. If they made some kick-ass case, would their support issues magically disappear? Or is it a case where Apple users go "Sure, my computer doesn't work, and I can't get through to support, but, damn, its really laid out nice inside and out. So I don't care!"?
Dell owners can complain about innovation, but that's immaterial to any support discussion.
Just the other day I had to get a core solo laptop replaced for the same overheating, random shutdown issue that Apple is having. The nice thing about Dell's Latitude support is that they come to the office and replace the part for you. The cost of that support is built into the price of the laptop, but for about the same money, it's nicer than Apple's offsite support.
(well, some of them, anyway)
Ah, happy days... I miss working for Apple.
I felt this was quite acceptable follow-up. Much better than just shipping out a replacement computer without warning.
PaL