Apple Tops After Sales Service Poll

Post by Sharat | March 17, 2010 | Apple, Apple Computers, Apple Mac Computers, Dell Computers, News | Comment

According to a the results of a new study on after sales service, authored by US publication Consumer Reports, Apple leads the way when it comes to tech support.

The publication polled 7,000 of its subscribers, and asked them whether they owned a computer and to rate the manufacturers after sales support. The readers were asked to rank their manufacturer in four different categories including online support, phone staff, wait duration and problems solved.

Apple lead the way sweeping all four categories for both laptops and desktops, managing an overall score of 87 and 86 out of a possible 100 respectively.

Dell came in a distant second place, scoring 55, followed by HP/Compaq who scored 53, with Acer bring up the rear scoring 39 for its desktop support.

Apple’s lead was smallest in the laptop space, but not by very much. Chinese computer manufacturer Lenovo placed second with a score of 63, 23 points short of the score chalked up by Apple. Toshiba ranked third with a score of 60, followed by Dell in fourth place, HP in fifth and Acer in last place.

Apple managed a slight improvement in performance compared to its result in the previous year’s poll, though Consumer Reports says there is a seven point margin of error, which means slight changes are not conclusive.

One of the reasons given for Apple’s strong performance is ironically one of its chief criticisms. Apple tightly controls its ecosystem, and many say this reduces consumer choice and allows the company to dictate price levels.

Despite that criticism, the ring fenced ecosystem allows the company’s tech support staff to easily identify and diagnose problems, cutting back on the need to bounce customers back and forth between different vendors when they require tech support.

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