Roger Fingas
Apple once again ranked highest this year on an annual Consumer Reports satisfaction survey for computer support services, the magazine has revealed in its July issue.
Apart from Apple scoring good reviews for its phone and online support options, four out of five Mac owners who used AppleCare said the service was able to solve their problem. Apple has maintained the highest score for overall satisfaction since Consumer Reports began surveying people on computer technical support in 2007.
In comparison, the help desk services for four of out of six Windows PC brands were only able to solve half of the issues they were presented with. The other two companies, Dell and Lenovo, scored a modestly better 61 percent rate.
Apple was also a leader in terms of retail support, though the company was rated "pretty much even" with independent stores, the publication said. Ranking behind those groups were Best Buy's Geek Squad and Staples' EasyTech. Outfits like Geek Squad and EasyTech charge people for any level of service though, whereas Apple will diagnose any of its products for free, even if out-of-warranty repairs can sometimes be expensive.
The survey was conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center earlier this year, and polled over 3,200 computer owners.
One area where PC services did surpass Apple was in the length of phone and online coverage. Apple offers just 90 days of remote support with its default one-year warranty, whereas most PC makers provide a full year. Both remote support and warranty coverage can be extended to three years via an AppleCare Protection Plan, but that costs $249.
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16 Comments
you don't say?!?! You mean my Mac is easy to troubleshoot?!?! No way! /s
My experience with Apple support has be phenomenal. My MacBook Pro melted down one day. My IT guy called Apple and they had a box shipped to us SAME day. I sent it in on Thursday and they shipped it back by noon that Saturday. I shit you not. They found the logic board needed to be replaced...Is it just me or is that insane turnaround?
One area where PC services did surpass Apple was in the length of phone and online coverage. Apple offers just 90 days of remote support with its default one-year warranty, whereas most PC makers provide a full year. Both remote support and warranty coverage can be extended to three years via an AppleCare Protection Plan, but that costs $249.
Kia has a 10-year/100,000-mile powertain warranty and a 5-year/60,000-mile basic warranty.
Honda has a 5-year/60,000-mile powertrain warranty and a 3-year/36,000-mile basic warranty.
Would you rather have a product with a long warranty that needs lots of repairs or a short warranty and few-to-no repairs?
Quite simply, Apple products experience fewer hardware and software failures requiring repairs or technical support than other brands. Long warranties are a liability for manufactures. Reliable products don't need longer warranties - the reputation will sell itself without the manufacturer remaining liable for the product for long periods of time.
Doesn't surprise me either. I recently had a very weird glitch where the App Store updater app on my Mac Pro (Yosemite) was loading blank pages. It also effected visiting the Apple discussion page which wouldn't load and a few more symptom like not being able to log in to Messages with my Apple ID. It turned out to be a harder problem to solve than I thought, but I called Apple and even though it took 79 minutes to solve on a computer long out of warranty, they walked me through the steps and got my Mac Pro back in business.
Apple Support Rocks! My Experience with AppleCare
[quote name="zroger73" url="/t/186479/apple-tops-consumer-reports-satisfaction-survey-for-computer-technical-support#post_2728599"] Kia has a 10-year/100,000-mile powertain warranty and a 5-year/60,000-mile basic warranty. Honda has a 5-year/60,000-mile powertrain warranty and a 3-year/36,000-mile basic warranty. Would you rather have a product with a long warranty that needs lots of repairs or a short warranty and few-to-no repairs? [/quote] Do Kia's require more repairs than Honda's? Do you know this? [quote] Quite simply, Apple products experience fewer hardware and software failures requiring repairs or technical support than other brands. Long warranties are a liability for manufactures. Reliable products don't need longer warranties - the reputation will sell itself without the manufacturer remaining liable for the product for long periods of time. [/quote] If your car / device is more reliable how is a long warranty a liability. If the product is more reliable it follows that the warranty should be longer, not shorter.