Apple dips 1%, still trounces Dell, in customer satisfaction

I feel bad for Dell, I really do. They have a great product lineup, their best ever, and yet they continue to lose share with every passing day.

Frankly, the premise is absurd. I bought a Dell computer with Vista and I know my way around computers. My dissatisfaction with Dell has nothing to do with Vista seeing how I know the difference between a Microsoft OS and a hardware manuacturer. I have low customer satisfaction because Dell just flat out SUCKS! Both my purchase and that of a friend went completely downhill with missed shipment dates (on the order of a month plus), not being able to change the color which was causing the delay to one that wasn't out of stock (not noted when it was purchased), or trying to substitute an inferior laptop at the same price for the one they sold my friend but no longer had all the parts for.

DELL is the problem, not Vista on the customer satisfaction. It really has nothing to do with the Apple OS vs. Windows user preference and continuing to attribute it as such just lets Dell off the hook for their really bad service.

This is always hot topic, be a customer sometimes is very exhausting, you can review your customer experience on
Customer Care, Service & Support

I am an avid Mac user and only converted this year. Once you go Mac you never go back. I have been beyond pleased with the MacBook Pro and Apple's overall service.

Apple fanboys… still drinking the kool-aid.

Always intersted how customer talk about Dell and it's support, when they always want to sit on the first for a nickle and a dime and purchase the cheapest of the cheapest support, or none. Apple is MUCH more expensive, so of course they can guarantee higher quality and provide better services as a standard, they have MUCH higher profit margins. Plus the comment of jason also makes sense, Apple users now how to work a system, therefore call less to support. And Dan from Arizona also makes a good point, these two systems (Win + Apple based) are not that comparable as people think. And if it wasn't for the Ipod, Apple would be bankrupt!

And why do people dislike the Indian techsupport so much? Sure you have to listen a bit harder to understand, but let's get one thing straight; most of these people have more education then us, trust me.

if you can't keep your PC in good shape and can't resolve issues yourself then Mac is good for you. If you have decent knowledge of computer and how to debug by looking online you will be just file with PC. It is not true that Macs are lot better than PC in performance etc. they are just "fool" proof.
Apple always sacrifice additional functionality to get their products simple and do tasks which common people do. If you want to do anything different or out of ordinary then have to get PC. if you are more knowledgeable then Linux.

Yes Dell's service is not as good as Apple. but you would be paying $1500 less for same config. try if you can get blue-ray burner or HDMI port on your Mac (in built, not external attachments)

For the price of the Apple you better get good service. I think it is important to note that the percentage of Apple customers know how to use the system. Companies like Dell and HP deal with a lot of customers who dont even know how to turn on a computer. They buy a $400 dollar system and expect for a technical support agent making at least fifteen an hour to sit on the phone with them for three or four hours. This is why they talk to India.

Apple's 1 percent drop is statistical 'noise' that did not mean any shifts in consumer attitudes about the Cupertino-based maker of Macintosh computers
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The following content was obtained directly from the ACSI Quarterly Commentaries Q2 2009

http://www.theacsi.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=196&Itemid=207

… "The satisfaction of Apple PC customers retreated slightly (down 1% to 84), but the small decline has done nothing to hurt the large lead Apple has enjoyed for six straight years over the Windows-based PC manufacturers. In fact, Apple’s customer satisfaction lead is the second largest of any industry in ACSI—only Southwest Airlines' advantage over its closest rival is bigger.

Apple’s success has been a result of innovation, integration of products, customer service and good marketing. By integrating its computers with the iPhone and iPod, Apple is encouraging the phone and music product users to become Apple computer users as well. Despite the recession, Apple has posted strong financial results, with profits up 15% for the second quarter, and sales of Mac computers have increased, while competitors’ sales have shrunk." …

My Wife, 3 Daughters & Myself have switched to Macs .. We have an iMac, PowerBook & 3 MacBooks … We have no virus issues and have never used any antivirus software. There are simply no reason for any of us to switch back to a PC of any brand. My daughters are 24, 21 & 17. They use their MacBooks in College and High School and love them. After using a Windows PC ever since they come out the switch to Macs 3 years ago is the best computer decision that I have ever made. Have you ever really found anybody that owns one that doesn't love it ??

I had a new client whose server was dying and heard that Apple had a server. His PC tech had billed over $6K a year for over ten years. I replaced his whole office with Macs and the server with an Airport Extreme and a Terabyte USB drive.

In the six months since, I've been out to his place once, and billed less than $200.

The names he called the PC guy cannot be repeated here.

I just sent my Dell laptop back to dell which was to bad since I liked it when it worked. I sure won't miss it or tech support in India, 3 days in a row with them is enough to never buy another one….

It's no just that people take it out on the company that gives them the computer. Dell has bad customer service…period. They can only read from a script and can't think of any options unless it's in their script. Horrible customer service, horrible return policies, average pricing…it's just a commodity now.

I have a Dell and they used to be good to work with…not any more. Once my Dell dies, I'm going to switch back to Mac.

Dan from AZ is right: it is not a fair comparison. It's not fair comparing Windows to Leopard OSX. It's only going to get worse with Snow Leopard. I think it's the beginning of the end for MSFT as a viable OS. I run my business on OSX just fine and don't own any Windows based apps of any kind. Don't need them. We switched 2 years ago. Haven't had any problems since. I look at netbooks and then the thoughts of using XP makes me cringe. I'll wait till Apple makes a netbook, or do without. Macbook Pro works real good anyway. I priced a netbook from Dell. Once you build what you want, $299 turns into $799 real quick. What a joke.
Thanks for the article.

Thanks for the input Dan -

We have a small plastic surgery office here in San Francisco. 6 employees, 12 computers (at everyone's desk and in the treatment and exam rooms) – all macs. 1 server and an apple raid array. Handles all of our patient imaging and patient data in a HIPAA compliant manner.

Downtime – 0
Satisfaction 100%

Now… we do back up to my other company's off site server/RAID arrays in NY but guess what… those are linux boxes.

two things strike me from looking at the data:

1. Only once (1998) did PCs as a whole run higher than Apple. (And I remember that year, it was not a good year.)

2. The curve for PCs as a whole has relatively slow growth, while Apple shows a more clear rising trend.

(Liars, Damned Liars & Statisticians, right?)

I too had my problems with Dell. We had a Dell laptop and had great results. Bought a second one for my daughter and has been trouble ever since. Biggest issue is Indian tech support and how hard it is to understand them. My daughter cries when she has to call Dell. We have gone to Apple and never looked back

Funny how the 'IT Guys' never recommend the Mac, and how the Mac users don't need them.

RE: Dan in Arizon
Around 1990-95 I was in software support with a third-party service provider that supported Nortel and Newbridge (among others-Mac and PC) when they were on Mac networks enterprise wide. (Most of the scientists, perhaps 5%, used UNIX machines and servers.) It took four of us to service 6 locations and thousands of employees. A new VP switched them over to PCs to save money on hardware, which they did. However the service issues and expenses skyrocketed making my company a fortune at both Nortel's and Newbridge's expense. According to my PC counterparts they would have been much better off had they stuck with the Macs.

I am an I.T. consultant specializing in small business systems. I can appreciate why people like the apple over a windows based PC. But, in my view, it is not a fair comparison. Just try to run a small business with nothing but apple computers. Dell does a great job serving this market segment. I can't even imagine trying to support my business clients with nothing but apple computers.

Why does the headline say "Apple Dips.." when the company that produced the report said that the drop was just "noise"? That means it's just a rounding error or the normal fluctuations that you'd find in any poll. Doesn't sound as good as that headline, that's why.

showing 2 positions for the same company tells me how scientific this poll is.

I switched to an Apple 20 inch iMac about 3 years ago.. and a 17 inch Mac pro a year ago. I love having an physical store to go to for service, instruction or help.. the last time I called in for service on my Dell.. I got an Indian tech that wanted to replace the hard-drive when it was just a power supply problem. This is just anecdotal, and I'm sure a lot of overseas service representatives are great.. but I still love the in-house service of Apple. I would never buy a Dell again.

Wouldn't this be better shown as a graph?

So it is as we had long suspected – real people are frustrated by Microsoft Windows. Then they take it out on the hardware companies.