Is Tech Support Getting Worse?

[aryayush]

Is Tech Support Getting Worse?
09.13.07

If your desktop, notebook, or printer heads south, will your manufacturer be able to help? For our landmark 20th annual survey, over 16,000 readers told us who's tops in tech support.

*common.ziffdavisinternet.com/util_get_image/18/0,1425,i=188267,00.jpg
*www.pcmag.com/images/pcm_enlarge.gif

By Eric Griffith

It's not enough to just buy a new computer with great specs and good looks. You need to know if the manufacturer will stand behind its product, be it your always- powered-up desktop, your travel-abused notebook, or the ink jet printer that delivers something to hang on the refrigerator. For almost 20 years PC Magazine has asked our readers to rank the vendors they use, and this year is no exception.

We received detailed information from users of 20,690 PCs, both desktop and notebook, as well as over 21,000 printers running the gamut from inexpensive color ink jets to color lasers with integrated scanners and fax capabilities, or AIOs (all-in-ones). A lot of the top-rated players remain the same—hello, Steve Jobs!—but you may be surprised at some of the vendors that are clawing their way to the top of the Reader Satisfaction Survey ratings.

Even more telling may be the scores that have gone down this year. And most of them did. Why? What's changed? And what should you be watching out for? Before you buy, read this essential guide to make sure the vendor you're considering will give you the same consideration in return. Read more...

[Via PC Magazine]


Apple, as is usual, dominates in every single category. They have the best desktops and notebooks for businesses, homes and general uses. In all these categories their products are the most reliable, they offer the best tech support and repairs and their products need the least amount of repairing. Macs users are also most likely to recommend them to other people. Every single category has Apple standing head and shoulders above the competition.

(If you detest Apple, don't visit that link. It practically reads like a love letter to the company.)

 

[sabret00the]

if u go thru the excel report carefully...u can see that the number of respondents for Apple is way low compared to PC users...hence the report is certainly biased...you have to understand one thing that u cannot sample Apple and PC users in general and get a fair report card...Apple caters to a niche segment only where people buy wat they want and they know wat they want more importantly they pay a heavy price for the same....whereas taking an example of Dell (Whose customer base Mr.Jobs may actually dream about in 20 lifetimes) has to cater to the whole pc market which comprises of extremely low end customers who buy PCs worth a dime and expect them to perform like a Ferrari,at the same the Dell also caters to top end of the market with flagship brands like XPS & Alienware.Hence one who buys a XPS or an Alienware wud rate Dell (or for that matter any other PC manufacturer)like an Apple cust would becoz he paid a hell lot of money and got wat he wanted..an please trust me this is from the Horse's Mouth directly (I have been with XPS premier tech support long time back - my Dell Badge id used to be 462679) you probably have no idea wat pains the good people at Dell Tech Support take to provide the best customer satisfaction....but I'm sure that's not the response of a typical customer buying the cheapest Dell computer...he/she is the most ignorant of all,he/she will not have any warranty plans(unlike the XPS customer who has all) and even if they have warranty its the limited one that comes for free,he/she will buy the cheapest computer and then think of himself/herself to have bought the moon and expect the computer to do things that even a XPS owner wont dare to try...and they will call up the most number of times...trust me dude when u sell stuff to the masses and not to a niche segment only u may not try to just look at overall satisfaction scores...they're pathetically misleading...last of all just look at the number of respondents to make a deduction....and well if MAC was so good they wouldnt be just a meagre 5% of the world computer population...

 

[shashank4u]

@sabret
plz provide breaks in para...it looks horrible this way..