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Tech Support Showdown 2007
Can you get help when you need it? We went undercover to see which major notebook vendors' technical support makes the grade.
By Michael S. Lasky
06/19/2007
Notebook sales have soared in the last year. In the first quarter of 2007, notebooks were so popular that sales rose nearly 51 percent from the same period a year ago, as tracked by Current Analysis.
You're probably wondering what that has to do with technical support. Well, a lot. But it's basic arithmetic: More computers mean more demand for tech support.
In addition, as notebook prices drop, PC manufacturers are following the auto industry's pricing techniques, offering great deals up front and higher service costs afterwards. And tech-
support costs are rising like helium balloons. With the exception of Apple, which offers just 90 days of free tech support from the date of purchase, most vendors include one year of complimentary phone support for their hardware, the operating system (XP or Vista), and any bundled software. After that period, you're on your own. You'll need to purchase extended-care packages, usually priced between $200 and $500. That actually might be a deal considering that, 90 days after activation, Microsoft charges $59 per incident for Vista help.
Rising support fees might partially explain why third-party, free tech-support Web sites are recording ever heavier page hits. Mike Cermak, who started his Web site, TechGuy (www.techguy.com), ten years ago said, "People say they come to my site out of sheer frustration with vendor help-and because they are out of the free service period." Security and networking dilemmas are the most frequent question topics at the free advice site. (Two other free support sites worth checking out are www.techsupportforum.com and www.techsupportalert.com.)
So does it follow that more PCs mean longer hold times? That's what we intended to find out. When LAPTOP went undercover a year ago to assess the quality of notebook tech support, we were pleasantly surprised by the relatively brief hold times and by how quickly first-level technicians grasped and solved our problems. This year, we wanted to compare how each of the nine major PC vendors improved, maintained, or lowered its service from a year ago. We were on alert for obvious foreign accents since some vendors outsource their tech support operations to Asian countries, and customer complaints about this issue are voluminous.
How We Tested
Armed with a pair of questions, we called each notebook company twice, once between 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. PDT, and again during the traditionally high-volume call time between 5:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. PDT.
The first question posed was, "I have so many icons cluttering my system tray, but I can't figure out how to make them go away without actually deleting the programs. What should I do?" The second query was, "How do I defragment my hard drive?"
We first tried to use the vendor Web sites to get the answers to our questions. Each company offered a variety of FAQ pages, knowledge bases, instant chat services, and the expected manual and driver download pages. We noticed that, since last year, many companies have added model-specific help, and a few require your PC's serial number for even more pinpointed solutions.
We based each vendor's Web grade on availability of information and ease of locating it. Phone grades were based on wait times, quality of service, and how well our issues were resolved.
How did each company's phone and Web tech support fare? Read on.
Next: Acer >>
Apple
Dell
Fujitsu
Gateway
HP
Lenovo
Sony
Toshiba
What to Expect from Smaller Companies
Retailer Extended Warranties
Can you get help when you need it? We went undercover to see which major notebook vendors' technical support makes the grade.
By Michael S. Lasky
06/19/2007
*laptopmag.com/NR/rdonlyres/e6spvupu5diskigajrdptotkon7ewfydgql2erwj3lyuaoph3btefyf4slhk6fe5jzetfvxyvydysk/techsupporti1.jpg
Notebook sales have soared in the last year. In the first quarter of 2007, notebooks were so popular that sales rose nearly 51 percent from the same period a year ago, as tracked by Current Analysis.
You're probably wondering what that has to do with technical support. Well, a lot. But it's basic arithmetic: More computers mean more demand for tech support.
In addition, as notebook prices drop, PC manufacturers are following the auto industry's pricing techniques, offering great deals up front and higher service costs afterwards. And tech-
support costs are rising like helium balloons. With the exception of Apple, which offers just 90 days of free tech support from the date of purchase, most vendors include one year of complimentary phone support for their hardware, the operating system (XP or Vista), and any bundled software. After that period, you're on your own. You'll need to purchase extended-care packages, usually priced between $200 and $500. That actually might be a deal considering that, 90 days after activation, Microsoft charges $59 per incident for Vista help.
Rising support fees might partially explain why third-party, free tech-support Web sites are recording ever heavier page hits. Mike Cermak, who started his Web site, TechGuy (www.techguy.com), ten years ago said, "People say they come to my site out of sheer frustration with vendor help-and because they are out of the free service period." Security and networking dilemmas are the most frequent question topics at the free advice site. (Two other free support sites worth checking out are www.techsupportforum.com and www.techsupportalert.com.)
So does it follow that more PCs mean longer hold times? That's what we intended to find out. When LAPTOP went undercover a year ago to assess the quality of notebook tech support, we were pleasantly surprised by the relatively brief hold times and by how quickly first-level technicians grasped and solved our problems. This year, we wanted to compare how each of the nine major PC vendors improved, maintained, or lowered its service from a year ago. We were on alert for obvious foreign accents since some vendors outsource their tech support operations to Asian countries, and customer complaints about this issue are voluminous.
How We Tested
Armed with a pair of questions, we called each notebook company twice, once between 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. PDT, and again during the traditionally high-volume call time between 5:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. PDT.
The first question posed was, "I have so many icons cluttering my system tray, but I can't figure out how to make them go away without actually deleting the programs. What should I do?" The second query was, "How do I defragment my hard drive?"
We first tried to use the vendor Web sites to get the answers to our questions. Each company offered a variety of FAQ pages, knowledge bases, instant chat services, and the expected manual and driver download pages. We noticed that, since last year, many companies have added model-specific help, and a few require your PC's serial number for even more pinpointed solutions.
We based each vendor's Web grade on availability of information and ease of locating it. Phone grades were based on wait times, quality of service, and how well our issues were resolved.
How did each company's phone and Web tech support fare? Read on.
Next: Acer >>
Apple
Dell
Fujitsu
Gateway
HP
Lenovo
Sony
Toshiba
What to Expect from Smaller Companies
Retailer Extended Warranties
*laptopmag.com/NR/rdonlyres/ewtdnbkbra4uln6lkaw3iu555ztx4kp5nufbw7fxxbjwtgpahfxbj5fb7cb7f4mq6qav7m6jqdmbsh/tsmasterchartt.jpg
Tech Support Scorecard
Tech Support Scorecard
