A new survey carried out by consumer magazine Consumer Reports has revealed that Apple Inc. beats out industry rivals when it comes to delivering effective technical support to its customer base, reports Computerworld.
Apple tops user poll when it comes to technical support satisfaction. Image: MrBill/Flickr.
The survey, which will feature in the upcoming June publication of the magazine, returned that some 80 percent of users that called upon Apple’s technical support services had their computer-related issues solved. That figure marks a 20 percent improvement against the industry average for 2007.
“Apple is again at the top of the heap with tech support,” commented Consumer Reports associate editor Donna Tapellini regarding the survey results, which were gathered by polling magazine subscribers on their technical support experiences between Sept. 2006 and Jan. 2008.
In topping the results leader board across more than 10,000 desktop and laptop computers, California-based Apple registered reader scores of 83 and 81 in the respective hardware platform categories. Following behind in the desktop category was Dell with a reader score of 56, while Lenovo posted a score of 66 to take second place in the laptop category.
According to Consumer Reports, Apple’s walk-in “Genius Bar” help desk, which is offered free to Mac customers through the company’s retail stores, played a contributing role in how users rated overall support capabilities. Indeed, polled users returned that Apple’s in-store problem solving proved effective in around 90 percent of all cases.
The conclusion of Customer Reports’ survey is that Apple users should take advantage of the excellent technical support on offer by investing the extra dollars required to secure the AppleCare extended warranty.
Apple users looking to seek help from the Genius Bar need not worry about whether their system is covered by a standard or extended manufacturer’s warranty, as the in-store service covers any official Apple Mac regardless of warranty expiration. However, any repair costs not covered by Apple must be shouldered by the customer.
Those looking to put down a little extra green for the AppleCare three-year extended warranty and its accompanying phone-based technical support should expect to cough up $169 USD if equipped with an iMac, $249 USD for a MacBook or MacBook Air system, and $349 USD for a MacBook Pro.
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