Apple Gets Top Honors for its Customer Service

[Michael Essany]

When it comes to consumer satisfaction, Apple continues to clean up. According to the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index released this morning, Apple once again comes out on top in terms of customer service, with Apple effectively leaving in the dust other PC makers for the seventh consecutive year.

Overall, the headline from CNN Money captures the essence of the study beautifully - "We love our computers -- but love Macs best." The index's 100-point scale shows Apple with a 2% gain on its way to reaching its highest score even recorded on the index - 86. And even though it was also A good year for PC makers on the index, Apple ran away with the lead per tradition. (In case you're wondering, the index is based on "scores" from better than two-hundred different companies across forty-five industries and government agencies).

"Windows-based PC brands appear to have recovered from the problems associated with the Windows Vista software," said Claes Fornell, founder of the American Customer Satisfaction Index. "Barely a year into the release of Windows 7, satisfaction with these brands has returned to, and in some cases even surpassed, the levels prior to the launch of Vista." But all told, Apple is a significant 9 points ahead of its nearest competitors, which include Dell, HP, and Acer - all three tied for second with a score of 77.

CNN Money

[TheOrioles33]

Apples CS is pretty amazing. I brought in a water damaged iPhone 4 and they replaced it for free. My friend brought in his MacBook with a crapped out hard drive and they just gave him a new Macbook.

[vinaygoel2000]

It is pretty amazing. They produce a faulty product and then give away free bumpers.

[neonsector]

It is pretty amazing. They produce a faulty product and then give away free bumpers.

Troll much?

[mortopher]

Overall I am very impressed with their customer service. Just last week I took my younger sister's 3GS in for an appointment because the home button suddenly became unresponsive and much to my disappointment the warranty on it had just ran out about a month prior. Thankfully, the guy helping us looked at the phone and saw that we had a screen protector on it as well as a vinyl skin covering the entire casing and that underneath it the phone was in great condition. He decided that he would wave the $99 fee to replace the screen out of warranty because it was "obvious that [we've] taken as good of care of the phone as could have been expected." It definitely gave me another reason to be glad that we have Apple phones as opposed to other manufacturers, not to mention it reinforced why its good to go ahead and spend an extra 30 bucks on cases and covers.

[neonsector]

Apple's CS is Secomd to none.
I am in the business and I ve seen more pissed off people when their home made souppped up clone PCs blow up and they have to wait weeks for replacement parts if they used a descent dealer when with apple it's quick and easy.
I've see people get replacent on iMacs and MacBook pros on the spot despise the fact they were over the 30 day exchange period

[alexevo]

I don't really understand this article. Is this a measure of people's satisfaction with Apple's customer service or their actual products? It looks like a measure of customer satisfaction with the actual products that Apple produces. I've never had to use Apple customer service(genius bar, or anything for that matter) and I know the iPhone 4's antenna problems were a PR disaster but I'm still very happy with my 3GS and my Blackbook.

Confession: I still have a desktop PC with windows XP on it in case there are things that need to be done on windows and I will say out of all the OS's I have had the pleasure of using, I would rank OS X first and win XP 2nd.

[Rokesomesmeefer]

Apple's CS is Secomd to none.
I am in the business and I ve seen more pissed off people when their home made souppped up clone PCs blow up and they have to wait weeks for replacement parts if they used a descent dealer when with apple it's quick and easy.
I've see people get replacent on iMacs and MacBook pros on the spot despise the fact they were over the 30 day exchange period

Its hard too take yoo searius when evry other werd is mispeled.

[crisco9071]

Apple's service is great if you are within your first 90 days then you have to pay $30 just to talk to them.

[BenderRodriguez]

Apple's service is great if you are within your first 90 days then you have to pay $30 just to talk to them.

You mean if you are outside your 90 days you have to pay $30 by phone everytime you want to talk to them BUT if you walk into the store they'll help you for free totally Stupid and ironic
So basically I have to drive to you to get help and what if I'm stuck somewhere?

[goodluck4287]

Great CS, weak support compared to Dell, but I guess Dell users need it.

[Zokunei]

It is pretty amazing. They produce a faulty product and then give away free bumpers.

Yeah, I know. I guess after this month people have had a fair warning? It's also pretty amazing how little they update their programs. Oh, if iTunes ever gives you error 1601 or '02 it's quite simple really. All you have to do is spend two and a half hours uninstalling and reinstalling about eight or nine programs in exactly the right order, no need for us to fix it.

[Zokunei]

@Paganizonda83 ok, that's actually super good CS.

[Jahooba]

They should get an award for their shipping. I got my iPod from China to New Jersey in 2.5 days, and ahead of what my package tracking estimated by some 24 hours.

Also, it's pretty awesome that Apple replaces defective hardware no matter where you bought it from.

I'd have to say that I'm very impressed with their support, even though I felt totally stupid scheduling an 'appointment' with the Genius Bar. I can see the logic to doing things that way, but it was kind of embarrassing - like my device was sick and I was taking it to the 'doctor'. Sheesh.

[hollow0]

I don't really understand this article. Is this a measure of people's satisfaction with Apple's customer service or their actual products? It looks like a measure of customer satisfaction with the actual products that Apple produces. I've never had to use Apple customer service(genius bar, or anything for that matter) and I know the iPhone 4's antenna problems were a PR disaster but I'm still very happy with my 3GS and my Blackbook.

Confession: I still have a desktop PC with windows XP on it in case there are things that need to be done on windows and I will say out of all the OS's I have had the pleasure of using, I would rank OS X first and win XP 2nd.

You don't even need your XP box. Just boot camp your OS X and install Windows.

[qgshadow]

Troll much?

dude hes not trolling, hes just stating the truth.

most people say that their customer service is good and thats their opinion,

this guys says that its not that good because of the antennagate, well its his opinion too.

Its hard too take yoo searius when evry other werd is mispeled.

LOL WIN, what language is that anyways??

[RICO_]

I guess most of the people out there have had much better luck than I have. The MANAGER at one of the Apple stores here actually tried to blatantly lie right to my face. And their "technician" was a complete *******.

[WaLLy3K]

Apple's service is great if you are within your first 90 days then you have to pay $30 just to talk to them.

Buy the AppleCare Protection Plan then. It isn't hard you know and the features make it worth it.

You can't call up their telephone support and expect for them to walk you through an issue a /year/ after you've bought your machine without paying anything - it's a paid support line.

[Tyronal]

dude hes not trolling, hes just stating the truth.

most people say that their customer service is good and thats their opinion,

this guys says that its not that good because of the antennagate, well its his opinion too.



LOL WIN, what language is that anyways??

What truth? If you opened your eyes and looked outside the US, there was no "antennagate". AT&T skulked away scot free with their inadequate signal strength on this one leaving Apple holding the baby. It differed from state to state. If it were a design flaw, EVERY phone would have been affected as every phone is built exactly the same. Who's responsible for the signal transmission? Apple?

Working here in Australia at the moment and it was not an issue.

[Zokunei]

By the way I actually do think Apple's the best. Every company has huge flaws, but Apple's iPods are waayy better than Zune HDs. They're the best, but they still have alot of flaws (that are fun to make fun of). But their customer service does sound pretty great. Can't wait to see the Windows Phone 7! Lol.