“For Apple, there may be a downside to success. Sales of the Cupertino (Calif.) company’s Macintosh machines are growing three times as fast as the overall PC market. Its iPod music player is burying the competition. And the stylish iPhone is setting the wireless industry on its head. But as Apple pulls in millions more customers with different kinds of products, it’s getting harder to keep them all happy,” BusinessWeek reports.
“‘The customer base is now more diverse, including students and mainstream consumers, and it’s harder to satisfy as a whole,’ says Lopo L. Rego, a marketing professor at the University of Iowa who studies the impact of customer satisfaction on financial performance,” BusinessWeek reports.
“Apple Inc. still tops all of the big measures of computer-customer service. But there are signs that it is vulnerable to the service struggles of other big companies. A widely watched study of customer satisfaction, released in August by the University of Michigan, showed Apple slipping 4 points from last year’s score, to 79 on a 100-point scale. That still leads the industry, but it’s the company’s first decline since 2001,” BusinessWeek reports.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Daily Reader” for the heads up.]
As you sell more products to more people, it’s inevitable for problems to increase. Apple should work even harder to offset this phenomenon. The good news is that the new customers are usually coming from such inferior experiences (Windows, ugly PC hardware, also-ran MP3 players, portable CD players, bad software, also-ran online music outfits, etc.) that Apple is usually a revelation.
My RMA is snappier!
Better than everyone else is about as close to perfect as you could ask for.
Interested people should check out the American Customer Satisfaction Index at http://www.theacsi.org.
Specifically, check this out:
http://www.theacsi.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=147&Itemid=155&i=Personal+Computers
I’ve only ever had to deal with Apple customer service once, in 9 years of owning an apple device, and it was flawless.
I fell on my ipod 2G 15GB, and apple replaced it!
All within 2 weeks.
Now that’s service
Uh… Chrissy… your sequitur is non. Did Adobe give you a pile of hallucinogens as a parting gift?
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Anyway, it’s nice to see such a well balanced article. The thesis is sort of obvious though. Certainly quality is one of those things that you have to concentrate on during periods of rapid growth. You won’t get a Harvard Business School professorship for that claim.
Jimithy,
Check out the link I providded, above. HP is going up on the ACSI, Apple is going down. It’s only a matter of time, unless something changes, before HP beats out Apple. I love Apple but they need to get serious about this!
I have bought several Apple products over the last year or so. No problems with the products, services or software.
So, to answer the question, NO.
Next question.
All I know is that every time I go into the local Apple Store I get great service. I’ve helped 37 people switch since boot camp, non have switched back.
Just the other day a buddy of mine who hasn’t switched yet, but bought a 4gig iphone took it back in because he had trouble syncing with his PC. They replaced it in the store with an 8gig since they are out of 4gig iphones.
He’s now saving his pennies to get a macbook and toss his Vaio.
The products are great, but it’s the customer service that is winning this war.
growing pains are going to happen… if this is the worst of it, then that’s great!!! There is always room for improvements. Apple has always pioneered new ways to do things, this section of the business is no different. Thime will tell.
Warning : think before you click.
I read the article and its a straight forward click piece. It says Apple has the highest rating for customer service then pans it for not having a higher rating.
It says that any one who says that they are a “huge fan” of apple must be telling the total truth … (even when they sue for 2.6 billion for dropping the price).
And then they compare Apple to Dell, cause you do know that Dell has some complaints about its hardware too, so of course they must be the same thing.
There was not even an author given for the article. Maybe it was totally MS software driven. LOL
MDN = two. As in I give this article TWO stars out of ten.
You made 100,000 thingies and had a 1% failure rate and 1000 complaints.
You now make 5,000,000 thingies and have a 1% failure rate and 50,000 complaints.
OMFG Apple has 50 times the complaints! The company is going down the tubes! Sell that stock!
Simpletons.
I’ve had dozens of Macs, iPods, and the like.
Other than one G5 2.3 PM with a “possessed personalitty,” it’s been a smooth ride. The few problems experienced have been resolved stat.
Keep up the good work, AAPL.
Mmm, snappy RMA.
The problem is, the folks who always bought Apple products always gave favorable feedback. Now, we have all these new switchers entering camp with very very high expectations, so when the smallest things go wrong, they provide negative feedback. Not to mention that more people buying the products means more of a percentage are just nasty whiners who wouldn’t even be happy with a set of tits that squirted beer.
One factor that is difficult to quantify is that people who buy junk are less likely to complain about defects whereas people who buy quality brand products are more likely to complain. Apple probably does better than the figures suggest even though they are pretty good.
The need to maintain the quality of service for complex products and the difficulty in so doing is a powerful argument against more advertising, the same holds true for expanding the product range. 30% growth is about as much as it is possible to deal with, it can be done with organic growth, without mass hiring of new staff and whilst retaining the ability to cut the ‘dead wood’ out. I am sure Apple would like to broaden their range and expand their customer base still further but so far they are doing very well in a difficult business.
Actually, my experience has been that Windoze switchers expect Apple’s products to work flawlessly all the time. They seem to have elevated expectations of the products, whereas they have limited expectations from Winblows and its apps.
Strange.
@ Sum Jung Gai
Er, Adobe? Remember, I go to raves. ;P
@ Gandalf
…hits nail on head. “Wal*Mart, this $2 hammer you sold me broke after only 1 year! This is an outrage!!!”
No.
I’ve bought Apple products since 1985. Desktops, laptops, ipods and printers (when they made them). Over the years, most have worked flawlessly. And when they didn’t, Apple repaired or replaced them fast and almost always free of charge… including my iPhone. I can certainly testify to their great service. However, in recent years, some of the products I’ve bought from Apple were flawed and showed-up within a week or so after being purchased. This didn’t seem to happen as much years ago. So, I think Apple has a bigger issue to solve: Quality Control. Fix this first and it may help solve some of the service issues other customers have experienced. Aaah! the joys of success.
I tackled this very issue in a topic about ‘ipod killers’. Being on top is one thing, maintaining that status is another. Apple needs to expand its customer service to accomodate this growth, otherwise many fans may start to gain a negative perception, as I have, due to my local store. Below is a 10/08/07 reprint:
the biggest problem in room for growth is the demographic. the
‘sheeple’ who are following others and buying into the ipod through the halo effect, may not really understand why Apple’s such a great company. in essence, those easily influenced one way, may, be easily influenced the other. my local Roosevelt Field, NY Apple store is swamped with these smucks. not only customers, but salespeople also. I sold macs for 3 years at the Microcenter, and this new Apple salesforce is incompetent and clueless at that store. the manager had a guy waiting for an hour while they restored his iphone, they kept givin him the ‘ten more minutes’ routine until he was furious. Apple used to be known for top notch service, this was shambles. its like anyone who has an ipod can get a job at Apple now, these aren’t true devotees. I couldn’t use Logic Pro in-store because I was disturbing a salesperson helping an old lady on a mac during primetime of friday evening at 7pm. this is my 9th year with a mac, and to be pushed aside to help a newbie, meh, there has to be a better way. Apple is starting to drop the ball due to high consumer demand, just like AOL did. Apple should devote itself to its long-time customers, gain some new switchers, but stay away from the fringe people in the outfield, this is exactly who the ipod killers want, those ‘sheeple’ who will never understand the ipod, or Apple, ever.
Apple is relatively a small company.
And I personally believe as small as they are and as media hyped the globe is over them… that Apple is indeed keeping good pace and control on service.
See you just can’t compare Apples to Mud or Apples to SoftBill.
(Adobe=Mud, SoftBill=Microsoft. as they have more staff servicing, yet perhaps provide less service to customers)
So – hype HAS nothing to do with success.
Apple SIMPLY has some AMAZING products.
I can only speak for myself, but on the occasions I have needed Apple service, it has been excellent. My satisfaction with their products is likeswise high.
Over the past 18 years, I, or someone in my family, have had the following mac/apple products. I list them in roughly chronological order with any problems and resolution.
Computers
Macintosh SE/30. No problems, actually still works (I think. It’s in it’s box. I can’t bring myself to get rid of it)
Powerbook 5300. Had a system crash one time that needed a call to apple service, resolved in 15 minutes. Never started on fire. Ultimately took a high dive off a flight of stairs … sad.
g3 ibook 12 inch No problems, runs Tiger
g3 ibook 14 inch. Screen failed under warranty, repair turnaround 3 days, still working fine
g4 titanium. Paint peeled off the case, still works fine
Dual g4 450 powermac. Monitor died after about 4 years, bought an Acer flat screen, still running fine
Dual g4 mirrored doors. No problems, runs fine
g4 aluminum PB. Screen fritzed after about 3.5 years. Warranty repair turnaround: 4 days
ipods
3g 15 gb Still works fine
3g 20 gb Battery died, replaced w/aftermarket kit, still works fine
1g shuffle Dropped in sink, never recovered
1g 2gb nano. Still love it
Other
Graphite base station. Well documented capacitor problem after about 4 years. Bought and used aftermarket cap replacement kit (a solution probably not for everyone). Still working
Extreme base station. Never had a problem
Airport Express. Had one of the early ones that died. Replaced it.
Apple as customer service? I had no idea. Is it kinda like the Maytag guy?
I agree on the need for better quality control — I’m on my 7th Mac — never a problem with the SE30 and Performa, but the Blueberry is dead, the Snow’s HD died and now it will not accept an optical disc, not even in an external drive; the iBook got a new optical drive shortly after purchase and my G5 iMac has practically been rebuilt. The MacBook, I’m proud to say, is purring along nicely.
Out of four iPods, only problem was a dim display on one.
If not for Apple’s excellent customer service I would have quit them long ago.
MATTE & GLOSSY SCREEN OPTION ON ALL MACs!!!
That’s all, simple and straightforth.
Two potential sales lost because of those glossy screens.
Mine and my friends.
Got me one of them Mac Plus computers way back in the olden days – didn’t have a glossy screen nor iMovie 08. Didn’t have much of anything come to think of it. Not even a hard drive. Damn power supply gave out on the durn thing bout 18 months after I bought it.
That there’s the sum total of bad products I’ve owned, or anybody I know or care about has owned (that came from Apple Inc.) in the last 22 years.
Damn fine company!
Since Apple inc started sourcing its production abroad, China more speciffically, the reliablity of the components has not been as good as when they were made and assembled in the US.
The price for US made goods is prohibitive as opposed to Chinese made ones. Here in lies the conundrum.
Solution, Quality control in China Apple inc. style, this means that even though some machines may ship out faulty, not as many will be as faulty as the Dells & Smells of the competition.
Panacea? Exceptional customer service combined with a sensitive replacement policy.
Who needs a genius to tell you this? when you are already experiencing it.
Apple service is something I am not familiar with. Never had a problem.
I want to know why the author of this article felt it necessary to exaggerate the price of Catherine Temple’s iMac. The authors also imply that she only purchased a Mac because of the “buzz” she heard from friends. I tracked her down to a couple of posts on BusinessWeek’s Peter Burrow’s blog:
Is Apple’s Customer Satisfaction Slipping
In her two comments, she states she is NOT a new Apple buyer but a repeat buyer… and that she spent $3032 for her iMac, not $4000 as reported in this article. Was this not-so-subtle exaqgeration of the price deliberate or was the $32 over $3000 reason to round up?
MDN magic word “states”
“As you sell more products to more people, it’s inevitable for problems to increase.”
As you sell more products to non cutists who don’t just tick the highest marks in every survey regardless of the quality of service they actually receive, inevitably your scores come down to match the real level of service you provide.
“I can only speak for myself, but on the occasions I have needed Apple service, it has been excellent. My satisfaction with their products is likeswise high.”
Yet looking at your posts, more than half your Apple products have failed on you at some point. It’s nice that you feel good about Apple’s service, but If I’d had that many of a company’s products shit themselves on me or have problems, I’d be pretty unhappy.
You must be the prototypical cool aid drinking Apple fanboy to put up with that many problems and still love the company.
“and to be pushed aside to help a newbie, meh”
Maclover, more like narcissistic self lover (combined with cult of Apple worshipper).
Called support yesterday, Friday, about an issue on my MacBook Pro 17″ – didn’t realize it was 14 days out of warranty..
Apple’s response: “No problem – we’ll fix it for you – a box for you to send it to us will arrive Monday”..
Apple cares…
C
an ipod shuffle, bought in the us, but inherited by my brother in asia, was replaced free 5 days out of warranty in that country. The local apple reseller had said “sorry, hard luck”, but a call to apple resulted in his picking up the new ipod shuffle sent by apple at the very same reseller.
I always have to distrust any survey where there is only a 4-5 point spread over 100 points.
The last survey that i saw gave apple 90% approval over the nearest pc at about 75%. I trust those numbers more.
en
I’m a Mac user since the beginning and have had good luck with most of my Macs, with only a few having issues.
With that said, I think Apple could learn a lot from Dell.
Now, the truth is that with the cheap commodity hardware Dell uses, it’s very important to have free, immediate, on-site replacement. But, if Dell can afford to do it, Apple can too.
“But, if Dell can afford to do it, Apple can too.”
Sure, why not, both use exactly the same hardware inside. With the much higher price Apple gets for the same stuff, they should have more money in the pot to provide as timely service as Dell does.
Just wanted to share with you an interesting experience I had this morning with Apple. I should preface this by saying I’ve been a huge Mac fan since 1984, and am currently a small business (actually non-profit) owner with 4 iMacs, 2 MacBooks, a Powerbook, an iPhone, and 3 airport routers. And I’m a stockholder. And all my customer service experiences up to now have been great.
We’re trying to find out if we need to order Leopard Server for our business to get more robust calendar-sharing than we’ve had with Tiger (the individual license). I called Apple Sales, and was told “I don’t really know much about the difference between the server and the other product.” Period. Silence. I said “perhaps you can transfer me to someone who does know?”.
Then Bob transfered me to tech support, at which an automated system wanted to know which product I was calling about. Turns out that “O S Ten” (OSX) and “Leopard” are not recognized as products by the system, so I said “iMac” just to get through.
After 3 minutes, I was connected to Tara, who told me “we don’t know anything about Leopard at this point and we’re not allowed to say.” I commented that it seemed odd that Apple was not able to provide sales support information for a product that they were ALREADY selling on their website. I asked if I could speak to a supervisor.
After 5 more minutes on hold, Stacey, the supervisor, told me that they couldn’t comment on Leopard because they had not received any training about it. I again noted that it was a bit odd to start selling something before training your sales and tech staff about it (can you imagine this happening with the iPhone?). Stacey told me there was nothing she could do. I said, “ok, thank you, though” and waited for a goodbye but realized that Stacey had already hung up the phone.
That really felt more like a Dell customer service experience and, if typical, bodes poorly for Apple.