Apple Tops Research Poll for Customer Satisfaction, Dell Second

The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) rating rose for all computer manufacturers. Dell and Apple took top customer satisfaction ratings in the most recent survey results compiled by the Michigan School of Business and other groups..

The score for the overall PC marketin the American Customer Satisfaction Index rose 2 points to 74 on a scale of 0 - 100. Analysts say customer satisfaction improved due to the factlower prices, upgrades in power and capabilities, and an increase in user experience came about in the PC market over the past year.

Below is the table showing the exact results for this years survey, notice that HPs two computer units, HP and Compaq, rated below the industry average.

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Sector/Industry/Company (In descending order of current ACSI score within industry. All scores are on 100-point scale.)												From Previous Year	From first year measured
Personal Computers	78	75	73	70	71	72	74	71	71	72	74	2.8%	-5.1%
Apple Computer, Inc.	77	75	76	70	69	72	75	73	73	77	81	5.2%	5.2%
Dell Inc.	NM	NM	NM	72	74	76	80	78	76	78	79	1.3%	9.7%
Gateway, Inc.	NM	NM	NM	NM	76	76	78	73	72	69	74	7.2%	-2.6%
Industry Average	NM	70	73	72	69	69	68	67	70	69	71	2.9%	1.4%
Hewlett-Packard Company – HP	78	80	77	75	72	74	74	73	71	70	71	1.4%	-9.0%
Hewlett-Packard Company – Compaq	78	77	74	67	72	71	71	69	68	68	69	1.5%	-11.5%

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Apple jumpedto a score of 81, a 5% gain in satisfaction year-on-year. Dell, whichranked second, received a score of 79, a slight increase from last year. Gateway showed a healthy gain by jumpingfrom 69 to 74.

It's interesting to note that Apple was able to make these customer satisfaction gains even though it has had to issue two major recalls for its PowerBook and iBook notebook lines. One recall involved problems with the display oncertain iBooks that caused the screen to stop working and the other involved a battery that could dangerously overheat on the 15-inch PowerBook. The theory here would be that Apple pleased its customers by not denying a problem existed but rather acting and offering a free replacement or fix for the issue.