PC Maker's Customer Ratings Fall -- Are we Just too Demanding Now?

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In a recent annual survey conducted by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) this week it was revealed that most major PC manufacturers customer satisfaction ratings have dropped year over year.  This is despite the fact that companies such as Dell invested $150 million in beefing up customer support in the past year. So what gives?

The survey conducted at the University of Michigan used about 80,000 respondents to collect data.  The results only included enough data to individually rank five major manufacturers, and then lumped the rest into &quot;Other&quot; (see table below), but the overall indicator was that satisfaction with support from the major PC makers went down from 2006.

Manufacturer	2005	2006	2007	Change
Apple	81	83	79	- 4.8%
HP	73	75	76	1.3%
Compaq	67	72	73	1.4%
Dell	74	78	74	- 5.1%
Gateway	72	73	75	2.7%
Other	74	77	75	- 2.6%

Apple is #1 still, despite MacBook issues

Apple's ranking dropped about 5% from the year before, though they still remained #1 in overall satisfaction.  This is despite the fact there have been many known issues with the MacBook and MacBook Pro line that have caused people to have to return those laptops.  For instance, our Apple reviewer Gerald Edgecomb actually had to return his MacBook Pro to Apple twice for repairs and is now on his third MBP.  Yet, he still sticks with the MacBook Pro and loves it.  Apple has a loyal following and customers that are probably a little more forgiving with any manufacturing quality issues, so long as they're supported when issues pop-up.

Dell can't buy love

Meanwhile, Dell has been ultra focused on customer satisfaction by implementing things such as opening more customer support centers, hiring more staff and being more open and direct with customers via their Direct2Dell.com site.  The Dell Idea Storm site even invited customers to submit ideas for future products, which resulted in Linux being offered on Dell PCs (and then subsequently complaints it wasn't offered on enough systems).  Dell also offered &quot;bloatware free&quot; laptops with their Vostro line of PCs where customers can opt out of all pre-installed software, and even return a Vostro within 30-days no questions asked.  All this, and Dell's customer satisfaction went down 5%? Dell should make The Beatle's song &quot;Can't Buy Me Love&quot; their theme song.

Now, quite arguably Dell has had issues of late, for instance the company has been shipping laptops much later than promised to customers.  The XPS M1330 delays have been a huge debacle in our forums. This story from forum member Heather who ordered a Dell laptop she needed for a business trip more than a month in advance, only to be told 2-days before her trip it would be delayed a further month, are examples of Dell ruining their customer's experience even before they get the goods -- never a good start.

HP and Compaq -- same company and support, different customer satisfaction?

Something that's rather weird is the fact Compaq and HP scores are separated by 3 points on the satisfaction ranking. HP produces HP and Compaq line PCs, support is the same for both lines, yet HP scores higher with consumers. Odd hey? This calls into question whether people have preconceived notions of a brand and its quality of support. Compaq was known to be bad years ago, but is slowly improving under the ownership of HP, so maybe customer perception just hasn't caught up yet.

Are customers more selfish and demanding and is Dell trying to do too much?

After reading many customer satisfaction complaint posts in our forums I've started wondering to myself if Dell might be trying too hard to satisfy customers with lots of choice, and thereby making it impossible for the company to deliver on support and satisfaction.  The more choice customers have, the more complicated it is for Dell to coordinate its supply chain and production schedules.  Think about it, Apple makes three different configurations of its MacBook, which makes production far faster and more predictable. Having only three shipping configurations of the MacBook also makes it easier for Apple to know its products well and support them. Factor in the eight different colors Dell offers on its laptops and then all the component variations, and Dell can ship an Inspiron 1520 notebook in hundreds of different configurations.

One argument you won't see brought up much, but that could be somewhat of a reality, is that customers are becoming more demanding these days. We've read reports about the latest batch of college students being &quot;demanding, impatient and bad at communicating&quot; (and that's a quote, not my opinion) so that's going to make customer support for this group of youngsters pretty tough. Then again, Dell may have dug its own grave by promising to make a product &quot;Yours&quot;. If it's all about &quot;me&quot; and encouraging this whole being selfish (make me happy, or else), then they'd better deliver on it.

 

 

I'd definitely say so, especially since that alot of owners are first time owners, as well they often buy inexpensive notebooks like Dell's new Inspiron line - simply put, it's a great machine for sub $1200 but expecting alot form it is too much.


As the saying goes, you get what you pay for.

 

Dell's shipping delays are definitely going to hurt them, and I think moving call centers out of the US also took its toll.

 

Apple: I bought a Macbook about a month ago to play around with OSX. It gave me Kernal panics about once an hour. It was infuriating and disappointing. The issue had to do with the latest update and the Airport. I returned it, and look on with envy at OSX and Vista's inadequacies. Maybe I will try out a MBP later on this year with Leopard.

Dell: I own an XPS M2010, countless previous Dells, and now ordered an 1520. I can definitely understand the frustrations people will face when dealing with Dell. It isn't so much their customer service that is poor (in fact, from my experience, it is the absolute best in the industry), but rather their lackluster quality control and cut backs on some crucial components (such as screens) that incite such complaints in the first place.

HP/Compaq: Those #s definitely convince me that brand image still reigns supreme.

More demanding: Hell YES! I'm part of what the Aussies are terming "Gen Y" - (I'm 21 years old), and personally, have a mentality that: #1 It is the year 2007, we should not have to tolerate BS from Microsoft and what they attempt to shove down our throats (like Windows Vista). Frankly, the astounding amount of people who are installing XP over Vista, demanding that Dell offer XP instead, etc is just a small indication of the slow, demanding, and not so much improved Windows that is Vista. I run Vista for one reason and one reason only, it looks nicer and my Core 2 Duo system w/ 3GB ram can actually handle it.
At this point, I am also intolerant of manufacturing BS like the graininess/sparkles on LCD screens, poor viewing angles and the like. For an industry that relies on outdating their products to newer ones to force us to replace a working system every year or two, it is sometimes infuriating just how "far" we've come to have to still deal with things like this.

As for how true that last Australian article is, I will say that in the US, it is most certainly a reality. College is more or less just 4 more years of High School, and what you get of it really is what you put into it. Our generation is not paying for college (parents are), and from what I can see, the value of a college degree will continue to plummet.

 

At the moment Dell is struggling to deliver its products for reasons which aren't too clear to the people who keep getting delivery dates moved. The date shifting and the uncertainty is leaving a bad taste in many mouths.

That availability problem aside, this type of survey should have at least 3 categories: (i) Is the product as expected and is the price reasonable; (ii) does it work as expected and are any immediately problems resolved quickly; (iii) longer term support and service.

John

 

Similar to what American automakers are experiencing, customer opinion will not quickly change with improvements in quality (product or customer service). Dogmas must be broken and reputation strengthened with time. This becomes increasingly more difficult with greater demands for quality by customer. However, with manufacturing improvements in general, expectations for higher product quality at a lower cost is not unreasonable.

Regarding quality of customer service, for the past decade there has been a decline across many industries as large corporations restructured to be more competitive in the global market. Now corporations like HP and Dell must struggle to compete with companies like Acer. Should customers expect better service from HP or Dell if they are buying a computer at the same pricing level as Acer? No, but they do, and HP and Dell will have to adapt.

 

I think the real reason why customers are "more demanding" is because the companies are cutting back in their production. Cutting back includes increasing efficiency in their production (ie. the pressure of making green eco-friendly products) as well as fulfulling the increasing consumer demand. The technology they came out today wasn't as revolutionary as the ones they announced three years ago...

Technology today is constrained and we are not advancing as far as we would've liked. We concentrated too much on making money and spending it to protect the environment.

 

Uh, no? I'm starting my sophomore year here in the US and me and the majority of my friends are paying for our college, not our parents.

 

If that is the case then why does the average American graduate have a large student debt to pay off?

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/general/2006-02-22-student-loans-usat_x.htm

Average student debt:
Private, for profit $24,200
Private, nonprofit $16,000
Public $10,600

This is not parental debt either. I can't think of anyone getting the golden ticket.

 

Stats are meaningless unless the methodology is explained. I've searched and did not find it. Anyone found something?

 

The environmental issue isn't so much the mfgr's decision; the US government has been pressuring them to go "green" for some time now. Which, btw, I'm all in support for; however, we need to concentrate more on the real environmental issues, like global warming and how to produce an efficient fuel-cell car.

With all that said, I think that corporations have become very greedy and can't seem to have enough money. It really isn't because of the environment stuff, it's so their CEOs and other high-ranking officials can get paid bazillions of dollars. To do that, they start cutting corners on their own products to lower production costs (and the actual cost of the product, which is surely what the consumer wants), and they reduce tech support.

From a mfgr. standpoint, this is all very good. Why? Cutting corners will end up costing the company less, and now, since the lower-quality products will fail more often, the consumers will have to buy more often (hopefully from them), which in turn results in the ultimate goal: $$$.

What most mfgrs don't realize, however, is that if you cut too many corners, the consumers will lash back. Customers will stop buying the mfgr's products, the reputation of the company will go down, and lawsuits can even occur (I know this example isn't laptop-related, but remember the Maytag Neptune debacle? Now Maytag got bought up by Whirlpool). The mfgrs don't know their limits.

Unfortunately for the consumer (fortunatly for the mfgr), I think our expectations on quality have gone down quite a bit. Generally, (not always), the consumer is now more accepting of the fact that products won't last as long anymore, so they don't complain.

Now, as for the PC maker's rating falling: I don't think we are too demanding; I think not only are there more people buying PCs, but (hopefully) the consumers are fighting back against the mfgrs to (hopefully) improve their product or if not, go out of business.

There, I'm done now (Phew!)

 

Thats an American student's debt? Interesting. My degree is going to cost me (EDIT: parents ) about $34 500, and that is not including $3.5-4k a year for living expenses. I guess in Canada its a bit different, because I can't think of anyone who isn't having their education funded by their parents. That said, anything else I want I have to go and get myself (ie laptop, PS3, tv, cellphone).

 

Gawd, my debt is gonna dwarf that even though I saved up 20k before I got to college. 38-42k a year for living expenses and tuition . After scholarships Im still throwing out 4-8k payments and my funds are running dry. Should have gone to public school....

 

Well the difference with this and american automakers is that these products are cool laptops, american autos are like waterbeds with wheels.

Dell isnt helped by their shipping delays (dell-ays as was so aptly mentioned)

I guess people liked HP support cuz they actually believed the crap they were being fed, I wonder if they'll change their name from customer support to customer misinformed

and Apple, well I aint a big fan of them and I have heard some BAD stories about em but ive always learned to use customer service as a last resort, it seems to suck everywhere.

 

Me and most of my friends are having our parents pay for our college. I don't know what you guys are talking about.

Coming out of highschool most people have only been working for a year at most, and you can't exactly fund an education by saving up with a summer job.

 

I'd have to agree with that to get off subject for a moment myself. They pay themselves huge sums of money cause as company officers, they control the purse strings. They justify it by saying everyone else is doing it and bring in consulting companies to agree with their pay packages. The consultants don't want to rock the boat because they're selling all kinds of products to the company not just compensation analysis. They pay themselves whether the company does good or not. If you're Bill Gates and you start Microsoft, then I got no problem with you being rich, but no manager no matter how far up the food chain should be a billionaire. I don't care how good you are. If you're that good, you should start your own company.

I was reading a article in the NYT with some people like that, CEOs and such. They seemed to have a pretty healthy opinion of their importance to the world and didn't seem to have any regard for the notion they got lucky. The way I look at it, they're plenty of people who were just as smart and driven who for whatever reason didn't rise to the top.

In the meantime, they're cutting people pensions and shipping jobs overseas because it raises the stock price a few buck creating a windfall for them. Who care about that cause when they retire, they'll have a large pension. In addition to shipping jobs overseas, they're shipping know how. They people overseas who were just writing a bit of code or doing back-office tasks, are now the Infosys and Wipros of the world. They're now starting to compete with the IBMs of the world for the service contracts which is where they make their money not selling laptops. Seems rather short-sighted to me. I can't believe there is not more of an uproar in this country over this.

I'll get off my box now. All of this is of course my personal opinion.

 

I agree, it's *really* hard to measure customer perception and satisfaction, I dug around on the acsi site but couldn't find a methodology

http://www.theacsi.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=45&Itemid=44

they did interview about 70,000 people for this data and they've been doing it for a few decades now, that's about the only credibility I can come up with. Oh, and it's U of Michigan Biz School. Being an Ohio State grad I'll say that automatically discredits the surveys

 

I'm very curious because Consumer Reports reports consumer satisfaction with computer manufacturers from time to time. The last time I checked (in Spring) I found that the differences they reported between various manufacturer was not statistically significant. I did not unearth anything they were trying to hide, mind you. They had posted very enough information with their stats for any reader to figure that out by themselves.

 

Well it must be nice having mommy and daddy covering your behind, but many people live in the real world and need to use what are called STUDENT LOANS. Of course we don't have the money on hand.

I'm already $10,000 in the hole after one year.

 

Hmm... I also don't know what you folks are talking about with "parents are paying the tuition"... Every loan I've taken for college (even prior to 24) was taken out in my name, and at most the FA office only wants my parents tax information so they know how much I qualify for.

As for the above comment about "at most working for less then a year"... Most American students are going to college on Stafford loans, which are assigned to the student, not the parents. These loans are virtually guaranteed to anyone that doesn't have parents with a combined income above 65K yearly, and they are backed by the government so all accredited schools offer them as well as Pell Grants and the like..

I know two people from my college that have folks paying for their education, one had a felony that got them expelled from the school, and the other gets VA checks because his father lost all of his limbs in Vietnam..

And while people are addressing how much they owe... I've only borrowed for half of my education because my wallet, grants and scholarships covered the other half, and I'm at ~$37K (2 more terms till I'm finished, completion will be in less then 5 years - changed degree's after first year and lost some time..)

According to NELA (the government group providing this regions Stafford Loans), the only way I'm no longer the sole party responsible for this money is in the event I die.. and then my debt is wiped clean with tax money.

 

It's not that customers are too demanding; it's just that machines aren't built as perfectly as they used to be. Believe it or not, but I believe overpopulation to be a major factor in this mess. With birth rates on the high and death rates on the low, demand of computers have skyrocketed. Manufacturers, knowing that upping prices (the higher the demand, the lower the supply = higher price) would only mean a hit in sales, decided to go the cheap route. Yes you guessed it, China. The nation best known for cheap manufacturing and the exploitation of the poor. Ahem, well, that wouldn't be a problem if quality control is a major concern. Unfortunately it isn't, as manufacturers are now settling with poorly built machines in order to meet demand. With low quality comes low customer satisfaction, so there you have it.

 

even with apple's ratings droppings... i dont think they care... cuz i believe they made their all-time record profits this past quarter... between the Ipods/iphones/macbooks.... we're talking in the BIllions "revenue of 5.41 billion and net quarterly profit of $818 million"
im curious to see whether or not the Macbook is just another fad like the Ipod... if it has Apples names, it MUST be cool... especially among college students as im seeing first hand.

 

I don't necessarily want clear english speaking support, but I want people actually educated by more then a week long seminar, that don't argue with me and try to convince me that their prompter is the only answer. Or try and convince me unrelated things are causing the problem..

 

Let me try and clear that sentence up a bit:

"Unfortunately prices for high end technology may have to increase if we want flawless, 24/7, [intelligible] English tech support."

I did not mean for it to come across as flawless English. You can't get that in the U.S. a lot of the time.

Anyway I do agree that prompted, basically robot tech support is maddening. I was fortunate to have been at a university that had a Lenovo certified IT dept. for quick, free fixes to most problems. Alas, nevermore...

 

What I was saying is they are paying enormous salaries regardless of whether the company does well or not. I just was reading an article about Qwest. The CEO is taking home $30 million. The company is doing OK, nothing great. Meanwhile they're cutting retirees pensions. Some PR flacky is going on to the media about how everyone else's CEO is getting that much. Its sort of like an endless cycle. How much of that is really related to the companies officers? An organization has a certain amount inertia all on its own. The decisions were going to be made whether it's this or that person. I don't think that justifies millions. Basically they're a paid manager and risk nothing that doesn't seem above board to me. Should a CEO make more? Sure, but not a 1000 times more.

 

I don't think people in positions such as CEO or any upper level management should get compensation until their responsibility to their work force and customer is satisfied.

Without the customer these guys wouldn't have a business, and without the workforce, they wouldn't have a product/service to offer the customer.

 

See, as long as the majority of customers are mostly satisfied, these companies will have a product/service to offer. Its really is not a company's goal to satisfy 90% of its consumer base, especially when you can satisfy around 75% at a significantly cheaper cost.

Bottom line: its all about the bottom line. In the end, selling products with lower manufacturing costs to more people (cheap notebooks have higher demand( proves more profitable than selling expensive products. Customer satisfaction becomes less important if your competition has the same track record as you.

 

I totally agree about the Apple loyalty. Two of my friends own MacBooks purchased in late 2006. Both of them overheat after around 4 hours of use and the computer turns off by itself. However, they both still highly recommend all Apple notebooks. I'm surprised Apple doesn't rank higher.

 

I think it all comes down to how consistently problems are taken care of. Apple seems to do more to fix issues (even if they sometimes do not acknowledge those issues at first ) and I've definitely heard some good stories about them. It seems like they really don't give up until the problem is fixed so good for them.

But if you read about companies like HP, Dell, etc...you'll find they are only so-so on their records. And that is why these ratings are not getting better.

Companies need to realize that people do chat, and one dissatisfied customer is more than just that. They're also the people who are going to bad-mouth their brand and try to persuade others to not buy it. A dissatisfied customer is also going to be 5 or 10 lost sales (from family, friends, future purchases) for that company. I think Apple probably realizes that. Dell, HP, etc are only concerned about the immediate bottom line.

Dell is/was always just concerned about the bottom line and did not really think about overall satisfaction, build quality, and performance. Now, they did manage to do well with most people, but lackluster performance in the CS and tech departments are the reason that HP is now #1 in laptop sales (there was a news article on HP overtaking Dell some time ago on NBR). Have I had problems with Dell, definitely...one of which almost led to a lawsuit and two that resulted in my returning their products to them. But I have also had good keepers from them, and one notebook I purchased from them is still ticking and I never thought it would have lasted as long as it did because it was dirt cheap. Would I purchase again from them? Sure, if the price/performance is better than the competition...because at least with my experiences the problems do get fixed (with or without additional hassle).

HP is also hit or miss for similar reasons, but I think they generally try to do a little better by their customers. Yes, there have been huge fallouts (see the dv8000 keyboard issues thread in the forums) but also good stories as well. Overall, my impression of their service is a little higher but I base that only off of what I read here.

HP business, which was always viewed favorably in my eyes due to excellent service with the nc8430, just finally managed to tick me off. I have an Onsite Next Business Day warranty for my laptop, so when my part (and tech) did not arrive within a week I contacted HP to ask what was up. The tech was rude, condescending, and not helpful. It was my first negative experience with the HP-Compaq brand name, and I'm not exactly happy about it right now. I do not mind backorders, but if I ask if there is an ETA I do not expect a condescending reply. I expect either "We don't know" or "it will be about...", and I was only asking so that I could make plans to try and be available around the expected date. Now, I have little to no information about this backorder nor can I do anything about it because a tech did not want to spend 2 minutes checking up on it. That is not service, but I do hope that something like that is only going to be a one time thing and I'll never see that again!

I don't think I set the bar too high...and I'll still consider purchasing from them. At least for now

Bottom line: A company can do very well, but people (in general) remember the screw ups more than they remember the good things. So even if a track record is 50% or 75%, that lost percentage will cost you money in the end...even if it does not cost you money now.

 

I disagree , I think todays customers are more computer educated and know when they get a good product and service .

The parameters of the survey are unclear but personally I feel that lately there are only medicore offerings in terms of value/$ , with no real performence (weak gpus,failed robson) / or user experience boost ( same screens , heating , battery ) .

So paying for next gen notebooks while getting pretty much the same of the present gen can lead to general dissatisfaction and even nitpicking .

 

Yeah, I'd like to see some more evidence or testing procedure documents. But ah...

10-4 on the performance standpoint. Santa Rosa and DX10 really has not made any major performance increases.

 

I don't get the good numbers for HP, seeing as I have 5 HP/Compaq and 3 Dell machines in my home and office, have extensive experience with both companies' support, and HP on the whole is worse. Dell in my experience isn't better because of their people (the Indian tech support is just horrendous in my experience), but because of their policies. HP just drags you through loop after loop to get a problem solved, then makes you chase after them with dozens of calls and emails to finally receive a $5 replacement part months later. At least with Dell, they will generally send you your part with no hassle and rather quickly (next day delivery, even).

I think that the "satisfaction" rating has a lot to do with brand perception. Dell unfairly suffers from a perception of poor quality product, which customers then transfer over to their support. People love their plasticy, over-priced HP's with 2-generations old technology because they LOOK pretty; they are therefore much more patient with HP when they have problems.

Seriously, HP can afford better support since they charge so much more for so much less than Dell. Can you imagine Dell shipping out NVidia Geforce 6150se video cards with dual core machines? Not likely! Yet, HP does this, charges more than Dell charges for current generation tech, puts less into support than Dell does, and customers love them for it.

Satisfaction polls are meaningless when they are really nothing more than popularity contests.

 

Dell's used to be fantastic with excellent support like back in the PIII days and before, but you were paying $2-3k for a notebook then.

 

My whole point was I think Apple users are more forgiving than other users. An automatic shut down due to overheating is not a big deal as long as it's fixed...

 

Apple's advertising is the only reason that they are higher. If people didn't believe everything they heard in those commercials, Apple would be down with everyone else. I cant tell you how many ignorantly ****y Apple owners I know.

 

"Are we just too demanding now?" is false. Management 101 -- the customer is ALWAYS right. Sometimes it's uneconomical to make the customer 100% happy or downright impossible. Other times it's due to a disconnect between management and the consumer. I think that's what PC makers are facing right now. There's a disconnect between consumers and the companies that supply them with systems. Overall, most of the big things are going well, but the smaller things collect up and become more bothersome problems. It doesn't take much to create a small problem and it can come from shipping (delays and poor communication), not-understanding the person on the phone (overseas support), too-complicated of ordering processes (15+ pages of stuff just to configure a Dell), not having what the customer wants (XP instead of Vista), and a variety of other things that add up to drive down customer satisfaction.

 

The industry practice of selling a laptop with a variety of screen parts is probably the worst intentional strategy I've seen for a long time. The companies should be eaten alive for advertising and selling a laptop with a screen with certain viewing characteristics (viewing angle, brightness, amount of bleed, graininess, etc) and then shipping laptops with completely different (and often inferior) screens.

It's one thing to buy a product and calling it a "lottery" because the build quality is terrible can happen for a lot of reasons. Sometimes it's intentional corner cutting other times it's just a bad product or manufacturing process. But that the laptop companies intentionally base their production and sales on the "screen lottery" is something they deserve to lose a lot of money over.