Is Apple’s customer care failing?
By Triston McIntyre
With a quickly increasing number of Mac users as of late, it seems more and more problems are popping up in Apple technology. Has Apple’s interest in quality control waned?
BusinessWeek reports that, “Sales of the Cupertino (Calif.) company’s Macintosh machines are growing three times as fast as the overall PC market.” This is both because of Apple’s stylish brand image and the great success of both iPods and the new iPhone.
However, BusinessWeek also said, “as Apple pulls in millions more customers with different kinds of products, it’s getting harder to keep them all happy.” Is this a reflection of Apple’s inability to maintain quality in all of its products as they’re rapidly distributed?
The answer is, decidedly, no. Apple is still producing products that are heads and tails superior to any of the competition; the reason there is a perceived drop in quality and service is, simply put, that there is a flood of new customers that expect complete perfection, and are easily upset by an iota of imperfection.
For the longest time, the group keeping Apple technology alive was a solid base of technologically-competent users that supported every move Apple made. However, with the popularity of the iPhone, iPods, and soon-to-be-released Leopard, more and more users are switching from Windows-based technology to Apple’s products.
When those users come from hassles and problems that run rampant in normal computer manufacturing circles, they see the shiny white cases and flashy ads of Apples, couple that impression with the die-hard professions of Apple’s quality from their loyal Mac-ites, and they expect everything to be perfect for the rest of their Apple-using lives.
As we all know, no one or no company is perfect. There are issues with everything, and it should be noted that Apple is one of the best companies at remedying problems as soon after they arise as possible.
What new users should be asking themselves is this: is what you’re getting still better than what you had in the Windows-based world? The answer is definitively yes. How about this: stop whining about how badly Apple has wronged you, and realize what the alternative is. Are you really yearning for customer support from some outsourced service in India that cares assuredly less about your problems?
If you answered yes, then again: go and buy a Dell. As nice as the success of Apple makes all of us feel, the few and proud Mac users who have been around the longest are just as happy without you as with you. Its your decision, so grow up and make it, and please…stop crying.
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October 13th, 2007
[...] Jobe Roberts wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptThis is both because of Apple’s stylish brand image and the great success of both iPods and the new iPhone. However, BusinessWeek also said, “as Apple pulls in millions more customers with different kinds of products, it’s getting … [...]
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Wow! Someone needs deprogramming. So if someones LCD is bad, or if my iMac has issues with freezing up, I should just shutup or buy a Dell?
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