Newsletter #347 Preview: Sorry, There Are No Heroes
July 23rd, 2006In the scheme of things, Apple has what is considered the best support in the PC industry, but don’t feel too confident about that, because that may not be saying much. Based on the surveys in Consumer Reports magazine, for example, the company barely rates a “B,” and that’s not something to be proud of.
While I have had good experiences with Apple from time to time, there was a sadder, still uncertain outcome, with my last effort.
My 23-inch Apple HD Cinema Display began to develop some display anomalies. A large grayish smudge began to fill the top of the screen, and four thin vertical lines, from two or three inches in length, began to appear with more prominence. Since the monitor was barely three months old, I wanted to see what sort of warranty support I could get.
The Apple support person, someone named “Scott,” who said he worked at their call center in Pennsylvania, seemed courteous enough when I called. He first asked me to connect the display to my MacBook Pro’s DVI port, just to see if the problems persisted, and, yes, they were still in evidence.
Story continued in this week’s Tech Night Owl Newsletter.
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What’s this “B” business? Consumer Reports doesn’t give letter grades. Apple got an 82 rating. That’s extraordinary for tech support for ANY product. Don’t translate 82 into a “B” as if it were a school grade. Here’s what CR actually says:
“If everyone was completely satisfied, the reader score would be 100; 80 would mean respondents were very satisfied, on average; 60, fairly well satisfied.”
Very satisfied sounds like better than “B.”
It’s a distinction without a difference. Define, for example, the difference between “very” and “completely” beyond the highly subjective nature of the rating. And bear in mind “very,” in CR’s parlance, means some aren’t satisfied or are less satisfied, which brings down the score. It’s like making a few errors on a school test, so you get a B instead of an A.
Peace,
Gene