Apple always remarks that they will not build junk when they are asked why there’s no cheap Mac. PC makers, however, struggle to eke out sales in every conceivable product category, from netbooks to Web servers. They are also notorious for shaving costs wherever they can, and that often comes at the expense of their customers.

I recall, for example, talking with a couple of techs from Dell a few years ago while helping set up a PC for Internet access at a client’s home. Understand that Dell, in those days, was number one in the PC market, and had a reputation for actually delivering reasonably good tech support.

However, my experience was far from encouraging. The first tech sounded as if he was reading direct from a “cheat sheet” when I asked several probing questions about a specific setup option. I interrupted, asking him to get to the point, and he’d simply return to the beginning and resume his droning delivery of useless information.

In frustration, I asked him to stop and escalate the matter to a supervisor.

Story continued in this week’s Tech Night Owl Newsletter.

This article was posted on Sunday, April 19th, 2009 at 6:00 PM and is filed under News and tagged with: Apple, Cheap Mac, Cheat Sheet, Dell, experience, Frustration, Home, Internet Access, Mac, mac pc, Mac Support, netbooks, PC Support, Product Category, Reputation, Struggle, supervisor, Tech Support, Web Servers.