Ever called technical support? I recall calling on behalf of my dad once or twice as a kid because I knew the tech jargon better than he did. But I honestly don’t think I’ve ever called a support line for myself. Why?
Everything’s on Google – I mean the Internet – these days. The way I figure is, if the collective wisdom of the whole world doesn’t have a solution, neither does a low-paid call agent who’s just waiting for a promotion to get off the phone. But that’s just me and I actually work as technical support for the largest retailers in Scandinavia. Call me biased.
However, technical support isn’t for people like me. It’s for the average Joe’s out there that don’t want to dig into these problems themselves. Very understandably so because computer problems suck, trust me. From what I’ve heard, so do many support lines as well.
The problem with many support lines is that they focus too much on the problem and the time it takes to fix it. In a way, that resemples how the vast majority of businesses work – they focus too much on the product and the production process, and too little on the mind of the customer. Why?
Well, I think somewhere along the way from the retail bosses offices to the agents of an outsourced call center, the idea of service gets lost. Try to send a message too far and it will fade away. Pass the message through enough people that don’t care about it and it will distort into numbers, statistics and targets.
Speaking about statistics, you may have read in our sidenotes that Apple was ranked number one in both desktop and notebook technical support. And these facts don’t come from a biased magazine test. They’re the result of a survey directed to the very people that need the service. According to them, Apple gives better help than any other IT company. The question is; what makes Apple stand out?
Apple has made quality a part of their culture and the people there truly believe in their products. What’s really interesting is how throughly Apple communicates this culture and how deep it actually is. It involves a unified idea that stretches to every department and team of their company, and every part of every product they ever make.
It’s sad to see that most companies put numbers before people. To survive, I guess they have to. But we should make it part of our culture to, whenever possible, look out for the user and his experience. The mind of the customer is a goldmine. It is the state of that mind that declares a business a success or a failure.
Dig, adapt and occasionally bring out the explosives – that’s what Apple does.
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3 Comments, Comment or Ping
NN
From what you have written, I can mainly agree.
The “average Joe’s” calling support lines may partly be caused by lack of willingness to solve problems as you correctly are indicating.
Partly, because it is comfortable and on occasion a timesaver, having someone else do the work for you.
Or like some would say, because of pure indolence. It is like some people cease to think on the occasion of calling support.
I do agree that in order to provide qualitative support, the aim needs to be maintaining a good service level by focusing on people rather than numbers. Good point.
The question after reading your post is:
Apple customers are in general hardly what I would define as “average Joe’s”, a.k.a why would Apple customers need to buy support instead of finding answers themselves?
May 29th, 2008
Daniel
First of all, thanks for your comment. The site feels much more alive and it’s always fun when people allow for a discussion. :)
That’s a very interesting point, I haven’t thought about it that way before. When I think Apple, I think designed for regular people. But maybe Mac users aren’t the average computer users?
That may very well be the case. Found this article from 2002 that says Mac users tend to be more educated and make more money than PC users.
That was six years ago but I also found this one. It says Mac people generally have a better vocabulary and a greater knowledge of the English language.
But I think it is the somewhat novice people that actually buy the AppleCare package to get support. I work with PC support (for 27 more days!) but if I see the word “software” on my phone, I know right away that the caller is most likely computer illiterate because he actually paid for support.
So basically, the average Apple customer may not be the same Joe that buys a PC. But one would think that those who need to buy support are probably the people who don’t know how to find answers themselves.
But it would be nice to hear from someone working with support at Apple. I wonder how many of their callers there are that are just, as you say, calling because it’s comfortable or time-saving.
Again, good point.
May 30th, 2008
Colleen Higgins
Hello,
I have never written a letter to complain about a company policy. But I find this policy completely unfair. I purchased a Iphone in aug. for my son. The ph was damaged due to water. I understand that the warrenty does not cover this but when I try to replace the phone I’m told I have to pay an addition 200 dollars to get the same phone. I didn’t ask for a replacement I just feel I should be able to repurchase the phone at the price I paid in Aug. I cannot believe your company would rather lose a sale and a customer for an additional 200 dollars. So if that is the case I will buy a phone from another company and I will never buy an apple product again. From a buisness perspective it is not a very smat move.
Dec 23rd, 2008
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