Bitey said:
Apple has been in the top 20 for customer support for the past 10 years I think, so you heard wrong, customer’s aren’t treated like idiots, they are treated like people with a problem with their computer…. Try getting that kind of support at Microsoft, try getting in-store support from Microsoft… You won’t get in-store that is for sure, and secondly you have to pay for tech support for Microsoft…
If you actually buy a copy of Windows you get free phone support. If you buy your OS from HP or Dell then Microsoft has no service contract with you and is not obligated to help you. If Apple let 3rd parties market their computers they would do the exact same thing.
The last guy I sent to an Apple store for an iphone issue was told that his poor reception was because he had a bad sim card and he was told to buy another one. Not only did that not fix his reception issues but sim cards have absolutely nothing to do with cellular reception. That’s like someone calling HP because their wireless adapter is broken and HP sends them replacement RAM sticks, it just doesn’t happen. Support from PC manufacturers has gotten lightyears better over the last few years though. For example, HP sends the customer a padded package to return their computer for repairs and pays for shipping both ways. If you want service from Apple my understanding is you’re screwed if you don’t live near an Apple Store.
Bitey said:
inb4 knowledge base, yeah Apple has one of those too and plenty of the articles solve the problems, in fact 9 times out of 10 an article is used to resolve the customers issue, people just prefer to “talk to somebody”.
Microsoft is the same way, most solutions come straight from a KB article. If you go to their message board you can get unlimited free support by certified MS techs. It’s not as fast or convenient as phone support but you get the opinions of dozens of reps, at least one of which is bound to have encountered your problem before.