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Polling For a Winner

By Ed Foster, Section Columns
Posted on Thu Sep 04, 2003 at 12:16:38 AM PDT

As a Californian, I've managed to find a small bit of inspiration in the insanity of our current recall election. What has struck me is how all the polls are so widely disparate in their predictions of the results. And it's led me to the decision that I myself should run ... no, not for Governor of California. I've decided to run a poll.

Of course, my poll isn't going to be about anything as insignificant as politics. This week I'm announcing the second edition of my GripeLog Hall of Shame, which you can see in detail here. As expected, the list has not changed a great deal in the few months since I introduced it. Starting with the worst first, it now reads Intuit, Dell, Microsoft, VeriSign, Symantec, HP, Network Associates, and Oracle.

The most obvious change is the continuing rise (or decline) of Dell, and that brings up an issue I've heard from several quarters. "I find it perplexing that Dell ranks so high in the Hall of Shame -- a rating I wholeheartedly agree with -- yet somehow they still managed a B+ rating in the list of notebook computer makers in PC Magazine's August 5 issue," wrote one reader. "What is going on here? In my experience, 40-50% of the notebooks we buy from Dell have serious problems. However, according to PC Mag they are wonderful. Have the PC Mag ratings been tainted by advertising dollars or what? Whom are we supposed to believe anymore? Why does it always seem that real-world opinions in newsgroups and on your website seem to differ so vastly from the computer press?"

Now, I'm quite certain that PC Magazine's reader survey was done completely on the up-and-up. The editors themselves expressed some surprise that Dell did so well, because they were aware of the rising tide of complaints about the company. So why did their data give them such a different picture of Dell than what I've seen?

The fact is that customer satisfaction surveys often seem to describe a different reality than that portrayed by the gripers. For example, if I'd had a Hall of Shame ten years ago when I started the Gripe Line for InfoWorld, the top spot would have most definitely been occupied by Gateway. As Gateway officials later acknowledged to me, their service and support operations were in total chaos back then. And yet customer satisfaction surveys in the magazines at the time made it appear that everyone loved Gateway. InfoWorld's own reader surveys didn't show the dissatisfaction with the company that InfoWorld's readers were expressing to me.

Over the years, I've come to understand that surveys and polls are measuring something quite different from what gripes provide. Survey results show the reputation a company has built up over the course of many years, and that reputation does not change quickly. After all, most customers are satisfied customers, right up to the time they decide to cease to be a customer because they feel their faith has been abused.

On the other hand, I believe gripes are a leading indicator of where a company's reputation is going. The number of people who've griped about Dell represent a tiny fraction of those who stand ready to buy from the company, a fact that sales statistics and PC Magazine's results both validate. But that was also true for Gateway ten years ago. And I believe that Gateway ultimately paid a very heavy price for the problems it was having then, a price that's reflected in the relative sales rankings of Dell and Gateway to this day. So, be warned, Dell.

Gripes have their role, and so do customer surveys. But now my curiosity has been piqued. What would a poll of my readers show about Dell and its fellow occupants of the Hall of Shame, compared to other industry leaders? A poll won't help us in our primary duty of exposing sources of discontent, which is why I always say the GripeLog is not an unpopularity contest. But since my weblog engine makes running a poll easy (at least so my webmaster tells me), why not find out how many readers have good things to say about these companies? Perhaps it can even be a first step toward a "Hall of Fame" if it reveals any interesting surprises.

So I invite you to come to try out our poll on the right-hand side of this page where you'll see a list of companies. Click on the one company you think does the best job of treating its customers right. You'll immediately see your answer tabulated with the votes of other readers. Believe me, it will be a much more gratifying polling experience than the one we face here in California.

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Post your comments about this column below or write me directly at Foster@gripe2ed.com. To receive this column every week in my free e-mail newsletter, please go to my subscription page and follow the instructions to opt-in for the EdFoster mailing list.

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Polling For a Winner | 77 comments (77 topical) | Post A Comment

Another choice....[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#1)
by Mason on Thu Sep 04, 2003 at 05:27:30 AM PDT

None of the above?

Seriously -- none of the companies I've dealt with from your list (about half of them) have left me with warm customer service fuzzies. Pretty sad.

[ Reply to This ]

"None of the Above" Option[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#23)
by Ed Foster on Thu Sep 04, 2003 at 01:08:13 PM PDT

I thought about having a "None of the Above" option, but knowing my readers as I do, I was afraid everybody would choose it. And then we wouldn't learn anything. As it is, I'm starting to see a few things that surprise me, so I think it's going to be interesting to see what patterns emerge.

I did have to try to keep the list manageable, so I limited it to 20 companies that I think of as leaders in their markets. A good argument could be made for some others, I know. But I don't know that adding names would have guaranteed everyone could find someone to vote for. After all, I got my California gubernatorial ballot this morning -- 138 names, and I don't want to vote for any of them.

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"None of the above?"[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#30)
by chuckbo on Thu Sep 04, 2003 at 08:24:54 PM PDT

I'm amazed that so many people have had such bad experiences with Apple. Whenever I've called them for help (I have Applecare), they answer the phone quickly and have been able to help me. They've even helped me with really strange, obscure problems that they had no right to know the answer to, but they patiently helped figure out settings in other people's programs to help make things work. And they've been helpful at the Apple Store, too, when I had to take a monitor in with a problem.

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

Apple[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#31)
by Mason on Fri Sep 05, 2003 at 04:41:38 AM PDT

If I were going to vote on reputation or the experience of friends, I'd probably pick Apple (or IBM) from the list given. I've just never dealt with them -- heck, the last Apple I used was the IIe -- and I'd assume a lot of other folks are in the same boat.

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Agreed[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#62)
by Jace on Fri Oct 31, 2003 at 01:24:51 AM PDT

None of the Above is the choice I want.
-Jace
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I can't vote[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#2)
by Anonymous User on Thu Sep 04, 2003 at 07:38:52 AM PDT

Since "None of the above" isn't an option, I can't vote! And I strongly suspect that this poll won't generate many votes for the same reason.

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Also can't vote[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#35)
by Anonymous User on Fri Sep 05, 2003 at 08:56:28 AM PDT

I also can't vote for any of the companies on your list. My votes would go to: MochaSoft or Neevia. Neevia has the best customer service of any software company I have every worked with.

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Symantec[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#3)
by Mason on Thu Sep 04, 2003 at 08:27:24 AM PDT

Heh heh.. whoever it is that already voted for Symantec: Guess you havn't read any recent announcements about their upcoming product activation.

I'm about ready to go back to Etch-A-Sketch and tin cans on a string.

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Well DUH[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#50)
by Anonymous User on Tue Sep 09, 2003 at 01:51:53 PM PDT

Everyone knows you can take one OEM copy of norton antivirus 2002 or 2003 and load it successfully on an unlimited number of machines. Then if the year of updates expires, you can uninstall and reinstall for another year. No wonder they want to have product activation!!

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Not quite[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#55)
by Howling on Wed Sep 10, 2003 at 11:22:34 AM PDT

The OEM version of Norton Anti-virus only gives you 90 days of updates. Just enough to get poeple used to using it.

I know that at least 2002 leaves something behind when expired and uninstalled to come back as expired when reinstalled.

[ Parent | Reply to This ]

yes[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#70)
by maderikapapa on Fri Jun 27, 2008 at 06:41:53 PM PDT

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[ Parent | Reply to This ]

yes[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#71)
by maderikapapa on Fri Jun 27, 2008 at 06:44:20 PM PDT

Poll[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#4)
by Anonymous User on Thu Sep 04, 2003 at 09:23:24 AM PDT

I have to agree with the other person. None of the Above would be my choice. I have not gotten a warm fuzzy from any of those listed and the only one I do work with is not listed - Wise Solutions. Not to say their product does not have warts from time to time, but at least the support staff is friendly and fairly knowledgeable without a lot of turn over. Dell, Novell, Microsoft, each have had several different reps over the past three years.

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Futile Poll & Dell's Duality in Ratings[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#5)
by Anonymous User on Thu Sep 04, 2003 at 09:26:13 AM PDT

As others have said, no-one on the list is anything close to best, so no vote from me. Perhaps reword as "Least Worst"? ;-)

As to Dell getting good in PCMag, bad in Gripes: 2 things -
- PC Mag is most likely higher population of home users, and Dell Customer Service is different for Home and Business customers (Business seems worse at least for small business users in my experience).
- Secondly since all users are most likely happy users until something goes wrong, at which point their opinion is open to conversion depending on how CS exploits the opportunity. Home users are statistically less likely to hit problems than Business users, with a typical product sample of 1 or 2 units.

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Gripes influencing[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#6)
by Anonymous User on Thu Sep 04, 2003 at 09:35:41 AM PDT

The gripes here and elsewhere actively influenced me in my recent purchase of a laptop. I researced extensively the different thin & light options out there, and seriously considered the Dell 300M. But because of the numerous complaints of service and reliability of Dell, I instead went with the Fujitsu S2010. It's been an outstanding machine so far with 0 problems. Now my wife wonders, why did we wait so long to get this? So, Ed, you're right. The fortunes of a company can be affected by their service and support level, one customer at a time.

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I will continue to buy Dell for my users[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#32)
by wantobe on Fri Sep 05, 2003 at 05:36:49 AM PDT

I've had some annoyances with Dell's tech support in the past (long hold times on occassions, tech support personnel with thick accents I couldn't understand and who couldn't understand me) but all-in-all, over the past 3 years I've had a pretty positive experience with them.

I can usually fix most desktop problems myself, so at most I generally just need a replacement part sent. However, I don't like doing anything other than minor work on laptop hardware (memory or HD replacement is about as far as I'm cofortable with at this point) so I call them for those problems every time. In almost every case I've had someone here on site the next business day fixing the problem. Recently I called for a problem with a laptop that the warranty had expired on earlier in the month. Dell honored the warranty anyway, even though I didn't ask them to or expect it of them.

I don't buy Dell for my home systems because I find them a little limited in how I can configure them (I can build a better computer for less than they can). However, I always recommend them to family and friends who want to know which computer to buy. I personally don't know of a better over-all system for people who aren't able to fix most hardware problems themselves.

http://www.miles-pc.com/
Rob Miles
--
There are 10 kinds of people in the world; those who understand binary and those who don't.
[ Parent | Reply to This ]

IBM - ally for Open Source[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#7)
by Anonymous User on Thu Sep 04, 2003 at 09:38:05 AM PDT

Just wanted to point out the obvious choice for those of us who support Open Source/Free (as in Freedom) Software. IBM is a strong ally in this arena. Here's hoping they absolutely crush SCO!

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None of the Above[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#8)
by Anonymous User on Thu Sep 04, 2003 at 09:38:42 AM PDT

A poll in which there is no winner. Companies that appear to be successful in spite of abysmal service and, in some cases, pretty lousy products. I keep thinking, like Ed said about Gateway, that it's gotta catch up with them sooner or later. Going offshore for customer service just drives the nail in several coffins. The most recent co. to offshore its customer "service" is Network Associates. It managed to take lousy customer service and give it an undecipherable accent!

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Yeesh...[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#9)
by Anonymous User on Thu Sep 04, 2003 at 09:39:06 AM PDT

Yeah, "none of the above" would have been nice. I ended up voting for IBM, mainly because they're the only one I've dealt with on a service issue. The service was great...the fact that I needed the service (two new motherboards, a new processor, and a new hard drive in the first year and a half of owning the laptop) wasn't so great. My Dell's been running great since I bought it, but given the grief I've been reading about I'm seriously hoping nothing goes wrong with it!

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It Depends[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#59)
by Anonymous User on Mon Sep 22, 2003 at 06:32:40 AM PDT

I guess it depends on what type of service contract you have, and what your problems are. I had a screen go bad, and had it replaced and back in my hands within 72 hours (sent in for service). The phone assistance was excellent, and ran me through troubleshooting without treating me like an ignoramus. OTOH, dealing with their parts department is like a flea market - unless you know the part number and what bin it's likely in, they can't find anything.

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No Winners[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#10)
by mrwest41 on Thu Sep 04, 2003 at 10:00:03 AM PDT

I have had to deal with about half of the companies listed, and have had problems with all of them. We have a large contract with Dell, so when we've asked for support from them, and run into a problematic tech on the phone or something, our account rep fixes things. As a home user, however, I bought one of their PDA's, had a problem, and wound up trying to talk to their offshore tech support. They had no info worth having, couldn't help me, so I returned the PDA for my money back. I've also had to deal with Toshiba's support recently. They weren't too terrible once you got to them, but the accent was horrible to follow (it was offshore, of course) and they kept losing track of the trouble request. Very disorganized.

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Symantec - Product Activation[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#11)
by Anonymous User on Thu Sep 04, 2003 at 10:01:48 AM PDT

I recently downloaded the trial version of Norton AntiVirus (with full intention of recommending it for purchase to my sister-in-law) when the 15 day trail prematurely expired after 1 day! Unfortunately NAV had quarantined the infected files and would no longer allow me to review the as the "trial period" was over. After several emails to Symantec, thier response was essentially -- oh well. The mechanism which had disabled the software permaturely could not be overcome. Of course I could always purchase the software and return it if I was not satisifed. To late ... I was already not satisfied, and they didn't care! What can the future hold for users of Norton AntiVirus 2004 who get the same 15 days grace to activate the product. I guess they could buy another copy and try again. :(

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Adobe[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#12)
by Anonymous User on Thu Sep 04, 2003 at 10:04:30 AM PDT

I can't believe that anyone would vote for Adobe with their continued high prices and unfriendly copy protection.

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Symantic[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#13)
by alicemm on Thu Sep 04, 2003 at 10:07:37 AM PDT

I have their product at home. I tried to renew my subscription last year and I could not find the code on my PC to renew the subscription nor could I get a hold of a live person to call. I ended up buying the new 2003 product at Bestbuy. To purchase it online and downloaded it would have taken hours.

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Symantec YUCK...[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#53)
by Anonymous User on Tue Sep 09, 2003 at 07:06:51 PM PDT

Boy I wish I could vote for someone good on the list. The only one that really worked with me was IBM. I got on a first name basis with the folks in Raleigh. Yeah, I have NAV... the better of two evils. My subscription was to expire in a month. I was going put it off until the last minute. The Live Update kicked in and sent me to the subscription page. I didn't want to do it with two weeks to go. It wouldn't let me navigate anywhere else so I was torqued. I then found a phone number for customer service in the bay area. I called, hit the recording that said they were going to charge me $10.00 for the privilege of talking to a live person to take my money for an update (lessons from Ticket Master?).... I was pissed. I talked to the representative who picked up the phone. Asked to talk to a supervisor and I was informed that she would need to get "Permission" to have a supervisior call me. Now I'm really pissed. The next day a representative did call, he got an ear full from me regarding service and future customers. We did get things corrected. P.S. Don't ever expect an uninstalled version of NAV to re-install cleanly ever again.

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Dell - why do they keep buying????[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#14)
by Anonymous User on Thu Sep 04, 2003 at 10:08:22 AM PDT

In the article, one reader is quoted as saying : "What is going on here? In my experience, 40-50% of the notebooks we buy from Dell have serious problems..." I would suggest that, rather than ponder the mysteries of satisfaction surveys, the reader vote with his feet and find a supplier with a less shameful defect rate. If I bought and typically found that fully a half of what I purchased was problematic, I wouldn't be lining up yet more purchase orders for the Dell folks, believe me. Why are you? Be brave and break away from the homogenous 'everybody buys Dell' model and do what is truly right for your company.

[ Reply to This ]

Why I keep buying Dell[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#33)
by wantobe on Fri Sep 05, 2003 at 05:47:13 AM PDT

I agree with you that any person who experiences that many problems should probably find a different vendor. That being said, I've been buying Dell's for my users for quite a while now and have had over all a positive experience with them (Dell, not the users.)

Few machines, laptop or desktops, have had out-of-box problems, and those few that have were handled immediately when I called tech support. If there are hardware problems I either can't fix (laptops) or don't want to take the time to work on because of other things I have going on, I call tech support and someone is here by the next business day and it gets fixed.

As I mentioned in another post, I've had annoyances with their tech support at times, but nothing like the things I've heard others here gripe about. In fact, most of the people I talk to in my area who buy Dells also report mostly good things about their tech support.

My biggest beef is with their last two advertising campaigns; the "..you're getting a Dell" farce and the newest one with the "interns." If I ever consider not recommending Dells to others, or not buying them myself, it would be because of their commercials.

http://www.miles-pc.com/
Rob Miles
--
There are 10 kinds of people in the world; those who understand binary and those who don't.
[ Parent | Reply to This ]

Dell Experiences[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#15)
by Anonymous User on Thu Sep 04, 2003 at 10:09:03 AM PDT

After reading about recent customer experiences, I consider myself luck to still have a good impression of Dell. I've owned 5 or 6 Dell systems (laptop & desktop) over the past few years. I've had a handful of hardware problems, some as recently as last month and continued to have good luck with prompt resolution of the problems. Perhaps the problems should not have occurred in the first place, but it has been comforting that I've always been able to get service and/or replacement parts to fix things within a day or two.

[ Reply to This ]

Re: Dell Experiences[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#42)
by Anonymous User on Tue Sep 09, 2003 at 11:24:02 AM PDT

I have purchased over 40 Dell systems in the last 5 years and have had very few problems. The rare hardware failures (3) I have had were resolved by the next day, and they will send parts to me rather than having to wait for someone to come in and replace it. I used to buy Gateway until tt took me almost a week to convince them the video card was bad in a system I bought from them, which was also the last one. Another interesting incident with Gateway tech support; back around 1997 I downloaded and installed a BIOS update from their web site. The system wouldn't boot, I called support, they asked me what I did, I told them about the BIOS update, and they told me they couldn't support this issue because Gateway tech had not told me to install the update! I asked they why it was in their downloads section where anybody could get it, and why there were no warnings of any sort. They wouldn't even talk to me about it. I restored the original BIOS and was fine, but I wonder how many not-to-savvy people trashed their systems because of this. This was around the same time as the video card deal.

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Dell: variable across product lines?[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#16)
by Anonymous User on Thu Sep 04, 2003 at 10:12:23 AM PDT

All the Dell equipment (Optiplex and Lattitude lines) has worked flawlessly out of the box, and customer service interactions (all through their website) have been fast, efficient and pleasant. Even talking to live reps to cancel a large order was quick & easy. I have noted through other tech discussion groups that the Inspiron line is less "sturdy" and not able to withstand real-world useage and that the Optiplex line is more trouble free than some Dell (or other manufacturer's) products. Since these folks manage IT departments covering 100's of machines, I've followed their common wisdom in picking machines & haven't been disappointed. Since there seems to be such disparity within a single company, it would be interested to poll a level deeper and see how customer service measures across product lines.

[ Reply to This ]

GREAT idea[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#37)
by spocko on Fri Sep 05, 2003 at 10:31:40 AM PDT

Then that way we could help pinpoint where they are having problems. If the laptop area is the real problem then people can move to another better laptop.
Spocko. Author of www.spockosbrain.com the blog that is sweeping the nation! Now with 19 readers!
[ Parent | Reply to This ]

I picked HP, but...[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#17)
by Anonymous User on Thu Sep 04, 2003 at 10:23:35 AM PDT

HP has apparently done a poor job in supporting its consumer oriented mass-market machines. On the other hand... I was having trouble with a 2nd hand corporate machine, and a tech spent an hour helping me isolate the problem to a bad CPU; on another occasion, I received helpful support (and a free cartridge when a suggested test wasted one) on an ink-jet printer. Their on-line documentation is superb.

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Poll opinion[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#18)
by lmrestec on Thu Sep 04, 2003 at 10:41:55 AM PDT

The list is interesting and, of course, incomplete. I refrained from voting because of that.

Thinking about it, time frame, and reasons for (or not) dealing with a company also matter. Tossing my comments in on each - maybe it will help formulate a better poll.

Adobe: Seem to always have minor compatibility issues here and there.
AOL: I never recomend them, nor use them - I'm a tech!
Apple: No use - no opinion. Users seem generally happy when I run into them.
BEA: No use - no opinion.
CompAssoc: No use - My past encounters w/them make them seem like a 5000lb gorilla to deal with, though.
Cisco: Like dealing with a proxy - no give or take. Products generally do what I want, reliable, though.
Dell: Minimal use, average mileage.
EMC: No use - no opinion.
Gateway: Generally okay service, but then, I know how to talk tech with their support, and get around that weenie with a troubleshooting checklist in front of him.
HP: Compaq server support was better. Had to turn in two of their sales contact reps to their own customer support to get them to remove me from mailing lists.
IBM: Haven't needed support in awhile. But good when I needed it.
Intuit: Less than average, and that only from contact with the web site in the past 2-3 years.
Microsoft: How many critical bugs? You need training to get anything useful out of their KB. I gave up trying to call them on anything years ago. It's a Borg cube.
Network Associates: I maintain a current support contract, so they like me, somewhat. I wish they would upgrade some of their tools in a useful way. They know this, ask me for my opinion in surveys, but ultimately don't care.
Oracle: No use - no opinion.
SAP: No use - no opinion.
Siebel: No use - no opinion.
Symantec: Haven't used in awhile. One of their AV/PCAW/etc linked dll's gave me constant grief years ago, and I've pulled away from thier products ever since.
Verisign: Is anybody home? Besides an evil AI computer out to gobble all the bits on the Internet, I mean?
Veritas: Average. Remember when they (as Seagate) ate all the small backup software vendors back when - I'm looking for the cycle to start over soon...

Missing:
Novell - It runs and runs, and the KB is easy to use and always there to learn from. The few bugs they have are way less troublesome. Support has always good.
Quantum - Poor. I have 2 SNAPs that won't do what their rep said they could do, and I had a witness on the phone at the time (my account rep at the reseller).
Intel - Just missing from the list, IMHO.
ATI - Offerers of the unrelated, but canned response, all available on the website FAQ. Went to the reseller support for the help and RMA.
Vorizon Labs - They're like sharks. Don't give them any of your water to swim in.
Insight - (Reseller) Haven't had need to use their support much. No current opinion.
CDW - (Reseller) Have had good results lately.

Probably a good idea to do a seperate list for the resellers.

[ Reply to This ]

yes[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#76)
by maderikapapa on Fri Jun 27, 2008 at 07:38:21 PM PDT

None of the above.[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#19)
by Anonymous User on Thu Sep 04, 2003 at 11:23:23 AM PDT

I have dealt w/ 12 of the listed companies * I would not vote for any of them. IBM maybe because they will talk to me and our ThinkPads have been performed pretty well. However, I recently bought three IBM computers over a period of about 12 months for one client and all three hard drives have now failed!

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Subjective by experience[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#20)
by Anonymous User on Thu Sep 04, 2003 at 11:25:10 AM PDT

As will any opinion would be, our responses are based on our experiences with those in the list. Out of that list, the company that I've had most "warm fuzzies" with was Dell. That isn't saying however that I disagree that Dell is slipping in some major ways as far as customer service/support goes. Having said that, I just had one of the most frustrating experience with Gateway's technical (or lack there of) support.

[ Reply to This ]

Satisfaction survey[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#21)
by Anonymous User on Thu Sep 04, 2003 at 11:30:11 AM PDT

Unfortunately, your poll will inaccurately over-represent the larger business. If Dell sells 500,000 units and gets 100 selections as best vendor, while company "X" sells 50,000 units and only gets 50 selections, it would appear that Dell is better than company "X" even though the stats prove otherwise.

[ Reply to This ]

Hall of Fame[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#22)
by Anonymous User on Thu Sep 04, 2003 at 11:51:13 AM PDT

We have a couple of hundred Dell PCs, a handful of Dell laptops, and a server room full of Dell servers. And we are pretty happy with their service, and their product. Maybe they treat us better than average, I really cannot tell, but I can count on one hand the number of service calls where I've had to have them come on-site in the last 5 years. They get my vote.

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Best User Service[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#24)
by rdalin on Thu Sep 04, 2003 at 01:27:59 PM PDT

I'm glad for the opportunity to say something really nice about a company. I bought a copy of Adobe Photoshop Album a few months ago based on a favorable review in PC. I installed it, but couldn't get it to work. When I double-clicked on the icon, the splash screen came up but the hourglass never went away. I sent an email off to Adobe's customer service, and was overwhelmed with the response. They first sent me a doctored version of the app which displayed various messages indicating how far along the program was in loading. After I reported back to them, they sent me a test version of the whole thing. When that didn't work, they sent me another one. There were still a few minor problems, but they eventually got it working. I received far more in customer service than the $60 or $70 it cost me to purchase the product. They were really terrific. I have never had an experience even remotely close to this one from any other company.

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Where's SCO?[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#25)
by Jawn on Thu Sep 04, 2003 at 01:28:48 PM PDT

Cisco would be my first pick for the Hall of Shame. Their policy on licensing the OS for their equipment that the user has acquired 2nd hand is disgraceful in its arrogance. But SCO has proven that they can be just as arrogant, (by invoicing business that they think might be using Linux), AND stupid, (by actually expecting that this charade will get them anywhere).

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Re: Where's SCO[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#27)
by Ed Foster on Thu Sep 04, 2003 at 04:05:26 PM PDT

I thought long and hard about adding SCO to the Hall of Shame. I've certainly gotten enough complaints about them to warrant it, but of course with a few exceptions the complaints aren't from SCO customers. As outrageous as SCO's actions are, I don't think I should put a company in the Hall of Shame because it is unpopular with people who aren't its customers.

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I am a dissatisfied SCO customer![ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#58)
by Anonymous User on Tue Sep 16, 2003 at 11:51:41 AM PDT

I bought a copy of Caldera Open Linux (kernel 2.3) a couple of years ago. According to SCO I STILL am required to purchase a Linux license from them. Hmm, let me see if I get this straight. They sold me a product for $30 two years ago but now they want hundreds more from me because they didn't realize how valuable it was. Never mind the fact that by selling these licenses they are committing massive copyright violations. (I.e. even if everything they claim about "misappropriated" code is true the non-misappropriated code is still protected by copyright. By violating the licensing agreement under which that code is distributed they are breaking the law.)

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yes[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#73)
by maderikapapa on Fri Jun 27, 2008 at 07:37:00 PM PDT

IBM[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#26)
by Howling on Thu Sep 04, 2003 at 01:44:06 PM PDT

I voted for IBM because it is the customer server center I called recently that had a knowledgable person answer the phone. He did not try to run me thru a script of tests.

It was a warranty repair of a thinkpad. IBM paid all the freight (all overnights, including a box to send in the computer). The repair was turned arround in a day.

I end up calling tech support for client's systems on a regular basis. I have not seen this level of respect for my knowledge and speed of response at fixing a waranty problem from any other vendor for a long time.

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IBM[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#41)
by Anonymous User on Sun Sep 07, 2003 at 06:13:52 AM PDT

I have to agree with this assessment of IBM's support.

This spring I purchased a R40 ThinkPad. I had a technical question for IBM. I entered my question in their online support application and received a telephone call from a knowledgeable individual just a few minutes after submitting the question.

This is quite impressive for free support that is provided for a full year!

It is also nice to be able to go to the IBM site and get ALL the documentation and drivers for two other OLD IBM PCs I have: 5 years old, and 7 years old! (Try that with a 3 year old Toshiba laptop and you'll be out of luck; as I found when fixing one for a friend.)

In this day and age, it is nice to find a company that provides a level of support that you can count on.

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IBM[ Parent | Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#49)
by Anonymous User on Tue Sep 09, 2003 at 12:58:25 PM PDT

I very much wanted to vote for IBM, but felt that I would be very biased since I work for them. As a consumer (before and during my employment), I have found their products (desktops and laptops) to be superior. Many, many years ago, I started with an IBM PS/1. Finally, when I could no longer avoid the necessity of upgrading, I moved on to three different vendors (motivated mostly by price + the reputation du jour) for my next 3 PC purchases -- with which I had nothing but problems. So my latest PC purchase was again an IBM. A little more expensive, but well worth it compared to all the times I had to do a "partial" restore (and move and recover my own data) on my previous Compaq. Regardless of where I work in the future, I will always purchase an IBM product. Another source of my bias is the service I receive as an employee. We call the same IBM help desk telephone number as any consumer. I don't believe we receive preferential treatment, but rather the same -- one-day turnaround if our PC or laptop is unuseable. If the first person cannot resolve the problem in the first call, it quickly gets escalated to the next level. Since I didn't feel it fair to vote for my employer, I chose SAP. Their software, documentation, training and comitment to excellent customer service has always left with those warm and fuzzy feelings others have mentioned in this poll.

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Apple[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#28)
by andyhuey on Thu Sep 04, 2003 at 04:43:30 PM PDT

I voted for Apple. They haven't always done everything right, but they're way closer than most other companies. No annoying product activation on their OS. Relatively few security holes. And on the hardware side, I've never had a single problem with any of the three Apple computers I've owned.
I have no clue what their end-user support is like, because I've never needed it. I've heard mixed reports.

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Best Service[ Reply to This ] (none / 0) (#29)
by Anonymous User on Thu Sep 04, 2003 at 07:17:51 PM PDT

Like several others, I've opted out of your poll since none of the list bring many warm fuzzies to mind. The only one that comes to mind I'd have considered voting for was Linksys - but now they've been swallowed by Cisco.... have to wait and see on that one. Maxtor was also one that seemed to try... Of course the absolute best defense is to build it right in the first place.. but none of those companies seem to have survived....

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