Nerve Endings Firing Away

I had the unfortunate opportunity of trying out AppleCare for my MacBook Pro. Few weeks ago, my laptop started making loud whirring noises as if the HDD was in hyper drive ready to take off. After dismissing it couple of times, it worsened with each passing day and my top fear was the HDD crapping out. I had already bought a year’s subscription to Carbonite. I take regular backups on the Time Machine. And I store all my important documents on Dropbox which is continually synced to the cloud and other computers. So data loss was not a concern but that was no excuse to ignore a loud whirring laptop.

On Saturday morning, I finally decide to cash in my AppleCare extended warranty that I had thoughtfully purchased when I bought my laptop. Instead of randomly calling a support number and jumping through loops, Apple encourages you to first log in to their Support section. You enter the serial number of your device which automatically detects if it is in warranty and then proceeds to ask you what the problem is. I tried the Firmware Update that Apple recommended for laptops bought in June 2009 but as soon as I ran the dmg installable file, it told me I didn’t require it. No running through the installation and then realizing it didn’t solve the problem. The next step in Apple Support is brilliant and I wonder why other tech support companies don’t do it. In addition to describing the problem in couple of lines – loud noisy hard disk (four words, thanks to Twitter). I was asked to enter my phone number and have Apple call me instead of vice versa. No waiting, listening to elevator music tearing your hair out, and cursing at on-phone ads.

I get a call from Apple in less than a minute and all I am asked is my name and confirmation number from my support request. The guy is friendly and walks me through some quick tests. He waits patiently until I remove the battery and try to ‘reset’ the laptop. The noise stops for a while so I hang up but he asks me to call them back as soon as it starts back up. The problem is back in minutes so I just log back on with my support ID and get Apple to call me again. The phone rings again in less than a minute and I narrate my tale of woe. This time, the lady doesn’t waste time trying fixes and schedules an empty box delivery ^[1]. Since it is the weekend, the box arrives via overnight delivery promptly on Tuesday. I pack my laptop in and take it back the same day to the FedEx Shipping Center. I receive an email notification next morning that it has reached their service center. The laptop is repaired by afternoon and shipped back in the evening. I receive the box with my repaired laptop Thursday morning at 10:39am. Simply amazing.

After hearing and experiencing horrible customer service, you are blown away by such prompt, quick, and great service. No wonder Apple has been ranked right at the top by Consumer Reports [via]. On laptops, Apple received 86 points out of 100, with Lenovo, my previous laptop coming in second at 63. Toshiba, Dell, HP/Compaq, and Acer/Gateway followed with 60, 56, 53, and 39 respectively ^[2]. For the desktops, Apple scored 87 while the second, Dell managed only 55. HP/Compaq and Acer/Gateway followed with 53 and 39 respectively ^[3].

Apple not only beats its competitors in customer service but blows them out of the water with a 23-32 point advantage. Apple users are reviled as fanboys and I have done my share of mocking but after experiencing such level of professionalism and customer service, you cannot help but be bowled over. Of course, it helps to know that Apple computers are even less likely to fail compared to PCs but when they do, help is quick. Feel free to paint me as a fanboy.

Footnotes:

1. People who live close to an Apple Store can take it in and get it fixed quicker. Update: apparently not, see Supremus’ comment [↩]
2. Based on responses from owners of 3,685 laptop computers. Respondents were Consumer Reports subscribers surveyed online in January 2010. They reported on their most recent experience with contacting their computer manufacturer’s technical support since January 2009. [↩]
3. Want decent customer service? Don’t get an Acer. [↩]