Comments on: Satisfy customers, make money

A new study draws a direct correlation between keeping customers happy and making big money.

[wazzledoozle]

No shit sherlock

In other news, a new study has concluded people like to play outside on sunny days.

Study that too!

I don't know Hank, you might need to do a study on that to confirm it.

Bull****

Look at what Microsoft is doing and you'll find this study to lack. Theyre not satisfying customers and yet make big money.

[wazzledoozle]

Uh

Windows XP is well worth the money if you like to play PC games.

Get back to me once linux can match windows in that department (and many others)

[wazzledoozle]

Thougt I should also add this

http://www.linneberg.com/rpgpics/xpoverlinux.png

Funny thing is linux still cant match an almost 5 year old operating system.

[folsco]

What?

"MS is not satisfying their customers"? How true is that? You suck for that. Microsoft is satisfying me; and i'm their evergreen customer.

Take my word or leave it.

[Razzl]

Big logical fallacy here

The automatic assumption by the authors of the study that companies making a lot of money, such as Google, are satisfying their customers is maddeningly naive. Everyone knows that the biggest moneymakers in tech--Google, Microsoft, and eBay--are monopolists that are widely hated by a significant portion of their customers and have big public relations problems which are not affecting their bottom line. THAT is a phenomenon worth studying, but perhaps by people with degrees from a real business school.

One important feature of business models of these moneymaking monopolists is that they have 2 customer bases: the ones who pay them directly for their services and the ones who receive their services through their mediation. If we look at Google, eBay, and UPS (to throw in one of my favorite bad guys) we see companies which make big profits from their primary clients while treating the secondary clients shabbily, which may not be hurting their bottom line but is hurting their image among the secondary clients. Time will tell...

[Llib Setag]

Customer Service: Apple UP / Dell DOWN (IDG News)

Study: Dell customer rating plunges, Apple leads pack
IDG News Service 8/16/05

Tom Krazit, IDG News Service, San Francisco Bureau
U.S. consumers lambasted Dell Inc. for poor customer service in
a survey conducted last quarter, sending the world's largest PC
vendor into a virtual tie with the rest of the PC market behind
the industry-leading efforts of Apple Computer Inc.

Component costs rising, but PC prices won't
Pirated version of MacOS for x86 available for install
HP preparing the next wave of wireless iPaqs

Mutual Fund Transfer Agency Technology: Migrating from
Mainframes
Are Blade Servers too Hot to Handle? Strategies for Optimal
Network-critical Physical Infrastructure
Blade Servers: The Case Is Simple

Blade servers from HP ? consolidation and affordability

For the second year in a row, Apple received the best rating from
PC buyers in the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI),
said David Van Amburg, general manager of the ACSI. The
University of Michigan compiles the ACSI in numerous product
categories by randomly calling U.S. residents and surveying their
buying habits, he said.

Apple received a score of 81, compared to an industry average
score of 74, in results released Tuesday. The Cupertino,
California, company's focus on product innovation and customer
service has won it a cadre of famously loyal customers unlike
any other PC vendor, Van Amburg said. Apple also received a
score of 81 in 2004.

Dell, on the other hand, earned a score of 74, down from a score
of 79 the previous year. Survey respondents complained mostly
about the quality of Dell's customer service, not its products,
Van Amburg said. The ACSI doesn't ask specific questions about
the type of problems customers are having with a company, but
customers were clearly more frustrated with the Round Rock,
Texas, company than last year, he said.

A few recurring complaints were the length of time on hold with
Dell customer-service representatives, as well as the quality of
the help customers eventually received, Van Amburg said. Dell
has started to expand its lead over Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) in
PC shipments, and sometimes when market leaders increase
their product shipments they fail to increase service capabilities
at the same rate, he said.

Dell announced plans to open two new customer service centers
last week, but company Chief Executive Officer Kevin Rollins
denied that Dell was having customer service problems.

The ASCI tracks HP's customer satisfaction in two categories,
partly because HP's U.S. consumer PC business is divided
between two different product lines and partly to provide
historical comparisons for the performance of the products
before HP acquired Compaq in 2002. HP-branded products
received a score of 73, while Compaq-branded products were
rated the lowest of any vendor with a score of 67.

The HP-branded products have now regained the customer
satisfaction score they posted before the merger, while the
Compaq products have continued to languish well below the rest
of the industry, Van Amburg said. HP is looking into its two-
brand strategy as it searches for opportunities to cut costs under
Chief Executive Officer Mark Hurd, and some analysts believe it
might be time to cut the Compaq PCs from its lineup.

Gateway Inc. posted the largest increase in customer satisfaction
last year after its acquisition of eMachines, but slipped a bit
from 74 to 72 this year. However, that difference is within the
survey's margin of error of three points, Van Amburg said.

Overall customer satisfaction with the PC industry remains well
below the scores received by other consumer-product industries
such as household appliances and automobiles. Despite all the
work the PC industry has done to try to make their products
easier to use, customers are still frustrated by PC technology,
Van Amburg said.

The index measures the buyer's satisfaction with the last PC they
purchased, which allows the ACSI to obtain the freshest
experience, Van Amburg said. It surveyed 250 customers per
company.

Tom Krazit is U.S. correspondent for the IDG News Service.

[Llib Setag]

Customer Service: Apple UP / Dell DOWN (IDG News)

Reply to STORY / Not to Reader Response....

Story: Satisfy customers, make money
Study: Dell customer rating plunges, Apple leads pack
IDG News Service 8/16/05

Tom Krazit, IDG News Service, San Francisco Bureau
U.S. consumers lambasted Dell Inc. for poor customer service in
a survey conducted last quarter, sending the world's largest PC
vendor into a virtual tie with the rest of the PC market behind
the industry-leading efforts of Apple Computer Inc.

Component costs rising, but PC prices won't
Pirated version of MacOS for x86 available for install
HP preparing the next wave of wireless iPaqs

Mutual Fund Transfer Agency Technology: Migrating from
Mainframes
Are Blade Servers too Hot to Handle? Strategies for Optimal
Network-critical Physical Infrastructure
Blade Servers: The Case Is Simple

Blade servers from HP ? consolidation and affordability

For the second year in a row, Apple received the best rating from
PC buyers in the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI),
said David Van Amburg, general manager of the ACSI. The
University of Michigan compiles the ACSI in numerous product
categories by randomly calling U.S. residents and surveying their
buying habits, he said.

Apple received a score of 81, compared to an industry average
score of 74, in results released Tuesday. The Cupertino,
California, company's focus on product innovation and customer
service has won it a cadre of famously loyal customers unlike
any other PC vendor, Van Amburg said. Apple also received a
score of 81 in 2004.

Dell, on the other hand, earned a score of 74, down from a score
of 79 the previous year. Survey respondents complained mostly
about the quality of Dell's customer service, not its products,
Van Amburg said. The ACSI doesn't ask specific questions about
the type of problems customers are having with a company, but
customers were clearly more frustrated with the Round Rock,
Texas, company than last year, he said.

A few recurring complaints were the length of time on hold with
Dell customer-service representatives, as well as the quality of
the help customers eventually received, Van Amburg said. Dell
has started to expand its lead over Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) in
PC shipments, and sometimes when market leaders increase
their product shipments they fail to increase service capabilities
at the same rate, he said.

Dell announced plans to open two new customer service centers
last week, but company Chief Executive Officer Kevin Rollins
denied that Dell was having customer service problems.

The ASCI tracks HP's customer satisfaction in two categories,
partly because HP's U.S. consumer PC business is divided
between two different product lines and partly to provide
historical comparisons for the performance of the products
before HP acquired Compaq in 2002. HP-branded products
received a score of 73, while Compaq-branded products were
rated the lowest of any vendor with a score of 67.

The HP-branded products have now regained the customer
satisfaction score they posted before the merger, while the
Compaq products have continued to languish well below the rest
of the industry, Van Amburg said. HP is looking into its two-
brand strategy as it searches for opportunities to cut costs under
Chief Executive Officer Mark Hurd, and some analysts believe it
might be time to cut the Compaq PCs from its lineup.

Gateway Inc. posted the largest increase in customer satisfaction
last year after its acquisition of eMachines, but slipped a bit
from 74 to 72 this year. However, that difference is within the
survey's margin of error of three points, Van Amburg said.

Overall customer satisfaction with the PC industry remains well
below the scores received by other consumer-product industries
such as household appliances and automobiles. Despite all the
work the PC industry has done to try to make their products
easier to use, customers are still frustrated by PC technology,
Van Amburg said.

The index measures the buyer's satisfaction with the last PC they
purchased, which allows the ACSI to obtain the freshest
experience, Van Amburg said. It surveyed 250 customers per
company.

Tom Krazit is U.S. correspondent for the IDG News Service