Posted on 11/03/2015 8:29:41 PM PST by Swordmaker
Sure, searching Google and YouTube is often helpful for finding answers to your technical problems. But your laptop manufacturer offers tech support, and you should be able to count on it for accurate answers. Based on our extensive undercover testing online and over the phone, Apple emerged as the clear winner for the second time in a row. Microsoft, a newcomer to our Tech Support Showdown with its Surface line, was an impressive runner-up.
We take a comprehensive approach to rating the 10 major laptop brands. Do the support teams know their stuff? Are they pushy about selling you something? Does it take forever to get an answer? If talking on the phone isn't your thing, there's the company website and the possibility of live chat. Most brands will even give you help over Facebook or Twitter, although you shouldn't always expect a timely response.
This year, we noted a general trend toward online-only or online-focused support and away from traditional phone service. In fact, in some cases, the only way to get an answer (or, in some cases, a correct answer) to a question was to go online. Plus, Windows 10 upgrades seem to have thrown some companies for a loop, causing hiccups in the support we received from more than one company. Â
Once again, we found that Apple offers the best tech support in the business. The company's knowledgeable and energetic representatives offered quick and accurate help via prescheduled phone calls as well as live chat. The comprehensive online support pages for specific devices further point to why Apple earned the highest rating. Jumping in on the social front would be helpful, but overall, the company's help is second to none.
Other Windows PC makers could learn a thing or two from Microsoft and the way it offers support for the Surface line. While it was clear that the company prefers customers to seek answers online rather than over the phone, the representatives we interacted with were quick, friendly and accurate. Now, if the callback program improves its time management, the company may give Apple a real run for its money.
While the pool of laptop tech support resources is shrinking, Samsung still beats many of its competitors in terms of depth and breadth. Calls were relatively quick and accurate, and the live chat system was very helpful. Plus, the company has even created its own loyalty-style program that translates to a tiered tech support system.
The Laptop Mag staff doesn't conduct its undercover testing with the goal of stumping a brand; we simply want to gauge the customer experience for ourselves. Armed with three questions (two general and one specific to the brand), we looked for quick and friendly assistance through various channels, as well as a breadth of knowledge.
We sought answers to "How do I set up Hey Cortana," and "How do I change the direction of scrolling on my touchpad?" Then, we tried to find an answer to a question uniquely tailored to each brand. For example, we asked Samsung how to use SideSync software to transfer files from a phone to a laptop over Wi-Fi. For Apple we asked the same touchpad question, but followed up with managing photos in iCloud Photo Library and silencing a single tab in Safari while letting audio play in another. We explored each company's website for answers to these questions, looking for ease of navigation and live chat options. If brands offered any other Web-based help, we tried that, too. We also conducted three phone calls at various times of the day.
Because asking for help is inherently social, we also turned to Facebook and Twitter to seek assistance. While it is true that neither service is part of a company's warranty coverage, the average consumer has started to expect some level of attention through these channels.
Online support is quickly becoming the way to get assistance, with page views on company support sites and forums outweighing the frequency of phone calls. As such, we weighted our grades to favor online and social forms of support (60 out of 100 possible points) more heavily than phone support (40 out of 100 possible points).
Does your experience with your laptop brand line up with our experience? Do you have a tech support horror story to tell? Sound off in the comments, or message us on Twitter @laptopmag.
Ping for dayglored for the Windows ping list. . . quite an honor for Microsoft to get a high rating on Laptop's customer service rating.
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
From this list in the past, all of the ones listed are far above where some of them used to be in the past. . . Some were down in the 40s, and a few were listed in the 25s. . . So to have the worst listed at a 75.5 overall score is now amazing.
Number two to the perennial leader (Apple) is no small shakes -- Microsoft is showing the rest of the Win-PC industry how it's done!
And who knows... if they keep pushing for the top, next year... ???
Thanks to Swordmaker for the ping!!
Other Windows PC makers could learn a thing or two from Microsoft and the way it offers support for the Surface line. While it was clear that the company prefers customers to seek answers online rather than over the phone, the representatives we interacted with were quick, friendly and accurate. Now, if the callback program improves its time management, the company may give Apple a real run for its money.Something for all of Microsoft's fans and supporters to be proud of. They've got some dynamite hardware products out now, and they're doing something real right here with customer support.
From http://www.laptopmag.com/articles/microsoft-tech-supportThere's a ton more to the article -- check it out: http://www.laptopmag.com/articles/microsoft-tech-supportMicrosoft is a new addition to our Tech Support Showdown for 2015. Although not historically known for making PCs, the company that Gates built now offers four 2-in-1 laptop/tablets. That prompted us to wonder what sort of technical support consumers can expect from the company.
I started with a Surface 3 and a small selection of questions. To put Microsoft's tech savvy to the test, I scoured the company's website for answers, directly asked for help on Twitter and Facebook, and made a few old-fashioned phone calls to tech support. Specifically, I wanted to know, "How do I get Cortana up and running?" and "How do I reverse the scrolling direction of my touchpad?" (We asked these types of questions of all of the PC companies in our Tech Support Showdown.) Then, I got Surface-specific by asking, "How do I pair my Surface Pen to a Surface 3?"
I started off by looking for answers to each question based on materials available on Microsoft's website — and boy, there was a wealth of resources to go through! Microsoft has FAQs, forums, instructional guides and more, which answered many questions before I needed to reach out for additional help.
The heart of Microsoft's support system is its online support portal, which you can reach simply by going to Microsoft.com and selecting your specific product from the drop-down menu on the top and then clicking Support. If you scroll down a little more, you can click the Answer Desk link to be connected to a live agent. After logging in with your Microsoft account (which is required), you can select a device, describe your problem and then choose between live chat online or a phone call.
For this round, I tasked Microsoft's online chat support with helping me reverse the direction of two-finger scrolling on the touchpad. I was connected immediately to an agent named Nino, who was friendly and direct in dealing with my problem. There was a long, 8-minute wait while he attempted to find the answer to my problem, but when he came back, he gave me quick and precise directions on how to fix my issue by directing me to go to the Settings menu and then open the Mouse and Touch options under the Devices section.
For social media, Microsoft has two accounts for Surface owners to choose from: @MicrosoftHelps and @SurfaceSupport. I started off by asking @MicrosoftHelps about turning on the Windows 10 "Hey Cortana" voice recognition. After an hour, a representative responded, but unfortunately, the link provided was incorrect and pointed to instructional videos about Windows 8.1 (which doesn't even have Cortana). After I pointed out the error, the rep came back with an appropriate response, but the @ForDummies Twitter account beat the rep to it.
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I do not believe any of this. Dell has disappeared, went private and does not give a damn about anyone other than corporate clients. As for the rest, let them make their own bed. It all depends on what you have bought and who you trust.
Surveys are not reliable, a nice way of saying they’re a bunch of crap.
An hour, eh? Calling Apple they warn you about a long wait but invariably their long wait for a human response is about twenty seconds. . .
Dell is seventh down the list. . .
95% of “tech support” just sucks, overall. Some vendors do it MUCH better than others.
Why do you think I posted my comment?
The Alienware division is lightning quick for tech support and the warranty is incredible.
After not being able to totally fix my M18X, they sent me a much newer, much more powerful M18.
Can’t complain about them one bit.
I have time to post on FR, now you want me to play games on a computer? No and no.
Games?
What?
Ah! Gotcha.
.
Is snooping and spying considered Tech support?
.
Do you have any info you can point me to re the new Office10.
I really like Office, and I’ve used it for years.
However, since I’m not planning to have Win10, will I be able to use Office10 ..??
Would appreciate your expertise.
Meh.....
Only if you've approved it in advance.
OBTW, ever read the Windows EULA (End User License Agreement)????
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