Apple Tech Support Tops HP & Dell’s in Vocalabs Study

Apple reportedly dominates in customer satisfaction with technical support, topping hardware vendors Dell and HP in the latest Vocalabs study on phone-based customer service quality.

Vocalabs is an analytics company which aims to help leading brands improve customer service by collecting feedback about the quality of their customer service.

“We interview customers immediately after a support call, retail store purchase, or website visit while the memory of the experience is still fresh,” Vocalabs (Vocal Laboratories Inc.) says.

“Using our powerful reporting and analysis tools, clients discover and share insights to improve business decisions,” the company claims.

According to its latest published report, Apple’s call satisfaction in 1H 2010 rose by 8 percent compared to 2H 2009. The Cupertino, California-based electronics maker also scored a 6 percent improvement in agent satisfaction.

“Apple now leads Dell and HP by more than 20 percentage points on these key service metrics,” Vocalabs said.

Weighing in on Hewlett Packard’s ability to troubleshoot technical issues over the phone, Vocalabs noted that the company improved problem resolution, while reducing hold times.

HP therefore was able to score impressive gains during the first half of the year.

“Fifty-two percent of HP customers said their problem was resolved on the call, up 8 percentage points from 2H 2009 and 12 percentage points year over year,” reads the Vocalabs report.

“HP also sustained last year’s gains in call and agent satisfaction,” the analytics firm added.

“[Yet] Apple customers remain the most satisfied among those surveyed,” Vocalabs outlined.

According to the survey results, 66% of Apple customers said they were “very satisfied” with the company overall. The results were obtained from telephone interviews conducted immediately following a tech support call during 1H 2010, Vocalabs noted. By comparison, HP scored 44%, and Dell 43%.

Visit Vocalabs here for more information about the company, and its latest study.