Looks like customers contacting Apple’s technical support lines are being turned off by the automated response system with the result that satisfaction levels have fallen 15 percentage points in the last twelve months. When they get through, though, they are happy with the personal service. It’s just the getting through, which has blighted many companies in the past.
Personally I haven’t noticed this and, on balance, feel that Apple’s automated response system is at least as good as most. But according to Peter Leppick of Vocolabs, a Minneapolis-based research company, customers who were “very satisfied” with Apple’s technical support have dropped from 73 percent to 58 percent.
Only 24 percent of respondents said they were “very satisfied”with the automated section of their calls. It’s a new low for Apple and is a huge 28 percentage points below the 52 percent score gained eighteen months ago. Maybe this is one of the costs of success, but it seems to me that it should be relatively easy to fix the automated response system.
Source: Computerworld