Who Does Apple Think is Buying iPods?
Recently Choice, an Australian consumer watchdog organization, seriously questioned the iPod’s quality and Apple Australia’s iPod service. In the quest for humor, Choice undermined its own integrity with the implication iPods - all iPods - could be lemons. A line from the report “An iPod is a significant investment, so you don’t want your Apple to be a lemon”. Chortle, chortle.
But as far as I can recall, no iPod has been universally labelled a lemon.
For Choice, an organization that by its very nature challenges the integrity of manufacturers and service providers, it was a moment that questioned its own integrity.
Choice this year established what it calls the “Shonky Awards”. In the introduction to the event (as shown on a video on the Choice website), the presenter says “Welcome to the inaugural Shonky awards where we name and shame the ten worst products of 2006.”
The iPod was among the ten worst products of 2006? Excuse my disbelief. People must be returning them in droves…
Another presenter says “...we celebrate another year of awesomely dud products”. Wow! Think how good the iPod can yet become! The same presenter after reading out the spiel for why the iPod received a Shonky Award, said “In other words the thing is complete junk.” (No wonder they aren’t selling…) Interestingly that line seemed to be followed by a murmur of disagreement from the audience, although the video was edited so I can’t be certain.
I accept that these awards were delivered with the classic Australian tongue-in-cheek, and were somewhat lighthearted and exaggerated, but once this information gets to the consumer, especially via the tabloids, it is reduced to headlines such as “iPods labelled ‘lemons’”.
Not the sort of misinformation any product wants.
Choice awarded the iPod the The Choice iShonk for Dual-level Shonkyness and said of it:
An iPod is a significant investment, so you don’t want your Apple to be a lemon. And if there is something wrong with it, you’d expect an easy repair and warranty service. Podluck.
Level 1. Several readers complained about cracked screens, faulty batteries and problems with sound reproduction.
Level 2. Apple doesn’t allow retailers to handle complaints under warranty (which is their obligation under Fair Trading laws) — you have to send your faulty iPod to Apple yourself via Australia Post. And if they decide the fault isn’t covered by the warranty, you’ll have to foot the entire bill.
Level 1 is a bit iffy, particularly as it implies all iPods. (I’m yet to find anyone who’s had a cracked screen on a shuffle.) Even though these same complaints have been made around the world, the implication of “Several” is that only a small segment of the review audience had these problems. Hardly enough to suggest iPods - all iPods - are lemons.
Level 2 is more interesting because it is likely to cause more ill-feeling towards Apple and the iPod than Apple should risk. Especially with the Zune soon to be released. Australians tend to follow the popular crowd, so were late getting to the iPod party, and equally, will get on the Zune party more readily simply because it’s Microsoft.
My wife works for a retail giant and has customers complain about the problems of getting iPods serviced for the very reason Choice mention. I don’t know about the rest of the world, but the average Aussie consumer wants returns and repairs to be as simple and streamlined as possible. That means handing it to the retailer and saying “Call me when it’s fixed.” Unfortunately, as Choice rightfully point out, Apple doesn’t allow that in Australia.
My wife has even had people offering to give her their iPod as they hate it and are going to chuck it out anyway. Reality is they hate the hassle to get it fixed. If it could be easily repaired and then work fine, they’d have no complaint and probably even talk up iPods and Apple’s service.
All this raises a worrying question: Who does Apple think is buying iPods?
Who are iPods really for? Are iPods actually for people who:
- Are happy to send their iPod to Apple for service
- Can afford the cost if it falls to them
- Are somewhat unquestioning of Apple’s practices
Hmm? It sounds like a description of a faithful Mac user. Are Apple still selling iPods to “Mac” users? That is, assuming iPod users will display the same faithfulness and forgiveness? Surely not.
Apple usually does very well in reports on consumer satisfaction with its service, but that’s like asking a Knicks fan who’s the best basketball team. Apple’s forgiving faithful are probably not the best ones to ask how good Apple is at anything.
Whereas, PC users are less forgiving and faithful because they have choice. If they get jerked around by Dell, they can go buy HP, Lenovo, Gateway, Acer or whatever. Apple Mac users don’t have that choice and so, having to either take it or leave it, usually take it on the chin, eventually growing blind to Apple’s failings.
The iPod crowd though aren’t the same, despite Apple’s attempts to create an iPod or nothing mentality and therefore that same faithfulness in iPod users.
Most iPod users come from a Windows background and want and expect choice. So when they discover the hassle of getting an iPod serviced, they will have no qualms about switching.
The one thing the Choice Shonky award does highlight is Apple (in Australia at least) is taking its iPod customers for granted, customers that don’t posses any sense of loyalty or faithfulness to Apple. With the Zune on the horizon, that disrespect could yet be Apple’s greatest mistake.
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Comments
Zoom a Zoom Zoom Zoom, and a boom boom… the Zune can’t get up.
Warrenty coverage is something everyone wants and no one wants to use, no matter how easy it is. If you have to use the warrenty coverage, you have a serious problem and almost always a disatisfied customer until it’s working again. The only way to win is to not break in the first place, and iPods are known to be among the most reliable products on the market, with an extremely vocal user base.
Zune’s going to be expensive too. And MS doesn’t have the same kind of public image Apple does. I mean to point out that ask a 1,000 random Americans about MS and Apple and Apple wins the popularity contest every time. I’m sure it’s the same in most if not all other countries they’re both in.
The only exception I’ve run into is when I’m in groups of MCSE types who haven’t been exposed to Macs in any significat manner. But even they don’t think badly of Apple on average, just more highly of MS.
Zune’s a wanna be at this point. They won’t have a chance unless they seriously loose money for a couple years. iPods are deeply entrenched as the market leaders. Look at the Xbox vs PlayStation battle for an example of how this competition is likely to play out.
And it’d be really hard to belive MS could make something as easy to use as the iPod. Xbox probably qualifies, but that’s definately an exception for MS. Ease of use is the biggest factor in usability. And who’s going to buy something they barely use?
But to Play Devil’s advocate (no pun intended), MS could have highered the right tallent to design and build the Zune and given them enough space to do it their way instead of the classic MS way. They may even have their act together enought to make it Mac Compatible. You heard me right, if that’s where the competition is, leave no place for them to regroup. They did it with MS Office, and recently has anything come close to competing with MS Office. Beat them completely or they could make a comeback.
Wm
Chris, I think I understand the point you are trying to make - that is that Apple have been able to get away with poor service for years, and Apple diehards have had no choice but to put up with it. But now that there is a competitor from Microsoft, Apple will have to lift their game, or else they will lose business to Microsoft.
If I am right about the point you are making, then I have to say i disagree with you totally, for three reasons:
1. Apple consistently come out on top of customer satisfaction surveys. There is no evidence of dissatisfaction “writ large” in the Apple customer base. Far from it.
2. Microsoft support is woeful and anyone who uses Windows and has tried to get support from Microsoft will already have experienced this.
3. Support, even if it is poor, is only part of the picture. Firstly it only affects the small minority who have a problem with their iPod and need to send it back to Apple. Secondly, the whole user experience covers the design of the device; the useability of iTunes; the convenience of the iTunes Store; the integrated functionality of the iPod and iTunes; the huge array of accessories and options for iPod; the incorporation of iPod interfaces in new car models; etc etc etc.
I believe your basic premise (that Apple support is poor) is wrong, and I also believe your assessment of what this might mean in the face of competition from Zune is also wrong.
Sorry. 0 marks out of 10 from me this time… A tough crit i know - but if you are going to put yourself out there as a commentator your views have to stand up to scrutiny. And they just don’t on this occasion, at least as far as this reader is concerned!
Apple consistently come out on top of customer satisfaction surveys. There is no evidence of dissatisfaction “writ large” in the Apple customer base. Far from it.
Talk about Mac-tardation. Chris and others have made the point quite clearly that Apple consistently scores high in customer satisfaction because their customer base are UNUSUALLY loyal and VERY, VERY slow to criticize. And in some cases, like yours, utterly incapable of it.
It’s why, btw, Bush scores high job approval ratings among Republicans. Does that mean that he’s doing a great job? Or is there something else at play there?
Oh dear BB. Same old, same old…
1. No evidence is presented here to support the theory that Apple iPod owners are unusually loyal or unusually slow to criticise. Even if they were, if they like Apple support, they like Apple support. They are not likely to run off to Microsoft’s Zune so the argument is fallacious.
2. Your personal barb is wide of the mark and meaningless - you distribute poisonous comments with such frequency that you have debased your own currency. As for my ability to criticise Apple, try me! But you’ll have to give me a better reason to criticise Apple than customers who prefer to give their iPod back to the retailer because it is simply too hard to address an envelope…
3. Since you evidently haven’t been following the news, George Bush’s job approval is at an all time low, even among Republicans.
4. I read a post the other day which said that your bad attitude concealed some worthy contributions to the debate. I thought the writer too kind - I haven’t noticed much if any contribution to the debate in any of your posts… But then I usually skim your posts: the poisonous personal nature of your commentary reveals too much of your own inadequacies and unhappiness to make comfortable reading…
LOL, Sydneystephen…. you’re almost as harsh as BB, except he was asking for it. Hope he likes it.
Wm
No evidence is presented here to support the theory that Apple iPod owners are unusually loyal or unusually slow to criticise.
Challenged as you are by both facts AND logic, I’ll start again, and I’m going to include the analogy once again to politics.
According to Rasmussen, Bush’s approval numbers among Republicans is 81%. That’s astonishingly high, wouldn’t you say? So whether that’s the “all time low” you claim is kind of moot.
Now, according to you, this PROVES that he’s doing a good job. Just look at the high approval of his uncritical, adoring base!
The customer surveys you mention (without your citing the kind of “evidence” you demand from others) are for Apple’s customer service, which includes all Apple products, not just iPods. I agree that the iPod base at large is not comprised for the most part of a bunch of quivering, blind automatons like you and many other Mac users are. But the loyalty of the significant Mac base is still more than enough to skew the results.
The point here is simply to illustrate that the results of the customer surveys in regards to Apple are highly questionable, not to prove anything conclusively one way or the other. And therefore citing those surveys to proof a larger point (as you do) would render that larger point equally questionable.
But you’ll have to give me a better reason to criticise Apple than customers who prefer to give their iPod back to the retailer because it is simply too hard to address an envelope…
A better reason than Apple shipping a virus on iPods and blaming Microsoft, which you called “exactly the right” thing to do. A better reason than Apple’s anti-competitive DRM. A better reason than Apple’s backdating of stock options. A better reason than Apple stealing/copying features from other software/OS’s. A better reason than Steve Jobs lying about the video iPod.
What DOES it take to actually get you to criticize Apple if not any of this? Would Steve Jobs actually have to torture someone, or like the Bush supporters, would you find a way even to justify that?
Stephen, the point? Apple need to respect and understand its iPod customers.
But, okay, let’s look at how the article arrives at that point:
1) Choice have suggested Apple are making it harder for customers to get iPods serviced than it should - by law - be.
2) This is backed up by what my wife who works for a large retailer is hearing from disgruntled customers going through her checkout
3) Apple in the past has had a very loyal customer base who are more tolerant of problems than you would otherwise expect
4) Apple appear to be assuming iPod customers will be just as loyal.
5) iPod customers are not guaranteed to be loyal as they come from a different background and expectation.
6) Apple need to respect and understand its iPod customers.
This is the 21st Century and retailers try to make warranty claims as easy as possible. To that end they allow you to return the product to them - in fact, many warrantees actually tell you to do that. KMart, BigW, Harvey-Norman, Retravision. All the big retailers I’ve dealt with work that way, so I’m surprised you say most warrantees require you to return the product to the manufacturer.
This year we’ve been cursed and had almost every appliance in our house crap itself - kettle, dishwasher, DVD player, washing machine, microwave and so on. In every case where a the product was under warranty, we dealt with the retailer. In some cases it was a straight swap, in some it was money back, and in others it was repaired. But again, it was the retailer, not the manufacturer we dealt with.
So either the big retailers practice good customer service, or Choice is right about there being a law that Apple is breaking.
Also, (I’m surprised Beeb didn’t take you to task on this) I am greatly concerned by your description of customers who want to take the easy path on warranty claims as being “faulty customers”. Interestingly, that is though the same sort of attitude I am concerned Apple is displaying.
And I love this argument: 2. Microsoft support is woeful and anyone who uses Windows and has tried to get support from Microsoft will already have experienced this.
That’s exactly what my kids do. If you’re in trouble, try and get someone else in trouble too so then it doesn’t make you look as bad.
MUM: Johnny, you know you’re not allowed to play ball in the house and now you broke the vase.
JOHNNY: What about Timmy? He was playing ball in the house yesterday. Why aren’t you mad at him too?
MUM: We’re not talking about yesterday or Timmy.
I accept that MS has its own problems but it’s Apple we’re talking about. And if MS lets the retailer handle Zune problems, they’ll be ahead of Apple on that count.
I DID read that, Chris, and I forgot about it among the myriad of other vomitoria from Stephen that always add up to the same thing: Apple is faultless.
Shifting blame to the customers, or Microsoft, or Dell, or anyone else as long as its away from Apple is par for the course.
With customers like that, is it any wonder they do so well in surveys?
I accept that MS has its own problems but it’s Apple we’re talking about. And if MS lets the retailer handle Zune problems, they’ll be ahead of Apple on that count.
Here in the states, it wouldn’t be a matter of LETTING the retailers deal with it. If Best Buy is any indication, they don’t WANT to deal with it. Before sending my aforementioned DVD player back to the manufacturer, I took into Best Buy where it was purchased. The snarky asshole Best Buy manager (or is that redundant?) made it a point that there was no BB logo on it and therefore it was not his problem.
I don’t think Apple is worse than anyone else in this regard; they are certainly no better. Overall I find customer support in the tech retail industry to be horribly inadequate.
SS said: 1. No evidence is presented here to support the theory that Apple iPod owners are unusually loyal or unusually slow to criticise. Even if they were, if they like Apple support, they like Apple support. They are not likely to run off to Microsoft’s Zune so the argument is fallacious.
Actually, my article suggested Apple Mac users, not Apple iPod users, as being unusually loyal. In fact, I’m suggesting iPod users could be more fickle and hence my whole point of why Apple should be careful. So your point is irrelevant.
Torture will not be necessary. We will leave that to the Republicans in the white house…
I grant you Rasmussen’s survey shows Bush is still popular amongst Republicans. But I caution you that these surveys are often slanted to produce the results that the pollsters want to achieve. For instance:
About half of Republicans say Bush’s policies have improved morality in America (53%), the economy (51%), public education (49%), the tax system (48%), and relations with allies (46%). Fewer Republicans offer positive assessments of Bush’s policies in other areas, saying instead that he made things neither better nor worse. But even Republicans are critical when it comes to how Bush’s policies have affected the federal budget deficit; nearly half (47%) say his policies have made the deficit worse, just 12% think he has improved the situation.
This from a survey late last year. If you ask the question the right way, you will get the answer you want.
If America votes the Democrats back into control of one or both houses, this will be an unchallengeable critique of George W Bush. And my money is on a Democrat-controller Reps, and maybe the Senate also…
But, in any case, the Republican/Bush support analogy is a poor one. The Apple customer base for iPods is 75% of the portable music device market worldwide and even higher in the USA. It is a HUGE customer base and unlikely to be distorted by the small number of Mac afficionados who own iPods. Chris’s premise remains wrong, and your argument does not change the fundamental flaws in his argument. The iPod base is “everyman”, and iPod customers like Apple support, even if Chris doesn’t. This is simply NOT an issue of Apple relying on diehard Apple fans, from a previous era, who are prepared to put up with crap support! Come one - this is just NONSENSE…
The other problem here is that the argument over whether Apple should or should not involve the retailers in the “mail back to Apple” process is just plain silly. I have worked in IT support and service most of my working life. There is NO advantage in having a retailer involved in the repair process that I can see. Apple’s policy is actually the best way to provide a high level of customer service. As I pointed out, there is nothing to stop the retailer doing the mailing on behalf of their client should they wish - but it bestows no advantage…
As for the iPod virus. It WAS a Windows bug. It was transmitted to the iPod from a WINDOWS machine. It can ONLY be transmitted to another WINDOWS machine. And it was only possible because the iPod was configured to work as a WINDOWS hard drive. It was NOT an iPod virus. As a WINDOWS disk device, the iPOD could only be protected by a WINDOWS antivirus programme whle connected to the infected machine.
I am sure Apple were embarrassed by the incident - and they did admit to disappointment that they had shipped units infected with the virus. But, and I emphasise this, it was NOT an iPod virus - it was a WINDOWS virus.
I have received viruses from every major vendor over the years. Sometimes by email, sometimes on floppy disk, sometimes on CD’s of drivers etc. This has been a plague of WINDOWS systems for years, and remains so.
If a farmer unwittingly carries a bovine virus from one farm to another in the mud on his boots do you hold the bootmaker accountable?
Your post, for a change, was remarkably sensible BB, except that you lost it in the last sentence. Still, an achievement of sorts…
Beeb said: Here in the states, it wouldn’t be a matter of LETTING the retailers deal with it. If Best Buy is any indication, they don’t WANT to deal with it.
Hmm? We must be lucky in Australia. And it further suggests it is the law here.
Stephen and others who suggest there is no evidence of a forgiving and faithful Apple customer base. Just hang around any Mac site and try suggesting that Apple could be doing something better.
Chris:
1. I dont believe Apple are breaking the law.
2. There is nothing to stop a retailed mailing the iPod on behalf of a customer if they choose to do so.
3. In my book a “faulty customer” is one who hands over a $300 iPod and buys a Zune because they can’t be bothered to buy an envelope and stamp.
4. Mac users make up a small proportion of iPod users. And iPod users, in all the surveys I have seen, are generally happy with Apple support. There is no evidence that Apple are relying on Mac users to put up with substandard support.
5. What makes you think Apple dont know their iPod customers? Sounds like an unsupported assumption to me. Evidence?
6. The support is not substandard nor atypical. It is the retailer who is breaking the law if they refuse to accept the product for repair. They could argue, in court, that they were merely following the manufacturer’s instructions, but this would not indemnify them from the consequences of being in breach f the relevant consumer legislation. And they would have to prove it. I can guarantee that Apple’s warranty states :“insofar as permitted by applicable legislation”...
But the BEST, most EFFICIENT, method of effecting a repair is to have the end user mail the iPod back to Apple.
7. The surveys I have seen were about iPods, not Apple Macs.
8. Did you check the Olympus website? I am sure you can still take your Olympus to harvey Norman but why would you want to?
Summary (its 5pm in Sydney and I’m outa here…)
- Apple service is fine.
- Retailers are obliged to handle repairs in most australian states, but why would you want them to?
- Apple are not taking anyone for granted
- Tell your wife to call me next time someone wants to give her an iPod needing repair under warranty
Have a nice weekend - I’m off to Byron Bay…
You too BB.
But I caution you that these surveys are often slanted to produce the results that the pollsters want to achieve.
If you ask the question the right way, you will get the answer you want.
So surveys aren’t to be trusted at ALL? Doesn’t that only further undermine your argument that cites a SURVEY (albeit vaguely with no real numbers or “evidence”) to prove a larger point about Apple’s customer service?
If surveys aren’t to be trusted at all, then who’s to say that Apple even rates at the top of customer service surveys in the first place?
The Apple customer base for iPods is 75% of the portable music device market worldwide and even higher in the USA. It is a HUGE customer base and unlikely to be distorted by the small number of Mac afficionados who own iPods.
Again, Apple customer service surveys encompass more than the iPod. And the rabidly loyal and uncritical base that includes the likes of yourself and many, many others certainly would skew those numbers in a very big way.
If a farmer unwittingly carries a bovine virus from one farm to another in the mud on his boots do you hold the bootmaker accountable?
You criticize MY analogy and then you come up with this?!
It’s funny that you respond to my accusation of blindly defending of Apple by…blindly defending Apple. In what way does this disprove my point? It’s almost as if you were completely out of touch with reality.
Btw, in your analogy, Apple is the farmer, not the bootmaker. And you can sure as shit bet that if people get sick, they aren’t blaming the cow.