Repair company promotes misleading Mac reliability rating
A computer repair company based in New York has issued a report this week claiming that Apple's reliability ranking has dropped precipitously over the past three months compared to other PC makers, using statistics that make little sense.
The company compiled its reliability rankings by comparing the proportional volume of support calls it gets from each PC vendor with the US PC market share of that vendor, resulting in a number that supposedly reflects the overall reliability of a given PC maker's products.
For Apple, that ranking dropped from 700 in December 2008 to the current 324, due to an increase in the proportional call volumes related to Macs at that specific company's outlets while Apple's market share dropped due to a large influx of cheap netbooks flooded the US market over the holidays.
However, the company isn't even authorized to repair Apple's machines, meaning that the calls it gets from Apple customers are most likely to involve either old machines or systems that have been damaged by their owners and therefore not covered under warranty, such as a MacBook exposed to water damage. Neither case reflects the reliability of Apple's hardware.
Additionally, in cases where Apple did ship a defective product, those problems would be covered under warranty, and handled directly by Apple or through the company's network of authorized repair centers. Those repairs would not even be encountered by the company inventing the reliability statistic.
The repair company has also stated that the initial large call volume related to the Windows Vista launch has subsided, indicating that many of the calls it handles relate to software, not hardware reliability. And as Vista-related call volumes go down, the proportion of the Mac related calls will go up, even if the actual number of calls do not, resulting in a "reliability ranking" figure that does nothing but offer misleading sensationalism to headlines.
The company, a franchised chain doing business under the name Rescuecom, has also come under fire from former employees and franchisees which claim the firm engages in unscrupulous business practices. "Everything about that company is dishonest," a former employee told a news reporter covering the allegations, "everything."
The company compiled its reliability rankings by comparing the proportional volume of support calls it gets from each PC vendor with the US PC market share of that vendor, resulting in a number that supposedly reflects the overall reliability of a given PC maker's products.
For Apple, that ranking dropped from 700 in December 2008 to the current 324, due to an increase in the proportional call volumes related to Macs at that specific company's outlets while Apple's market share dropped due to a large influx of cheap netbooks flooded the US market over the holidays.
However, the company isn't even authorized to repair Apple's machines, meaning that the calls it gets from Apple customers are most likely to involve either old machines or systems that have been damaged by their owners and therefore not covered under warranty, such as a MacBook exposed to water damage. Neither case reflects the reliability of Apple's hardware.
Additionally, in cases where Apple did ship a defective product, those problems would be covered under warranty, and handled directly by Apple or through the company's network of authorized repair centers. Those repairs would not even be encountered by the company inventing the reliability statistic.
The repair company has also stated that the initial large call volume related to the Windows Vista launch has subsided, indicating that many of the calls it handles relate to software, not hardware reliability. And as Vista-related call volumes go down, the proportion of the Mac related calls will go up, even if the actual number of calls do not, resulting in a "reliability ranking" figure that does nothing but offer misleading sensationalism to headlines.
The company, a franchised chain doing business under the name Rescuecom, has also come under fire from former employees and franchisees which claim the firm engages in unscrupulous business practices. "Everything about that company is dishonest," a former employee told a news reporter covering the allegations, "everything."
Comments
And, who would have paid attention to this reliability 'report' by some obscure NYC company if it were not highlighted here on AI?
Im sure teckstud would have found it...
Im sure teckstud would have found it...
Behold the new information age, oh my droogie brothers, where fools are forecasters and liars are prophets. Anyone with $400 and access to a Wal-Mart is now a Cumean Sybil, able to leap tall truths in a single bound and spread misinformation around the world faster than a speeding bullet.
The Millennium has truly arrived: We can (and must) believe absolutely nothing we see, hear, or read. Everything is agenda driven. All is propaganda. Repeat any untruth enough times and it becomes etched in stone. Is there no balm in Gilead?
MacMini - So far so good
MacPro - Bad memory carrier(s) - pending
MacBook #1 - Cracked white plastic case at front - replaced
Macbook #2 - So far so good
MacBook Pro #1 - Keyboard backlight & power button failure, frayed wire power adapter - repaired / replaced
MacBook Pro #2 - Hard drive failure, frayed wire power adapter - repaired / replaced
MacBook Pro #3 - So far so good
iPhone #1 - Failed 36 hours after purchase, replaced
iPhone #1b - Dead pixels, pending
iPhone #2 - Failed 2 weeks after purchase, replaced
IPhone #3 - So far so good
iPod Touch #1 - So far so good
iPod Touch #2 - So far so good
13 individual Apple products in the past 24 months and all but 6 have had major issues. Let's not forget the iPhone power adapter recall either. So before we go all Phanboy here, is there the slightest chance that maybe Apple's got a little bit of a problem?
I don't know whether or not Macs are more reliable then PCs, nor do I have any idea about whether or not the company in question is correct when it presents data that shows that it's customers are having more trouble with Macs then PCs. But to simply assume that the data must be incorrect is the height of poor reporting.
Well Kids... Let me just share my personal Apple / Mac experience in the past 24 months on equipment bought during that same period...
MacMini - So far so good
MacPro - Bad memory carrier(s) - pending
MacBook #1 - Cracked white plastic case at front - replaced
Macbook #2 - So far so good
MacBook Pro #1 - Keyboard backlight & power button failure, frayed wire power adapter - repaired / replaced
MacBook Pro #2 - Hard drive failure, frayed wire power adapter - repaired / replaced
MacBook Pro #3 - So far so good
iPhone #1 - Failed 36 hours after purchase, replaced
iPhone #1b - Dead pixels, pending
iPhone #2 - Failed 2 weeks after purchase, replaced
IPhone #3 - So far so good
iPod Touch #1 - So far so good
iPod Touch #2 - So far so good
13 individual Apple products in the past 24 months and all but 6 have had major issues. Let's not forget the iPhone power adapter recall either. So before we go all Phanboy here, is there the slightest chance that maybe Apple's got a little bit of a problem?
Damn, I hope you're some kind of institutional or corporate buyer.
Not to be a Phanboy, but with the exception of some iPhones vs. some Touches and a MacBookPro vs. a nearly ten year old Ruby iMac, I have nearly the same crap as you and a bunch less problems.
There was a memory problem or two and a couple of dead pixels as well, but all in all, the replacement of Windows PCs and Palms with Apple equipment has gone decidedly well in my case.
I am not going to say that everything has been all days of Wine and Roses, because losing Spider Solitaire was definitely a huge issue, but it has been a mostly positive experience.
I have found that Apple's response to any problems has been satisfactory.