Apple Customer Loyalty

Where is Apple's customer loyalty? It's in their products. Of course I love all the products I have bought from them and I will continue to buy from them as long as whatever product I buy entices me to do so. (The ipad- no way, i already have an ipod touch). But what frustrates me is that I have made several purchases from Apple over the past few years. I buy itunes music, I buy ipods to play my music on, those ipods get stolen (all my fault-1 from a hotel room, 2 from a party, 2 from my friend) and of course I have to replace my ipod because it is such a cool product and it will play the small fortune's worth of songs i have sitting on my computer(a macbook pro)... (again, from itunes)...then of course I have to make sure my computer is up to date and pay for the OS changes (I'm not sure if $30 was worth snow leopard for what i use my computer for) , my black macbook broke so i got an aluminum macbook then recently a 17' macbook pro. I'm not complaining that I've spent a lot of money on apple products and i certainly don't regret it, but it would really be nice to get some kind of discount or other reward for spending such a huge chunk of change with them. But if something better comes up in the market, I will probably switch. Just because their customer service is average/below average to my standards and their warranties are definitely below average (for higher end products). Basically, the only reason why I continue to buy apple products is the product itself. Verizon had a VIP program for high value customers where the customer gets extra discounts for new phones, discounts on accessories,and lots of other perks. I don't get any perks from apple for continuing to buy from them. Too bad. Because if a competitor comes up with a better product that serves my needs then nothing will keep me from switching.

i can see you wont stay here long Good try at trolling mate lol

rude.

anyways I don't care if this has been brought up before. IM bringing it up NOW. Make sense?

I want other people's opinions on it, I really just want to talk about it.

joshuaren said:

rude.

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Nothing off my back mate .....

If your asking the question on where is Apples customer loyalty, you wont get the answer your looking for in a Apple Enthusiast forum. Apart from that i cant see another question in the babble of a post ..

Sorry if it seems rude ... Its the truth EDIT : and its hard to tell the trolls now. Just a weird post for your 1st post

I know where apple's customer loyalty is. I stated that already. I also said I just want other people's opinions. I'm not necessarily asking a question.

Their customer loyalty is in delivering products to you that don't suck total beach balls. Other companies have to try and entice you into buying more of their stuff by giving you kick backs, like, "no you don't really need this, and you might use it 10% of the time... but we'll give you a kick back of a few bucks so we still make 95% profit off of you and you feel special!" I'd rather just have things that work. Plus an OS upgrade that prepares my machine to run better in the coming years for 30 bucks? I'll take it.

Hey tattooed! Great to see ya back so soon, mate!

Fun times.

joshuaren said:

Just because their customer service is average/below average to my standards and their warranties are definitely below average (for higher end products).

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Well you say Apple's customer service is below your standards? Well what is up to your standards? Steve Jobs ringing you up 3 times a week to ask you if you like your Mac? Seriously your standards are a little high.

As a personal example here is all the customer service I've gotten with my imac so far.

1. I got a personal case number when I bought my imac from the Apple online store. And was assigned an Apple worker just for one imac purchase. And this person did email me like 5 times to make sure everything was ok with my imac. And answered all of my questions very well.

2. Apple geniuses. Well where I live there is no Apple store but all the dedicated re-sellers I've chatted to all knew their stuff very well. Much better then many of the PC sellers I've chatted to. Sure some PC sellers are very wise, but higher % of Mac sellers know their stuff.

And the official Apple store geniuses are very good I've heard. Sure some better then others but heck at least they have that service. As a comparison, try to ring Dell up about an issue, I have once and they told me "Any issue with your computer is not a Dell matter" and told me goodbye. How rude.

3. The Apple website. In my opinion the best website of ant IT company. And their knowledge base is amazing. With the right search you can answer almost any question you have. And half the time they even supply the file to fix your issue.

4. Applecare. Not the cheapest extendend waranty for computers on the market. But one of the most comprehensive. With it you get 2-3 years (3 for computers and 2 for things like ipods) of service and phone support. And the only reason people don't always get it with their Mac, is that Macs on the whole are built so well, that it almost becomes an issue of why bother when the chances are the Mac will just work.

5. Apple has no VIP program for customer support. That is because everyone is entitled to it. Be it an ipod or a imac purchase.

6. Another point about the geniuses. If you purchase from the Apple store in person, you can book in and they'll help you set up your mac for use and even they ahve classes on how to use your Mac or certain applications like iwork and iphoto. Not everyone is computer savvy. And having the help to learn to use it is something a lot of new computer users like to have.

7. A lot of the time Apple do not haggle with customer about faults with their machine. Apple just replaces the part or at times even the whole computer no questions asked. And for free if still under warranty. Other IT companies warranties will get your computer repaired for free, but only after a long arguement convincing them your fault is a genuine fault and that it's not something you caused, or flat out calling you a liar.

I'm sure there are more points to consider. But I think that is a lot already. Apple do a heck of a lot to ensure their customers are happy with their products and with their service. And as you know with 2 identical products, people will always buy from the people with the best customer service. I do not know of any company that does as much as Apple to keep their customers happy. And I haveto say at this none come better than Apple.

And sure switch to another company. You might get a few $ off your next PC if you buy in bulk from them. But would you get any of the 7 points I listed? Heck no. You'd be moving to worse service. And that's why people pay top $ for their Macs. They know a few $ of their mac price goes into the customer service we all love.

I am sure Apple actually put aside money in their yearly budget for improving customer service standards. And it surely pays off. A happy customer is a repeat customer. And a repeat customer makes your company rich.

DarkestRitual said:

Hey tattooed! Great to see ya back so soon, mate!

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Yep thanks mate. Easter long weekend and Rain has a big part

Happy easter all

TM

I am thoroughly satisfied with apple support and the staff where I purchased my macbook pro. I went into an apple store back in August of 09' and dropped 2800.00 dollars by the time I walked out of there. They were thorough and very helpful. Now being in the retail business myself we treat our customers the same. Some of our customers spend anywhere from one dollar to sixty thousand a pop. We treat them fairly and deal with any problems. We give them a quality product. However they usually don't expect more than that.

nice go Tattooed. I believe the loyalty rest within the soul of a great genius bar. I for one only had my mac for 4 months now but I have owned plenty of ipods, my last being the classic. I really stay away from touchscreens bc I break them easy but the products that I am presented with are reliable. The customer service is great, probably the best CS I've seen in a long long time.

Believe the8thark summed it up well enough and better than required.

I vote all the trolls should get a life.

Good thing I'm in a good mood.

I won't be with the next troll post.

And I'd suggest anyone that doesn't want an iPad, don't buy one.

Anyone that doesn't have a need for an iPad, don't buy one.

Anyone that doesn't have a use for an iPad, don't buy one.

That'll teach 'em for coming out with such a useless piece of rubbish.