Sporkman
August 14th, 2007, 04:30 PM
http://biz.yahoo.com/bizj/070814/1506166.html?.v=1
Survey: Customers displeased with Dell
Tuesday August 14, 4:08 pm ET
The latest American Customer Satisfaction Index released today finds Dell Inc. in the doldrums.
The index, published quarterly by the University of Michigan's National Quality Research Center, surveys customer satisfaction in different industries.
Dell (NASDAQ: DELL), once the highest-ranked computer business on the index, dropped to one of the PC industry's lowest scores with a 74, down from 78 last year. The score puts Dell back where it was in 2005, when the company's service and support operations were vilified by consumers. The latest score is a plunge from 1999 to 2003, when it was in the survey's top spot. The survey has tracked Dell since 1997.
Apple Computer (NASDAQ: AAPL) scored highest among PC brands with a score of 79 on a scale of 0 to 100. Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) and Gateway (NYSE: GTW) lagged with a score of 75, followed by Dell and Hewlett-Packard's lower-end brand Compaq, which occupied the lowest rank with a score of 73.
Michigan economics professor Claes Fornell analyzed the results in the report's commentary: "Dell's result is not surprising. A year ago, even though the company's [index] score was up, customer service remained an issue, and we noted that the company would need to take significant steps to reverse this trend. However, it appears that any fixes the company may have attempted were short lived. Dell now resides among the lower echelon of measured PC makers."
Dell representatives could not be reached for comment.
Survey: Customers displeased with Dell
Tuesday August 14, 4:08 pm ET
The latest American Customer Satisfaction Index released today finds Dell Inc. in the doldrums.
The index, published quarterly by the University of Michigan's National Quality Research Center, surveys customer satisfaction in different industries.
Dell (NASDAQ: DELL), once the highest-ranked computer business on the index, dropped to one of the PC industry's lowest scores with a 74, down from 78 last year. The score puts Dell back where it was in 2005, when the company's service and support operations were vilified by consumers. The latest score is a plunge from 1999 to 2003, when it was in the survey's top spot. The survey has tracked Dell since 1997.
Apple Computer (NASDAQ: AAPL) scored highest among PC brands with a score of 79 on a scale of 0 to 100. Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) and Gateway (NYSE: GTW) lagged with a score of 75, followed by Dell and Hewlett-Packard's lower-end brand Compaq, which occupied the lowest rank with a score of 73.
Michigan economics professor Claes Fornell analyzed the results in the report's commentary: "Dell's result is not surprising. A year ago, even though the company's [index] score was up, customer service remained an issue, and we noted that the company would need to take significant steps to reverse this trend. However, it appears that any fixes the company may have attempted were short lived. Dell now resides among the lower echelon of measured PC makers."
Dell representatives could not be reached for comment.