Direct-to-buyer PCs rate highest
By Brad Grimes
PC WORLD
PC makers that sell their systems directly have
won the hearts and wallets of consumers. So say
nearly 10,000 PC World readers who rated work,
home and notebook PCs and the companies that
make them.
Some of us don't call certain relatives as often as
Rod Teeple has called Dell's sales line. Teeple, a
former marketing director from Wilmington, Del.,
bought his third Dell PC last October and talks as
if a fourth is in the cards.
"All three have performed almost without
problems," says Teeple.
"And when there has been a glitch, Dell has solved
it promptly. Once the fan drive broke down, and
one of their service people was at my front door
the next day to replace it. Another time I bought an
internal tape backup drive from a local computer
store and called a Dell support rep to walk me
through the installation. He acted as if he had all the
time in the world."
Sounds like a marriage made in digital heaven. In
fact, Dell always receives high ratings from readers
in PC World's PC Reliability and Service survey.
Dell home PC users were so pleased, they gave
the company the only five-star rating for overall
reliability and service in the entire report.
But Dell isn't the only company with happy
customers. Micron is another longtime favorite,
and over the last couple of years Gateway and
Quantex have also ascended in rank. Even
CyberMax, which debuted in the ratings just last
November, wins high marks for its home PCs. The
common thread?
These companies all sell their systems directly to
customers. According to Bruce Stephen, group
vice president of worldwide PC research at IDC
Consulting, the affinity consumers have for direct
vendors reflects loyalty to the company because
users perceive that direct vendors can take
ownership of users' problems. Warm fuzzy feelings
aside, these direct vendors must be doing
something right.
According to survey results, they deliver the most
reliable PCs
JUMP: and the best service. On average, their
users report fewer problems, faster and more knowledgeable technical
support, and higher satisfaction. Little wonder that Compaq is making a
second foray into selling direct and Sony has launched its own program.
From desktops to notebooks
Last December, 9,900 PC World subscribers participated in an on-line
survey, hosted by World Research of San Jose. The survey covered
desktop PCs used at work, desktops used at home, and notebook PCs
used anywhere and in between. Respondents were asked about problems
they'd had with their PCs, support they'd received, and their general
satisfaction with the system and the company behind it. In the end, PC
World rated 15 different vendors for reliability and service. The results offer
some good news for PC users.
Compared with survey results reported last November (PC Reliability and
Service: Who Can You Trust? www.pcworld.com/nov98/service), the
percentage of respondents who reported problems when their PCs first
arrived is down across all three categories.
Whether the machine in question was a desktop or a notebook, roughly 7.6
percent of participants in the current survey reported a problem on arrival,
vs. about 10 percent in the previous survey. Similarly, the percentage of
people who said their vendor never resolved their most recent problem is
down across all categories and among most PC makers.
IBM's notebook PCs registered the biggest improvement — just 3.3
percent of IBM notebook users said their problem went unresolved, down
from a frightening 11.6 percent reported last fall.
Computers in use
On other topics, computer users had the following responses:
At work: IBM is a big winner, joining Dell and Gateway as the top
companies for reliability and service. You say IBM isn't a direct vendor?
Interestingly, more IBM work PC users in the study bought their systems
from IBM's sales line than by any other method. As far as service goes, 76
percent of these IBM customers waited 5 minutes or less to reach a
support rep.
Micron's tech support line is a different story. The company's work PC
customers complain that they aren't getting through quickly very often.
At home: The highlight of the survey is Dell's Outstanding rating — it's the
only company to receive five stars overall — but Gateway, Micron, and
Quantex are close behind. And as the previous survey showed, CyberMax
and Sony rate well overall, though CyberMax's reliability and Sony's
service rank just fair.
A fair rating would be a step up for Acer and Packard Bell: Both get poor
marks for overall reliability and service.
On the road: Not surprisingly, readers report a higher rate of problems due
to component failure with notebooks than with desktops, given the jostling
that portable PCs undergo. But which company keeps headaches to a
minimum?
Respondents say Dell's notebooks are the most reliable, while IBM has
significantly improved its service. On the other hand, Toshiba has slipped a
notch from good to fair overall, and Fujitsu — despite improving in
reliability — receives the same poor rating for service it got collared with
before.
Not everyone happy
All this good news about direct marketers doesn't mean that PCs sold
directly are problem-free. In fact, 44 percent of Dell home PC users in the
survey said they'd had a problem with their system. Generally, even if you
go with a PC from one of the highest rated direct-mail vendors in the
survey, you face a 50-50 chance of encountering a problem.
To be fair, not everyone loves Dell, nor do they all love Gateway and
Micron. Just ask Dell owner Ellen Benkin. An information services
coordinator at UCLA, Benkin reports enduring a bear of a time while trying
to get her Dimension XPSR450 to work correctly.
"I began experiencing problems with it within a week of receiving it," she
says. "The support I got over the Web didn't help, neither did suggestions
from Dell's phone support."
Even an on-site technician with the right replacement part couldn't fix
Benkin's PC.
"The technician then spent at least an hour on the phone with Dell, trying —
unsuccessfully — to resolve the problem," recalls Benkin. Dell ended up
replacing her computer with another one that also had problems.
Direct PC sellers do not excel in every service measure either. For
example, only 40 percent of all Micron work PC users reported hold times
of five minutes or less. That's the worst figure for any PC manufacturer in
the survey. But when you examine the scores cumulatively, direct
manufacturers have an unmistakable edge.
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