An article by Charles Passy in today’s Wall Street Journal entitled “Can Big-Box Merchants Fix Your Computer?” is his tale of taking 4 computers to 3 different large retailers that offer computer repair, plus sending one away to a fourth company.
The three retailers, Best Buy (Geek Squad), Office Depot, and Staples, all did varying degrees of a crappy job on the PC repair. Most of their techs didn’t seem to be actual experts. And they all had terrible customer service. Although all were cheap, ranging from $75 to $200 for service. (Passy does say GeekSquad was the best of the 3.)
The last company, IResQ, is a mail-away service for Mac computers. They did quite a good job although they, too, had customer-service issues.
Granted, what happens with 4 computers is not necessarily a trend, but the article does show the importance of choosing a computer support company that has true expertise and also is dedicated to listening to and actually helping customers with whatever they need.
That’s why we truly feel we are offering something different. Focusing (almost) exclusively on Macs was a conscious decision to offer service in an area where we really excel. And we also consciously decided to make client service a priority. We have one-and-a-half people (Naomi and me) who are not Mac experts but instead are available to help with the myriad issues and problems that come up for our clients. And we choose our Experts based not only on their Mac knowledge but also on their personal skills, their abilities to really work with people and help them.
And this will make the difference in the long-term growth and success of our business.