Linked by Fred McCann on Wed 25th Aug 2004 21:00 UTC
I recently had a bad experience with an application service provider that illustrated a growing problem with technology companies- lack of service and support. We have grown complacent as technology consumers and we allow vendors to offer very poor levels of service that wouldn't be allowed in other markets.
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...the entire computer hardware industry, recently, has not competed on anything except price. Dell's, Gateway's, (etc.) only real competitive advantage has been scale of economies. Gateway could not differentiate their $600 desktop computer from Dell's. Dell sold more computers so Gateway started to sell televisions.
Another thing to consider is the fact that the above mentioned companies are generally considered "hardware companies". When it comes to support, do most people have problems dealing with the applications or OS running on purchased hardware? It's fairly easy to diagnose a faulty hard disk as opposed to why IE isn't working on a support call and I'm sure this constitutes a large number of support calls.
I also feel the consumer has begun to treat the computer as a commodity and trained to not look for support with the purchases because of the emphasis on price point.