Center for REALTOR® Technology Web Log

I wanted to share a tale of customer support that I think all of you will appreciate because all of us support someone. Let me start with a little background first.

At work, there is a support group that takes care of my hardware and from the software perspective, I support myself. At home it is a different situation, I have built four of my computers (I have a sound studio and a train layout) except for one that is a shiny new iMac. OK, I forgot my son at college who has a MacBook Pro. My experience with support is the kind that involves returning failed components for replacement. I did have one experience with a major printer manufacturer that became frustrating and time consuming. This and other experiences (friends and families) is how I formed my low opinion of Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) support. Now on with my tale.

I was stunned to find a problem with the new iMac because my son beats the daylights out of his laptop and it is a real warrior. When I purchased both computers, I invested in the Applecare Protection Plan primarily because Keith Garner and others told me it was a good idea. I called the 800 number and reached first line support and quickly exhausted their diagnostics. While still on the line, I was put in touch with second line support who also could not pin down the issue. This person set up an appointment at the local Apple Store two days later (I would have made it the next day, but work got in the way). I received an e-mail survey from the experience that I marked good for courtesy but I reflected that my issue was not taken care of.

Yesterday, before my appointment at the store, I received a call from someone at Apple (let’s call him Chris) about my incident. You could have knocked me over with a feather! I was on a conference call at the time, so he left a voice mail which I returned. This was just hours before my appointment at the Apple Store.

Although most of the floor staff at the Apple Store are knowledgeable, I must admit I didn’t expect much from the support staff. I’ve had experience with the computer superstore variety support staff. Well I arrived, went up to the second floor to something called the Genuis Bar. I expected this to be “slicked up” version of the expected. Boy was I wrong. I began talking to a fellow named Kerry. Twenty minutes later, I was out of there. Kerry was awesome.

Two hours later, I was home (hey, I have a killer commute). During dinner, the phone rang (I was expecting it to be another window replacement call!) and it was Chris. Unreal.

To recap, here is what I really liked about the AppleCare Protection Plan:

1. Single call first line and second line support.
2. Automatic e-mail based survey for each incident.
3. People who actually read the surveys the same day you send them in.
4. A human follow-up for issues identified in the survey.
5. Knowledgeable store staffed Technical Support.

I think everyone in the industry can learn something from what this company is doing. I could be wrong, but I believe they have designed their support program to a) build customers for life and b) make their customers into evangelists. If all of the vendors in our industry picked up on these themes, Real Estate would be all the better. I’ll start with support of their products on the Apple platform though. At least this way, practitioners could be covered on hardware and operating systems.