I'm not greyman, but anyway... maybe the survey is detecting a different culture: people that owns a Mac gives higher scores to customer service not because it's better, but because they feel more satisfied with their computers. That feeling might come from many reasons. I wouldn't use it as an argument without a detailed survey that evaluates things like response time, charges for reparations, or kindness of personal.
That's not really a fair argument. There are always what-ifs that are possible. I could say, for example, 'Sure, General Relativity is OK, but how do we know that it works for that little patch of reality that is within the Oval Office. Has anybody tested it?'.
I mean, technically you are right, but the a priori interpretation of the survey results is that Apple does a better job of satisfying it's customers than do the competitors. That interpretation should stand unless someone comes up with a survey providing more detailed results that indeed shows a selection bias amongst Apple customers...
Yes, but it's a Russell's Teapot (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell's_teapot) kind of argument. You're rejecting the survey results because they go against your prejudices, not based on evidence (or at least that seems to be what you are claiming, if you have evidence that Apple's performance vis-à-vis it's clients is sub-par, you certainly haven't presented it). And no matter what survey results that anyone could present to you, you'll always be able to respond by "ah yes, but you haven't disproved possible explanation X for these results".
What strawman? I was addressing your own words, specifically 'Why would I need a second survey? I already distrust the conclusion.'
You do indeed seem to be reacting based on a prejudice against the conclusion of the first survey, without having any other data to back you up. As I said, if you have any other evidence to support your point of view, you have never presented it. Of course, if you do have other evidence to bring to the table, I for one would be fascinated to see it. As far as I'm aware, every recent measure of customer satisfaction with Apple that has been reported in the press shows them well in advance of the competition. The latest survey quoted by Gruber just confirms previous surveys done by many different organisations.
Do you have any evidence to contradict these findings?
You say that I reject survey results. I don't. I say that the survey isn't enough evidence to prove that Apple's customer support is better. So I don't need to give data to disprove something that hasn't been sufficiently proved. In fact, I'm not trying to prove anything at all. Someone else is and I'm simply not convinced. You asked how could the data be interpreted otherwise and I answered. But that doesn't put me in the obligation of demonstrating anything.
Moreover, you're using a fallacious argument: since the survey establishes that Apple offers better customer support, I have to bring data to disprove it. The problem is that the survey falls short to demonstrate what you want. The fact of the better support is not established so there's no need to disprove it.
That doesn't mean that the survey is incorrect or its results false. Just that the conclusion DF extracts from it is not what the survey says.
One survey of "satisfaction" measures a subjetive factor. To say "it's better" is an absolute affirmation. What's really "better"? Who is it better for? Have those customer experience with other customer support services? Or is the support comparing... Apple with oranges? Excuse the bad joke.
I wouldn't have any problem with a wording like "of course there will be cases of bad support, but current data suggests that it's actually pretty good in average", But the post in DF said bluntly that "the survey demonstrate that Apple's support is better". Period. I try to imagine what a customer that had had a bad experience with Apple would think about such a reasoning.
