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Buy an Elite HP PC, Get Your Own Support Staffer
jfruh writes "HP reversed its decision to spin off its PC business, but it's still left with the question of how to make money in a commodity business selling standard-issue machines manufactured overseas. One idea they're contemplating: improved customer service. If you buy an HP 'Elite' PC and have problems, you won't have to phone into a tech support call center where an entry-level drone reads off a script and tells you to reboot the machine; you'll have access to a specific support tech who will work with you as long as you own the computer."
until they leave the company. Or go on holiday. Or Maternity leave. Or sick. Or get promoted.
What happens if the person quits? Or is on vacation/sick when you need support? Or is just plain incompetent?
This seems to be a promise to provide less reliable support then what we have now.
Anyone who has had a little help-desk experience can already imagine the horrors of having to deal with a specific annoying customer every fucking time he calls for help
Whoever is assigned as your support tech will still be under the same policies meant to minimize costs to HP, that means limited training and script reading. Given the turnover in tech support, even an "assigned" drone will likely be some random person by the time you need help. This sounds more like marketing than an actual change in policy.
Market share it may gain them, but profitability it will not.
The PC market has segmented in such a way that most people accurately judge PC clones as being equivalent and simply compare specs to price.
If HP comes into the market with "elite"-priced PCs, the American consumer will do the same thing they have done with tablets that didn't offer cost savings - they'll say "For that price I can get an iphone/ipad/imac/macbook". Why pay more for technical support, which you have to spend time and frustration using, when you can just buy something that (consumer perception says) doesn't need technical support?
This strategy is DOA.
I'm surprised at all the negativity. This sounds like basically the same thing as when I worked IT and I had my own rep at the mail-order houses like CDW and PC Warehouse. In practice, did it make a damn bit of difference to me whether my official rep took my order or somebody else did? Nope, not really. All my info, including discounts, etc., was in the computer. But it was nice to have a number to call and a specific person with whom I could leave a message if need be, and to be able to say stuff like, "I need more of those things I got on Friday, but listen, one of them already broke" -- without having to walk through some script with an anonymous sales rep. It was just that slight bit more of a human interaction that made the whole transaction a little bit more pleasant, even though I was intellectually aware that it probably wasn't making what I needed to do much easier by any measurable amount.
Breakfast served all day!
Now and then someone will think it is clever to ask "Derp, are they not all personal computers? Derp!" in an attempt to sound like, I don't know, some sort of hipster or cool kid something... who the fuck can tell?
[applause] That line has long been one of the most irritating bits of pseudo-cleverness found in tech discussions, and it should be met with mockery and scorn at every opportunity.
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
What if the customer service positions were filled with sales oriented people? It would be an oppurtunity to have conversations about other products. Cross selling extended warranties, insurance packages, games or pc peripherals...
CUSTOMER: My PC isn't working well.
SALES/SUPPORT DRONE: Great! Would you like to buy a new one!
Somehow, I just don't think support calls are great 'sales moments'.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Actually it just shows how out of touch geeks are with the public, as someone who has been making his living serving that public since before there even WAS a Windows let me bust some myths okay?
1.-A tablet is NOT a PC, it is in fact not even considered a computer of ANY sort by the masses. its a "screen that plays videos and angry birds" and they look on it as a personal computer about as much as their wristwatch or ATM.
2.-A phone is NOT a personal computer, or even has an OS, again see 1 only add "helps me find stuff and Googles"
3.-The reason ARM netbooks never had a chance is because there is no such thing as a netbook to the masses, its a "baby laptop and baby laptops should do everything a big laptop does only slower, because a baby is smaller than a grown up"
I hope i have cleared up some common myths held by geeks about what is an isn't a PC. to the public the ONLY thing that is a PC is a computer that runs Windows and supports ALL their old programs, be it in desktop or laptop form. That is one of the reasons Windows tablets is DOA, both in X86 and ARM, as it tries to break common perception. If its a tablet its supposed to work like a big phone, if its got Windows its supposed to have a keyboard and a mouse or trackpad. people don't like things that go against perceptions, see the open hostility to Win 8 as an example as i've shown it to over 200 customers and within seconds they are actively hating the thing, its just too alien.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
I've been supporting Dell business machines for about 10 years, and I concur, never had to wait with business support (even basic tier business support). Conversely, HP's business support is total shite. Even with a carepack you get phone queues and delays of days (HP's idea of "24hrs response time" is a phone call, not a visit).
I have a feeling that this will be a painful loss for HP, nothing more.
Too bad the Symantec Backup Exec support staff isn't US based too. Every time I've had to call them for any reason at all, it's always someone from India that answered the phone. Every fucking time!
It's bad enough to have a server crash all while corrupting the RAID volume with it. It's even worse when you need help restoring data with support on the other end of the line you can barely understand. In another dimension and time, this would have been hilarious. Unfortunately, the joke is on me.
Screw political correctness. The first company that bases an advertisement bashing their competitor for using outsourced tech support in India will be extremely successful as it will resonate with the average American. The ability to understand them is frustrating!
Life is not for the lazy.