Very important if the staff is actually knowledgeable.

They have to know their way around a server. I already know the basic PC stuff, I don't need someone to regurgitate it for me. Servers though I am not knowledgable in.

Almost never important, all I need is some online support, and a return system. I really don't need support unless a part is faulty, shorts, etc. Then it's only for a refund or replacement.

Now why does tech support have to be free?
Have you already called a plumber and asked him to tell you step-by-step what to do to change your pipes? and for free?
Anybody doing that is dumb, period.
So the old saying is true, what you pay is what you get and obviously if it's free then it is not the best support you'll get.
Also Apple, Toshiba, Sony and Lenovo computers costs a bit more than HP, Dell and Acer so that extra money goes towards the support you receive.

If I see that others are having problems with support, it decreases my interest in a specific brand product up to 50%...

It's only up to how good the performance and features diversity of that product.

i have used tech support once for a printer and they didn't fix my problem. That being said... 99.9% of the products i have own have not required real tech support. I just end up googleing the error message and always find my own fix. Bottom line, its not important.

I think product support is important with anything, certainly if you have a major issue.

I've never had to call tech support for a computer issue before, so no, tech support does not matter to me.

Honestly the forums here on Tom's as well as the rest of the internet are more helpful to me than any telephone tech support ever was. As long as a company's RMA service if functional, I really don't care about there telephone help line.

Not important for pretty much all things, networking equipment being the only exception, for me anyway. Bump on the return system +1.

Tech support is not important for the trivial things for me, I have really only used higher tier support levels. Then again, when making your own boxes you are the tech support. (and it's fantastic!)

Tech Support? not so much. Now a good Customer Server Rep, I find those are more important, because I'm more likely to have order/ issues than Tech Issues that I cannot resolve on my own.

But then again....I also do not buy boxed computers, which keeps me from buying laptops/notebooks as well, I just don't like Pre-Built systems.

Tech support is very important, BUT there is more to tech support than a person on a telephone. Software updates are important, drivers, bug fixes, etc. are important. A website where it is easy to find software updates is important. A website with information to help with problems is important. Help forums are important.

My wife and I have 3 Dell's. We have never called their tech support but I've been on their website and downloaded driver updates. I build my own desktops which means one computer may have components from up to 10 different companies. I've never called any of them but I've been on their websites looking for things.

Depends on badly they messed up

The biggest problem with tech support offered by big corporations is that they treat every caller as idiot. Usually takes 30 min to pass through script reading monkeys. Sorry for my rant!
I know the problem and I understand why is that, but what I don't understand is why big companies don't build support system to recognize users who know more then most of low payed technicians they have employed. I had really had to grow thick skin. Usually when I call with problem it requires someone from 3-rd level to respond. How difficult is to mark my account that I am advance user and I don't call because I am looking for the 'any key' on my keyboard.

I am my own tech support. As long as there's some way to return the product, and a decent warranty, I could care less about tech support.

The problem about tech support on a phone is sometimes, they have exactly no idea what issue a caller is asking. So then maybe some callers would spend hours and hours talking to tech support and problems are still not solved. I'm gonna say tech support is sometimes important, and sometimes not important. Maybe some tech support could be better or worse.

Dell support sucks bigtime. Period.

I think its VERY important , I called up DFI for one problem and during the call came up with two more which they fixed for me over the phone and I got the MOBO up and running with everything at top speed. =D

So for me if I'm going to purchase anything (laptop) it better damn well have good tech support. ( cause I want to know what I dont already know)

The above pic needs the fire department, not tech support

You get what you pay for.

Pay 10 grand to the likes of Dialogic, and get the royal treatment with a contract SLA that they follow to the letter.

Buy a Dell, get some Joe who gets paid jack and really doesn't give a damn about your problem further than maintaining job security.

Ultimately it amounts to how much the tech is paid. Have a company with well paid techs? They will probably do anything for you, and can solve most of any problem (or they will quickly be replaced).

Low paid techs? They are probably more interested in doing their own thing for improving their skills to make them attractive to other, higher paying employers, rather than focusing on things that will resolve your specific issue with a specific vendor's technology.

Anyone reading Tom's is already equipped to handle most issues that tech support would deal with, they'll just search online in order to solve their problems. This excludes cases when you have to call support to verify the need for an RMA. I haven't called tech support since I had an old Micron 133 Mhz that needed to be re-partitioned. Now a days I couldn't care less if there was anyone answering phones at the tech center.

That said, I can see how tech support might be more important to those who are extreme early adopters, but even then you can find forums dedicated to any piece of hardware which has hit the street.

Also, the reason you see more complaints about acer/dell etc is because they have such a large customer base! You're going to have a larger number of support issues when you have 10 times the hardware in the wild compared to more boutique companies. There's just too many people to serve effectively, especially when you have computer illiterates complaining when they can't figure out how to use the internet without having an ISP!

Quality doesn't matter to me, if they have enough sense of humor to put up with my stupid/random questions I'm happy with it.

Somewhat.
Apparantly ViewSonic tech support will only assist me if I'm still under warranty (of which I must prove proof of purchase...).
Though in general, I'll try to solve the problem myself. My local computer shop has amazing tech support though. Bring it in, and they fix it, simple enough (have two VGA ports, one on the mobo, another on the card, and the mobo card only works if the dedicated is deactivated).

HP tech support is somewhat choppy I find...
Open tech forums were users give answers works for most issues... Some random user solved my sound issues for me. =D

As a former Dell computer owner... i can tell you that their tech support NEEDS HELP. and yes tech support can make or break the customer experience. it sure as hell broke it for me.

Assuming the tech support has something to do with computers running some kind of Microsoft OS...

I saw some references to Dell. While I have promised myself to never own one of their products, I have plenty of experience dealing with their technical support.

Last I checked, Dell has different tiers of support:
Gold, Silver, Bronze, Free.

They range in expense and level of experience between the tiers. My employer uses the Gold level, and whenever I have had hardware problems (my company laptop D630 is on its 3rd mainboard), this support has high accuracy, are efficient, and I CAN UNDERSTAND THEM.

A counter-example:
The free-user warranty support (From Dell) is the outsourced garbage technical support with some idiot, probably in India, calls himself/herself Bob, Mary, Joe, or Kim (fake name of course), who is restricted to scripts and is incapable of performing bona-fide technical support. For example, I once had to tell one of these outsourced low-lifes how to get into the Windows Control Panel, to gain access to the device manager so he could review something with me for God sakes! He could not grasp the concept of keyboard shortcuts, such as WIN + PAUSE/BREAK to do the same thing.
I could not believe that guy was employed there!!


Oddly enough, I often end up on the tech support line with the company I work for. Their tier-1 support is as bad as Dell's, and I cannot understand them either (outsourced French support).
I once experienced call-center guy saying something that sounded like "man-gerr-leet" when he was trying to say "lead manager", which was really the shift supervisor; only he did not know how to say/iterate it, in American English, on the English language support channel, of which he was a part of.
The only benefit of this to me is that company policy dictates I take this route whenever esoteric problems appear with no known easy fix and other technicians cannot be reached.
I am paid hourly. In my line of work I usually break 30+ hours OT per week when on-call and 10+ hours OT per week when not on-call.


Don't get me started on retail tech support...

Logitech has the same policy. If it's outside that 1-year mark. They give you the canned answer, purchase a new one.

I ran into a problem with my Logitech G7 USB mouse a few month ago. The LI batteries would no longer retain a charge. When I contacted Logitech and offered to purchase replacement batteries and pay for shipping, they declined and told me to buy their new mouse of tantamout capability.

I found replacement batteries on Ebay. $23.00, shipping included for a pair. They work perfectly!

Logitech? F*ck 'em! They lost my business AND all the business of my consulting clients.

for n00bs and people without much money: very

I think this question is being asked at the wrong people. Let's face it most posters/readers here are computer enthusiasts/geeks and there aren't many technical problems we can't resolve ourselves and the idea of calling a support line is kind of like admitting defeat.

However for people like my Dad who isn't as technically savvy (SP?) or a youngster who is having problems with a video game tech support over the phone is vitally important.

From my experience most companies operate a two tier system, the first stage is just some guy with a flow chart going through all the regular fixes (update drivers, check the wires etc) and it's not until you get through the level 2 support you start to talk to someone who is more knowledgeable then you but not all companies operate that type of system.

Yeah that laptop just got owned by a 19 Kilowatt Phase-Cannon....

Woah woah easy there.....good thing you're not the one holding the phase cannon....all the poor customers would be dead.

Yeah I worked at a call centre before, except it wasn't tech support, it was credit card support. I had people call in who didn't know what a credit card was.....then they accused me of being a canadian terrorist hiding out in the mountains shooting at innocent americans.... yeah just another day in the life of working at a call centre. I moved on after 7 months, that was enough.