MacMaven clients know that their bills will be fair. Can you say the same thing about your consultancy? If you feel like your bills are excessive, bad news, they probably are. I’ll explain MacMaven’s billing practices. MacMaven charges a range of billing rates, depending on the complexity and experience level needed to perform a job.…
Category: Customer service
Customer service stories and thoughts on the customer experience
Business owners who run Mac-based offices, take heed. This blog post contains information that can potentially save you thousands and possibly tens of thousands off of your annual IT budget. There are hundreds of managed service providers serving small and medium-sized businesses in New York City. Typically for a per-user or per-device monthly fee, you…
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The “Whoa!” contractor scam
If you’re like me, you’re wary of hiring contractors without a referral from a friend or relative. There’s a good reason to be wary. Many contractors try to extract as much money as possible from their customers, often in an unscrupulous way. One of the most common scams is as follows. The victim will get…
Think about your experience when returning an item at an Apple Store, Best Buy, or Amazon. The return is processed efficiently and painlessly. Any delay in receiving in receiving your refund is mostly due to the settlement process between banks. Now picture the opposite experience, where every step of the transaction is painful. That’s how…
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Ikea BROR review
I’m a first-time Ikea customer. This experience has been exasperating. I ordered an Ikea ALEX desk, which arrived in good condition. I can’t say the same about the BROR system. Ikea markets BROR as being suitable for living rooms and garages. The reality is that Ikea’s quality control on the BROR pieces is so bad…
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Verizon Fios installation review
I had an extremely poor experience with my Verizon Fios installation today. The best way to describe the job was careless. I did not get any apology whatsoever from the installer Leonard, even after pointing out the damage and his lack of care. Here is a list of the damages and other issues. Keep in…
There are two questions that most of our prospective clients ask. I’ll explain the pitfalls of relying on these questions when selecting a Mac consultancy. What is your hourly rate? Rates are much less important than you think. Most NYC-based Mac consulting companies charge in the same ballpark for basic support services. If you find…
I ordered a cable modem from Amazon, using the free shipping option. I’m not a Prime member, as I only order a few items from Amazon per year. The free shipping option provided a whopping six-day delivery window. I took this risk, assuming that the large window allows for shipping delays by the carrier…
Back in 2012, I discussed Time Warner Cable’s newly instituted modem rental fee. Back then the fee was $3.95 per month. I just opened my January 2015 Time Warner bill, and it has an extra page discussing a variety of price increases. Most of the increases revolve around television programming. As the good folks at Time Warner…
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Verizon FiOS False Advertising
Here’s another example of horrendous customer service from a cable company, in this case Verizon. I helped my father (who happens to be an attorney) order FiOS service today. On verizon.com, he had entered his new service address and was given a promotional price of $39.99 per month. The screen capture of this offer is…