Cable/Satellite, Overseas Tech Support Irk Users 07.01.08
By Chloe Albanesius PC Magazine http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2324315,00.asp Press one if you are calling about a problem with your device. Press two if you would like to speak to a customer service representative. Press three if you want to smash your device into a million pieces with a sledgehammerÂ… All PC users have likely had a moment of rage when the PC goes blank and the only advice offered is simply, "Reboot". But, according to a new study, the PC industry is actually improving its customer service track record. It's the cable and satellite business that needs to worry, apparently. Satisfaction with calls made to PC customer support centers improved 8 percent over last year, for an overall evaluation score of 69 out of 100, according to a Tuesday study from the Michigan-based Contact Center Satisfaction Index (CCSI). Cell phone providers, meanwhile, saw a 4 percent improvement to 72, but cable and satellite saw a three percent drop in overall satisfaction, from 68 to 66. Overall, the scores of the three industries are not drastically different, but with phone providers getting into the video market and a variety of television programming now available online, cable and satellite need to make sure they are not alienating customers, said report author Sheri Teodoru. "If they don't clean up their act within five years, this is going to be an industry that's going to be in a world of hurt," she said. "With competition heating up and all the alternatives to cable and satellite, it strikes me as something they should've been paying a lot more attention to." Teodoru was "pleasantly surprised" by the increase in PC customer satisfaction. "They've improved 64 to 69 in call center satisfaction, which is a direct result in tremendous improvement in their offshore customer service," she said. "They have the highest proportion of offshoring, which drags down their score overall [but they have] clearly put an effort into it." With PCs, "it wasn't the soft skills that improved; it was the hard skills," Teodoru said. CCSI spoke to approximately 2,200 U.S-based customers of the five industries it examined: banking, cable and satellite TV, cell phone service, government, hotels, insurance, multi-channel retail, and personal computers. Respondents had to have had contact with a customer support person within the past 30 days, and complete a survey online. This is the second annual customer service report from CCSI. Respondents were asked to rank their calls based on five criteria: courteousness, speaking in an understandable manner, knowledge, interest in helping the customer, and effectiveness in handling the issue. With the exception of courteousness, where it remained the same as last year, service in the cable and satellite industry took a dive in all categories, particularly effectiveness. Support services in the PC industry saw a slight improvement in all categories. In the cell-phone industry, CCSI's survey found that employees maintained their ranking in courteousness, yet saw a one-point drop in speaking in an understandable manner. For the remainder, the cell-phone industry improved in all other categories, according to the study. Respondents did not reveal exactly what their problems were when they were calling customer service. CCSI only asked them if they were calling about a problem with their device, if they were calling to place an order, or file a complaint. The "vast majority" were calling about a problem with the product, Teodoru said. The location of a call center appears to be a factor in customer satisfaction, according to the study. For cell phones, 23 percent of respondents calling an offshore call center did not have their issues resolved, compared to 14 percent of those who called a U.S.-based center. For PCs, onshore centers scored a 77 while offshore centers got a 59. "Customer satisfaction for offshore contact centers is significantly lower than onshore contact centers, even if their problems were resolved," the study said. ================================ George Antunes, Political Science Dept University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204 Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927 antunes at uh dot edu ******************************* * POST TO [EMAIL PROTECTED] * ******************************* Medianews mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
