By Kelly Hill
Story posted: January 25, 2007 - 1:40 pm EDT
T-Mobile USA Inc. continued its run as the carrier with the best
customer-service ratings by consumers, edging out other operators for
the fifth year in a row in J.D. Power and Associates’ semi-annual
survey.
Verizon Wireless scored second place with a ranking of 101 to T-
Mobile USA’s 107, followed by Alltel Corp. with 99. Alltel came in
just above the industry average of 98. Cingular Wireless L.L.C.
generated an index score of 94, and Sprint Nextel Corp. limped in
last with 92.
J.D. Power also found that customers who speak to actual service
representatives are much more satisfied than those whose troubles are
taken care of via automated call systems or the Internet.
According to its survey, customers who spoke with a service rep on
the phone generated a satisfaction index score of 127 points,
compared with an industry average of 98 points. Those who were
funneled through an automated response system rated their experience
with an average score of 92 points, and contacts made over the
Internet scored a dismal 72 points.
Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services for J.D. Power,
attributed the difference in satisfaction to the quality of the
response; customer service reps have flexibility that automated and
Internet systems simply don’t have to answer questions and clarify
misunderstandings.
“As more companies strive to save operating costs by encouraging
customers to contact Internet- and computer-based customer service
programs, they run the risk of increasing the rate of customers who
will switch carriers, especially as the number of contacts needed to
resolve issues rises,” said Parsons. “Since future churn levels are
four times as high among those who rate their wireless carrier below
average in customer care, the challenge for wireless providers is to
offer an easy and efficient customer care transaction experience.”
More than half of the nearly 14,000 people who participated in the
survey had contacted customer care within the past year, which
reflected a decline of almost 7 percent from the previous survey. The
number of calls it took to resolve a problem was up, from 1.76 in the
previous survey to 1.87. Only 3 percent of customers used e-mail and
Internet connections to contact customer care; the vast majority of
subscribers, 73 percent, contacted their carrier’s customer service
through voice calls. The remainder, 24 percent of respondents, went
to a retail store to have a problem solved.
J.D. Power also found that about four in 10 customers contact their
carrier because of billing-related questions, and the majority of
those are due to inaccurate bills. Around 30 percent of customers
contact operators with issues related to call quality.
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