By Margaret Rock | Fri Jul 29, 2011 10:45 am |
Verizon has the best customer service in the industry, according to a recent consumer care index, with its rankings providing an interesting snapshot of where the carriers stand.
J.D. Power and Associates awarded Verizon score of 770 out of a possible 1,000 points, just 4 points ahead of T-Mobile's 766. The two carriers have alternated in receiving this award in recent years, and these figures illustrate how close the finish was for the semiannual survey, which was released today.Verizon scored high marks for handling calls, and T-Mobile got kudos for pleasing customers with its online support options. The other two major carriers failed to reach the industry average of 762 in their Power Circle rankings. Sprint came in third place with 752, and AT&T came in dead last at 751. Sprint's prepaid Boost Mobile business earned a score of 763, however, in a segment where customers reported generally lower satisfaction levels when compared to their contract counterparts. "In particular, non-contract customers are considerably less satisfied than are contract customers in the areas of knowledge about plans; personal concern for customers; and apathy towards customers," said Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services at J.D. Power and Associates. This dissatisfaction may be an opportunity to attract customers to the growing non-contract business, especially in a market moving towards tiered-data plans, which may funnel increasing number of consumers to prepaid options to save costs. In light of its poor customer satisfaction ratings, AT&T may be pleased with current rival T-Mobile's high rating. If its pending merger with T-Mobile goes through, some of the smaller company's highly ranked customer care practices may rub off on it, especially since consumer concern accounts for a large chunk of opposition to the merger. Last week, customers joined together to protest the proposed merger, which government regulators are currently reviewing. The customers retained a New York law firm to request arbitration, alleging the massive merger is a violation of the Clayton Antitrust Act. "We've spent months compiling evidence of how this merger will cause higher prices and worse service," Steve Bursor, plaintiffs' attorney said. "We've hired experts who are prepared to testify at arbitration hearings across the country. And we are prepared to file hundreds of arbitration cases, any one of which could stop this merger." Regardless of what happens with the merger and the litigation it inspires, all carriers have room for improvement since the scale tops out at 1,000 points -- pointing to perhaps an overall discontent of customers with carriers in general.
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