Carrier Switching is Increasing Among Dissatisfied Customers
Thu Oct 06, 2005 6:24 am
As wireless penetration among new users begins to slow and the competition to keep existing customers continues to accelerate, the likelihood of switching providers among those most dissatisfied with their recent retail purchasing experience has increased 46 percent from 2004, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2005 Wireless Retail Sales Satisfaction Study(SM) released today.
The study finds that 20 percent of subscribers who are not satisfied with the overall retail purchase experience say they will "definitely" or "probably" switch current carriers within next 12-month period - up from 13 percent in 2004. In addition, dissatisfied customers are 25 percent less likely to visit the same carrier store again to purchase wireless services and 35 percent less likely to recommend the carrier service to family and friends in the future.
"With fewer new customers entering the market, the wireless industry is becoming fiercely competitive for retailers," said Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services at J.D. Power and Associates. "The retail stores of wireless carriers face strong competition in the areas of price and promotions from national electronic retail outlets such as Best Buy and Radio Shack, which offer wireless service. It's imperative that wireless service providers concentrate on retention strategies, as the ability to expand the customer base becomes more difficult."
The study, now in its second year, provides a detailed assessment of customers who had a wireless retail sales buying experience within the past six months. The study measures overall customer satisfaction performance of the major wireless carrier-branded stores based on four factors (listed in order of importance): sales staff (44%); price/promotion (28%); store display (14%); and store facility (14%).
T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless rank highest in a tie and are the only carriers to perform significantly above the industry average overall. Both receive particularly high ratings relative to the competition in the price/promotional dimension.
The study finds the following key retail wireless sales transaction patterns:
- The reported average wireless retail sales transaction takes approximately 70 minutes to complete from the time the customer enters the store to the time final paperwork is completed and the cell phone is received. This is an increase of more than 8 minutes from 2004.
- Retail satisfaction suffers among those customers who feel they were pressured during the sales process. The average overall satisfaction rating among those customers who report feeling no pressure is 98 index points, compared to 66 among those who felt pressured in some way - a 48 percent difference.
The 2005 Wireless Retail Sales Satisfaction Study is based on experiences reported by 6,144 wireless users who completed a retail sales transaction within the past six months.
I switched carriers for one very simple reason...lousey, miserable customer service. My current carrier should give lessons on what customer service is all about.
2. Posted by HOPPY305
Thu Oct 06, 2005 11:39 pm
I have been a Cigular customer for 11 years and I will be glad when my contract is up. Cingular has the WORSE CUSTOMER SERVICE I have ever seen. When my contract is up my wife and daughter and my self will be going to verizonwireless.
3. Posted by dsjim
Fri Oct 07, 2005 12:09 pm
I was with AT&T for years then switched to Cingular last year. I am very happy to say I broke my contract with Cingular and am now an extremely happy Sprint customer. The service has been outstanding.... people and phone service-wise. Doesn't make sense to me that if Sprint and Verizon can provide great phone service with few dropped calls, why can't Cingular???
4. Posted by pepsione
Fri Oct 07, 2005 4:01 pm
Personally I'm with verizon and have been pretty happy with everything except for one mishap when they pulled money from my account for auto pay when i had a $0.00 balance. Then took them a month to refund the amount good thing I'm a broke college guy with no money
5. Posted by TheTroll
Fri Oct 07, 2005 5:15 pm
Working as a former ATT rep, I've noticed that someone's impression is really influenced by exactly who they talk to and that people really seem to generalize.
Since the merger nothing in my call center has changed, we are all former ATT reps, we work on the old ATT systems, none of the rate plans have changed, and we even follow almost the same policies (unless you wanted to upgrade your service). And basically all the TDMA customers are talking to the exact same people.
But I've had countless people saying their Customer Service has gone to hell after the merger (BUT YOU'RE TALKING TO THE EXACT SAME PEOPLE!!) And I've also talked to a ton of people who said ATT was crap and Cingular has awesome Customer Service.
People's perceptions of Customer Care are changing even though Customer Care hasnt changed at all.
I'm finding that there are a lot of people who are just making up their minds on how a Carrier is after just one call. If they get just one bad rep, all of a sudden the entire company is out to rip them off. I also find that once someone has their mind made up, its almost impossible to change their preconceptions.
I've heard equally horrifying stories from all cell carriers. The problem is with the whole call center system, Call centers pay low wages to people fresh out of highschool. They hire anyone at these call centers, all you need is a grade 12 education and a typing speed of 20wpm... Anyone can get a job here, and its' usually someone who cant get a job anywhere else. So you end up with a lot of people doing just enough not to get fired and this causes a LOT of problems when there is so much information that needs to be covered, and so many things that need to be double checked.
I just thought I'd add my 2 cents
6. Posted by KittyChan
Fri Oct 07, 2005 5:25 pm
I have Verizon and I'm unhappy but not really happy, its the whole Get It Now service, being stuck with the same phone (don't want to pay for a new, at least with GSM I could change) and lack of good reception when I need it. But the customer service has always been great. So I am think about trying Cingular.
7. Posted by dsjim
Fri Oct 07, 2005 6:46 pm
Troll,
Not sure who your comments are directed at, but I will clarify. I had no problems at all with the people part/customer service for both AT&T and Cingular, the problem was the phone service itself (Cingular). Too many dropped calls and none to 2 bars on signal strength.
I realize there are no perfect cell phone providers out there, but my experience with Cingular's phone service (phone service-wise, not the employees/customer service people).
8. Posted by AshDizzle
Mon Oct 10, 2005 4:53 am
I was a proud customer of AT&T and now have switched to Cingular. I am very happy. I get service everywhere I need it in Northern Arizona, and I have found it to be the most expansive in my area out of any other carrier, mostly due to the strategic roaming agreements with Cellular One and T-Mobile. Never been happier.
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