J.D. Power: T-Mo again leads in customer-service ratings

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.