WIRELESS CARRIERS AND THEIR CUSTOMERS generally seem to operate with a disconnect on customer friendliness: carriers insist they are, but subscribers often scoff. However, customer satisfaction with carriers has generally been on an upswing lately, and operators have been putting into place new policies meant to keep their subscribers happy.
John Breyault, research associate for the Washington, D.C.-based consumer group Telecommunications Research and Action Center said that the changes among carriers “are definitely part of a larger trend.”
“We have noticed a trend overall toward greater customer service in the industry,” Breyault said. He added that the threat of additional regulation due to past customer complaints has probably been one factor spurring the changes, but the bigger driver is the market environment.
“The market is getting saturated. In the past, the carriers were simply trying to outdo each other as to how many subscribers they could sign up, and that was really their main focus,” Breyault said. “I think that honestly, as the market has matured and as more and more people have cellphones, they’ve come to have high expectations for the industry. . I think that [carriers] are making strides toward improving, and I think that customers have demanded it. And high churn rate is something that Wall Street really frowns upon, so the lower your churn rate is, the happier you’re going to make your shareholders.”
Friendly competition
Each carrier sees itself as a leader in customer friendliness and puts forth specific evidence of that, whether it be T-Mobile USA Inc. topping the J.D. Power and Associates customer satisfaction survey yet again or AT&T Mobility laying claim as the first carrier to introduce a 30-day trial period.
“The customer experience of wireless service continues to improve because the service itself has improved, and because of some of the practices that we and others have instituted,” said AT&T Mobility spokesman Mark Siegel.
Among national carriers, Verizon Wireless has made a number of changes this year, including pro-rating its early termination fees and introducing a 30-day “test drive” period in which the carrier will foot the bill for customers’ usage-excluding data services-if they ultimately opt to port their number elsewhere.
Flexible contracts
The most movement appears to be in the area of service contracts with carriers generally becoming more willing to allow customers to adjust their service plans without requiring them to extend the length of their contracts. Alltel Corp. has such a policy in place and has made a point of promoting it as part of its advertising campaigns featuring “sales guys” from the four national carriers. Sprint Nextel Corp. announced over the summer that it was extending its “Right Plan Promise”-which allowed customers to adjust their plans without contract extension-from three months to six months after signing a new contract or extension.
Verizon Wireless announced last week that starting Oct. 7, new and existing customers will be able to change their voice and data plans without changing the end date of their contracts.
“This is one of those things customers have told us would make them more satisfied with us and makes it a more friendly experience,” said Verizon Wireless spokesman Tom Pica. “It’s about making sure that the entire customer experience lives up to the quality of the network.”
“You’ve got to keep growing with the market. As the competition grows, you have to keep pace, otherwise you’ll be left in the dust by the marketplace. We like the view from the front of the pack,” said Pica.
Improving perception
The increasing flexibility for customers to change contracts was something Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services at J.D. Power and Associates, said he was glad to see.
“You’ve got to understand that people’s needs change. They move, they change jobs, their families change and they need to call more people. . You really quite frankly should not have to start the clock again in terms of the contract,” Parsons said. “They’re your customer at this point-they just want to change the service plan.”
However, Parsons said it’s likely to take some time for customer perceptions of the industry overall to improve.
Although customer policies play a role in friendliness, the carriers also cited services as well. Sprint Nextel spokeswoman Roni Singleton said the company is experimenting with more self-service options and online functions, including allowing customers to swap devices on their plan through chatting with an online customer service rep instead of requiring a call into a service center.
“We’re always evaluating our current offerings and looking at new offerings,” Singleton said.
Mapping change
Parsons also indicated that detailed, street-level customer maps such as those offered by T-Mobile USA as well as other operators help customers fully understand their wireless purchase and that a better-informed customer is generally happier with their purchase.
Brian Brueckman, VP of customer care for T-Mobile USA, said the company’s oft-awarded customer service “may sound basic” but that things such as “being courteous, showing concern for the issue they’re calling about, having knowledgeable customer service reps and resolving their issue as quickly and efficiently as possible” are key.
In general, he added, “As we’ve matured as an industry, you’re starting to see more customer focus. All in all, it’s good for the industry and certainly for the customer.”
