As customers walk away from wireless retail stores, they are less satisfied with the experience, largely because of a lack of product information and promotional incentives, according to the latest survey released by J.D. Power and Associates. Indeed, customer satisfaction with wireless retailers has steadily declined since 2006, and in the most recent survey it reached its lowest level since 2005, the firm said.
“Changes in the wireless service industry, such as an increase in the number of new products and services, have made it difficult for carriers to maintain the same level of customer satisfaction since the inaugural study in 2004,” Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services at the firm, wrote in the report.
Of the four factors the firm measures, the biggest problems occur in the store display and price/promotion factors, the firm reported.
“Within the past year, there have been a number of new product and service plan innovations where, in most cases, customers need to be re-educated in terms of usage and price plan information,” Parsons said.
T-Mobile USA Inc. ranked highest in customer satisfaction among the major wireless carrier-owned retail stores, especially on sales staff and store display factors, the firm reported. Alltel Corp. came in a close second, followed by Verizon Wireless.
The firm also concluded that the average wireless retail sales transaction takes about 56 minutes to complete, which is four minutes quicker than the last reporting period.
For the study, J.D. Power and Associates surveyed 6,634 wireless customers who completed a retail sales transaction within the past six months.
Survey: Wireless retail experience getting worse: T-Mobile USA tops latest J.D. Power rankings
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