VZW tops latest J.D. Power customer care study
August 14 2008 - 1:05 pm ET | Allie Winter | RCR Wireless News
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Verizon Wireless ranked highest in J.D. Power and Associates’ 2008 Wireless Customer Care Performance study. The results, which normally find T-Mobile USA Inc. on top, included more than 11,000 respondents and were based on three areas, including telephone calls with a service representative and/or automated response system (ARS), visits to a retail wireless store, and via the Internet. Customers were especially impressed with Verizon Wireless’s ability to resolve a problem in one contact.
What drives most customers crazy — waiting on hold — has begrudgingly increased overall. The industry-wide average amount of time spent on hold with a customer service rep this year hit 4.4 minutes, up 34% from the previous survey. In addition 49% of wireless customers called in for help, up from 47% reported six months ago. J.D. Power attribute the extra minute on hold to the complexity of new handsets and services.
“As customers try new and increasingly complex wireless phone services and products — such as playing MP3 files, capturing still pictures or video or downloading ringtones — they are more likely to call their provider for support,” said Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services at J.D. Power and Associates. “Customer care centers and service representatives are under pressure to handle the increase in inquiries, while still trying to understand and resolve the customer’s issue on the initial contact.”
Customer service is a big issue for all carriers and most have recently tried to incorporate and encourage more “do-it-yourself” options for customers, but it doesn’t seem to have been received. This year’s study also found that within the customers who reach out to customer service, 75% do it over the phone, 24% visit the store and only 1% turn to e-mail/Internet help, a method carriers had hoped customers would adopt.
Verizon Wireless posted a score of 103 in the study, closely followed by its future sibling Alltel Communications L.L.C. with a score of 102. T-Mobile USA snagged third place with a score of 100 and AT&T Mobility was in fourth with 97, just above the industry average of 96. Sprint Nextel Corp. was the only carrier in the survey to score below the industry average, posting a score of 79.
October 17, 2008 04:47 pm
Honestly Att,T-Mobile and Verizon have the same Customer Service as all the other carriers. I been with them all. It is not so much the carrier but the rep behind the call. On how they are feeling or how the customers talk to them and how the rep reacts to an agry customer. ATT Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile are all the same.
September 4, 2008 12:45 pm
I wish I were solicited for the survey! There are all these "nameless" people doing surveys. How do I know the reality of the data provided. I have been with sprint for years now. My sister had verizon, and a friend of mine has att (stuck in contract hell). We have all tested out phones for different things, and my phone has always won out. My sister is now with sprint. I have fewer drops around town, my web speed blows theirs away, and my email and other apps work exceptionally well. I take that, plus the cost of plan into account, and it is a no brainer. Of course, I do much more than talk on my phone too.
August 28, 2008 04:38 pm
Z & O must be Sprint/Nextel csr's, that is the attitude my girlfriend got when trying to get help. After more than 10 years as a Sprint customer, she is now with Verizon. I wonder why they are bitter about their ranking, they have the worst customer service I have ever seen!
August 18, 2008 08:27 am
Good thing JD Power didn't include Verizon's scores from their wireline side. Their customer support for their DSL service is horrible!
August 18, 2008 09:51 am
As a vzw employee, all I can say is that we are very proud and honored to have been named # 1. We are extensively trained, coached and monitored in order to ensure we provide exceptional customer service to each customer, irrate,or not.
August 15, 2008 06:10 am
I have to agree with the most recent posting. I, as well, work for wireless provider. I have worked in all fields. Customer Service, retail sales rep and as well in the training department. The scores that companies received, not just my own, are unfair to the industries. A majority of american culture are lazy and don't even read their instruction manuals. You don't see me sitting on the phone calling the toll free # for the people who made my car to find out how to turn on my fog lights, calling Armani to find out what settings to wash my clothes on, or a book's author to find out what order I am supposed to read the pages. Now with this, there's definitely lee-way for some things. Customer's approach wireless carriers all the time with the scenario "My phone won't turn on" and the liquid indicators are wet and they swear up and down they didn't get their phone wet, yet when you ask them, they leave it on the bathroom sink while they shower. Steam? Duh! But they don't want to take responsibility over their own actions so they blame providers and blast the company on its feedback scores through the survey's the industry has moved to, to gauge customer satisfaction. I think a clause needs to be put in somewhere that says "If you are a customer who has not read your manual, you broke your phone and are just trying to offset the blame on the company so you don't have to pay for a new phone, or are just too lazy to attempt to do it yourself rather then have someone else do it for you, Press 1 to have your score/vote/feedback be erased and thrown in the trash".
August 14, 2008 01:07 pm
Nothing about this surprises me. I do work for one of the front leading companies in their Tier 2 tech support, and there are several calls that should never be made to the providers at all, and people come away with a poor experience. For example, a daily call we get is "my phone wont power on after I dropped it in water." Also "my car wont pair with my phones blue tooth." These are not calls that your cell phone carrier is equipped to handle. If you have insurance use it on the phone you ruined, if it's a blue tooth issue, consult your owners manual for the vehicle or reach out to the phone manufacturer. The other big complaint is people calling in and asking for a manager because we can't help them, simply because they're calling from their phone and want work done on it. Anything my department fixes either involves phone settings, or reprogramming network settings from the "HLR". You can think of that as the big computer that tells your phone everything it's allowed to do, and changes can't be made effective there many times without first removing the phones connection with the network and causing it to "re-register" which would disconnect your call. The two front runners (ATT/Verizon) have excellent do it yourself guides online, that I use daily to solve simple issues for people that call me. I think it's absurd that people say they don't have time to wait, when eventually after being transferred to the correct department after God knows how long they could've used a picture walk through on their carriers page to fix their phone. Another thing...if you've always had poor service at home, or indoors, no one will or can help you. Especially indoors, think long and hard before you give up that land line. No carrier will guarantee service in a building, and RF techs wont even begin to troubleshoot an issue that has always occurred in a location. Sit tight and wait for more cell sites to be built. If you call customer service for a year complaining that at your house don't get service, save everyone some time and either cancel with them or keep your land line. In summation, I think EVERY carrier would rank higher if people took some common sense into account before reaching out to their provider for help. It does no good getting bent out of shape asking someone for help when you haven't properly prepared to accept it.
August 14, 2008 02:39 pm
Well I can vouch for their Sprint assessment. Called in for a *minor* account maintenance issue, 10 minutes later - fired them. Amazing how they turned a simple customer service call into a disconnection. Nothing but script reciting zombies.....Had been with them since 2001.
August 14, 2008 02:39 pm
I think you will see big improvements with Sprint over the next 6 months. http://www.cell-stuff.net
August 14, 2008 02:39 pm
This is from the JDP press release on the survey. Some of these customers may only have had one contact with a care rep in the last 12 mos. Refelective of last 12 mos trends - yes. True capture of most current capabilities/improvements, not necessarily."The 2008 Wireless Customer Care Performance Study—Volume 2 is based on responses from more than 11,000 wireless customers who contacted their provider’s customer care department within the past year. The study was fielded between February and June 2008."