RSSVerizon Wireless seizes top spot from T-Mobile in J. D. Power rankings
By Ed Oswald | Published August 15, 2008, 1:04 PM
No longer will bragging rights be claimed by T-Mobile, which held the top spot in the J. D. Power & Associates survey since 2004. Meanwhile, across the entire industry, time spent by wireless customers on hold continues to rise.
In the latest J. D. Power & Associates Customer Care Performance Study released yesterday, Verizon scored a 103, followed by Alltel with a 102 and T-Mobile with a score of 100. The industry average was said to be 96.
The survey doesn't reveal the exact cause of T-Mobile's upset, nor does it speculate on its implications. The carrier's customer service has repeatedly been lauded as one of the best, even outside of the wireless industry.
Statistical noise may also play a factor: The top three companies were only separated by three points.
AT&T took the third spot with a score of 97. Sprint lagged far behind any of its competitors, scoring a 79: only nine points above the minimum score of 70. In a statement, Sprint did admit to issues with customer care, saying improving it was its "number one priority."
In a statement yesterday, J. D. Power wireless director Kirk Parsons said that Verizon was doing particularly well in resolving customer service issues within one call.
For its own part, the victorious carrier swiftly noted its success. "We are pleased that this latest study agrees with our belief that Verizon Wireless offers the best customer experience in wireless," VZW's COO and executive vice president Jack Plating said in a statement.
In other data obtained by the ratings service, wireless customers spent an average of 4.4 minutes on hold this year, up one-third since 2003. The firm says the increasing complexity of phones used by consumers makes calls to customer service longer, thus increasing the hold times for others.
This could be a problem for carriers who let the hold times get longer for customers. "Switching levels are 83 percent higher among customers who are put on hold, compared with those who are not," remarked Parsons.
Just about half of all customers have contacted customer care, up slightly from six months ago. One third of those contacted support with either equipment or service issues.
have been with sprint/nextel, cingular/at&t and verizon over the past 10-12 years or so and let me tell ya verizon by a long shot is #1! sprint was absolutely awful to deal with. c/s reps. did not have a clue. cingular was so-so but now that at&t has merged they are screwed. Now currently with Verizon and will never leave (unless at&t jumps on board with them).
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|I wonder how much they had to schmooz J.D. Power for this ridiculous rating. I have been a Verizon customer for over seven years and they still tout their customers as their most important asset. NOT..!!! Just today I was treated so rudely by customer service, that I decided to seek face to face contact with a service rep at a mortar and brick location. I literally had to ask for some eye contact as I wanted to make my complaints known. After today I started to shop around for another service. After all I am a customer who appreciates FEELING like I am always right whether I am or not.
Signed,
John Etheridge
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|maybe you should work in customer service sometime...you are the worst customer type to deal with. you usually are uninformed and ignorant about what you want, most of the time the problem has to do with something you did, yet you would like to blame everyone else why we tell you how right you are. deal with it!
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|I don't know where they are the best but in leon county Fl. They are the worst I have ever seen. I would walk to a pay phone before I would use them again.
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|They would not honor my complaint of no service at home and let me out of contract.
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|"Statistical noise", indeed!
I think that pretty much sums up this topic.
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