J.D. Power has released a report card on how well wireless providers service their customers. They rated three
point-of-contact methods: telephone calls with a service representative
and/or automated response system (ARS); visits to a retail wireless
store; and on the web.
The J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Wireless Customer Care Performance Study shows more efficiently phone transferred customers were more satisfied.
T-Mobile
ranks highest in wireless customer care performance with an index score
of 755 on a 1,000-point scale, followed by Verizon Wireless (749) and
Alltel (744).
In addition to demonstrating strong performance in
transferring customers from an automated response system to a live
service representative, T-Mobile also performs particularly well in the
walk-in and online methods of customer service.
The study also finds several key wireless customer care patterns:
- Customers
who visit the carrier's retail store for service inquiries report
waiting an average of seven minutes before speaking with a
representative and spend about 25 minutes overall in the store.
T-Mobile customers report spending less than 19 minutes in stores to
resolve their issues. - Fifty-three percent
of wireless customers have contacted the customer care service center
for assistance within the past year, marking a six percentage point
increase from the same time period in 2008. Additionally, among
customers who contacted the service department, 40 percent had an
inquiry related to service or equipment, and 39 percent had a
billing-related service inquiry. - The current
national economic climate is also affecting the nature of wireless
subscriber contacts, as the percentage of contacts regarding the cost
of services and products has risen from 21 percent in the 2008 Volume 2 study to 27 percent in the 2009 Volume 1 study.
On average, wireless carriers that
quickly and seamlessly transfer their customers from automated systems
to live service representatives during service calls outperform
carriers that handle the process less efficiently, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Wireless Customer Care Performance StudySM--Volume 1 released today.
"As customers are offered increasingly complex
phones and service plan options, they tend to rely more on their
wireless carrier for support and advice," said Kirk Parsons, senior
director of wireless services at J.D. Power and Associates. "In order
to improve or maintain satisfaction levels, carriers should ensure that
their automated systems can either quickly answer customer questions or
efficiently identify those users who need to speak directly with a
representative based on the type of problem they are trying to resolve."
Customer
satisfaction with the time it takes to resolve an issue can vary
depending on the problem, according to the study. For example, those
customers experiencing billing errors--specifically, incorrect
charges--report significantly lower satisfaction ratings with regard to
the length of time it takes to resolve the problem compared with all
other reasons for contacting customer care. Conversely, problems
related to service and equipment receive the highest overall
satisfaction scores when it comes to timely resolution.
"Much
of T-Mobile's success can be attributed to its ability to reach the
customer very quickly," said Parsons. "More than one-third of T-Mobile
subscribers report waiting less than two minutes on hold to speak with
a representative. T-Mobile has proved successful when it comes to being
prompt, courteous and efficient at identifying and resolving problems
in the eyes of its customers."
The study finds that
64 percent of customer care contacts are handled through the telephone
channel. More than one-half of customers who make a phone call for
service are initially prompted by an automated response system and then
transferred to a live service representative. Wireless customers who
experience this process are less satisfied, on average, than customers
who are able to resolve their problem by using only the automated
response system or who are directly connected to a service
representative.
The
2009 Wireless Customer Care Performance Study--Volume 1 is based on
responses from more than 13,000 wireless customers who contacted their
carrier's customer care department within the past year. The study was
fielded July through December 2008.
For more information, to read an article, or view wireless customer care ratings, please visit JDPower.com
I am involved in a customer service nightmare with T-Mobile. I’ve tried dealing with them to no avail. First I spoke with “Ralph” from the “office of the president.” I’ve also written to their media relations department, Robert Dotson, Brian Kirkpatrick, Susan Nokes and Hamid Akhavan, all of whom have ignored me. All I want is something fair and simple, yet the are they have dug their heels in and are being completely unreasonable—and have been quite deceptive to boot!
My 19 year old daughter has not has good luck with her T-Mobile phones. She had a Razr which gave her problems on many occasions. She eventually switched to a Wing—the source of her current, ongoing problem.
My daughter has gone through several Wings. In the beginning, they were replaced with refurbished units. She dropped one and paid the insurance claim out of her own pocket. Her current Wing (a new unit), which she received a few months back, started to give an error message saying it was out of memory, repeatedly froze, etc. It finally stopped working altogether. Research on Google shows that this is common problem with this phone. The tech at a T-Mobile store said that there was nothing they could do and suggested she go to Wal-Mart and get a pre-paid phone until she got a new Wing!
I tried reaching Ralph from the “Office of the President”several times. After leaving many messages, Ralph finally called me back. He said, “If the account number isn’t left, I won’t return the call.” To me, that is NOT customer service. All he would have to do is to look up my daughter’s records OR call me back! Finally, Ralph got back to me, then my daughter. Initially, Ralph told my daughter that he would exchange her Wing for any other T-Mobile phone. She was pleased to hear this. My daughter went to a T-Mobile store again and tried out different phones. Because of her needs and the shape of her fingers, etc., she settled on the G1.
When my daughter called Ralph back and told him the phone she wanted, he told her that she could have any phone EXCEPT THAT ONE! I’m sure you can imagine her disappointment—and outrage. He offered to give her a Sidekick 2008 (quite old) or a Dash (even older—and one she doesn’t like). These are not even close to being in the class as a G1 or a Wing. He said that she could get the G1, but she’d have to pay for it—and offered her a “discounted” price of $179.99. I then spoke with him and expressed my disappointment and how it was insulting that even though she had a flawed, lemon of a phone, she’d have to pay even MORE money for a different one—one that was also close to a year old technology-wise. I asked for his supervisor to call me.
Jennifer Martinez called me the next day. She basically reiterated the same offer, making it sound like we were getting some amazing deal, saying that “retail” price on the phone was $399.99. This was absolute deception, of course, as hardly anyone ever pays the “suggested retail price,” and, the T-Mobile website offers the very same price of $179.99 to ANY new customer!
I declined Ms. Martinez’s offer and told her that I would be contacting other people. She said that “I could feel free to do so, but they would tell me the same thing.” Now, I understand empowering employees, but when they come off as sounding like even the owner or CEO can’t or won’t do anything they won’t do, it just sounds ridiculous.
Apparently, my letters trickled back to Ralph, who called me and clearly indicated that he was authorized to speak on behalf of all of the executives that I had written to.
Among the many absurd things that he said, he told me that he could not (or…WOULD not) contact my daughter when I called him the first time, since I didn’t’ leave her cell number, since there were others with her name in their system. I told him flat out that as far as I knew, there are NO other people with my daughter’s name in the world! I again wrote to T-Mobile asking for some type of proof of this. The fact is, Ralph refused to be proactive and just make a simple phone call to me. He tried to cover his tracks with this ridiculous statement. Ralph also told me that the $179.99 was a huge discount—the only thing that that my daughter qualified for. It seems that T-Mobile is more is more interested in getting new customers than keeping the ones that they have.
This situation has been going on for over a month. My family has had an account with T-Mobile for many years. We’ve paid T-Mobile thousands of dollars through the years. My daughter’s Razr and now her Wing have given her problems. I’ve tried to resolve this fairly, yet they refuse to budge over $200—and an old phone—one that’s already being updated!
I have recently filed complaints with both the Better Business Bureau in DuPont, WA (the office closest to T-Mobile HQ) and the FCC.
I appreciate the chance to share this information with your readers and let them know that the vows of great customer service by Susan Nokes and her team are nothing but lip service.