J.D. Power released its latest buying experience customer satisfaction findings and customer care findings. AT&T was ranked number one for both buying and customer care. Boost Mobile provided the best buying experience while MetroPCS (now owned by T-Mobile) offered the best customer care experience.
Tier One Carriers AT&T Ruled Shopping
AT&T ranked the best in overall customer purchase experience satisfaction among Tier 1 full-service wireless carriers. AT&T with score of 798 performed particularly well in the store sales representative and store facility factors. Verizon Wireless (794) and Sprint (793) followed very closely in the rankings.
AT&T ranked highest in wireless customer care satisfaction among full-service carriers, with an overall score of 795. AT&T performed particularly well in the walk-in and online contact channels and ranks above the full-service average in four of the five service channels. Verizon came in second with (790), followed by Sprint(771) and T-Mobile(760).
Big Boxers Happiest
However, satisfaction was higher among customers who shopped on big-box store websites (798), compared with those who shopped on general store websites (784) and carrier websites (782).
PrePaid Non-Contract Wireless Providers
Boost Mobile ranked highest in overall customer purchase experience satisfaction among non-contract service carriers with a score of 804. Boost performed particularly well in the store sales representative; store facility; offerings and promotions; and website factors. MetroPCS (803), TracFone (800) and Virgin Mobile (789) follow in the rankings giving it 5 stars,
For those considering non-contract phones, Cricket scored 768, Straight Talk 767 and Net10 765 for the "buying experience.
Customer Care Different than Store Buying Experiences
MetroPCS ranked highest in overall wireless customer care satisfaction among non-contract carriers, with an overall score of 770. MetroPCS performed above the non-contract average in the telephone and online channels.
Cricket came in second with a score of 750 followed by Virgin Mobile(733) Boost Mobile(729) TracFone(719) Straight Talk(690) and Net10(683)
More than two-thirds (69%) of non-contract customers indicate they have a carrier-based account management application on their phone to track usage, review their plan and contact their carrier. Satisfaction is 93 points higher among customers with a carrier-based app than among those without one.
When choosing a smartphone and a carrier, it's important to also look at overall customer care. you may have a great buying experience but if you need help using the phone, with your bill or other problems, you may be disappointed. In general, the cheapest plans and prepaid carriers have a reputation for poor customer service such as straight talk and Net10.
AT&T, I've been getting much better scores, lately then it did in the past. In 2008 Verizon and Alltel topped in customer buying.