For the 5th time in a row, T-Mobile has topped J.D. Power's semi-annual wireless customer care survey, again highlighting the carrier's very good record on customer service. T-Mobile's score of 107 exceeded second place Verizon Wireless by a significant margin. Alltel continued its improvement in customer care, placing just above the industry average. Cingular and Sprint Nextel came in 4th and 5th, respectively.
As the wireless market becomes increasingly saturated, the level of customer satisfaction with a carrier is becoming a big factor in reducing ?churn,? or the rate at which subscribers leave their current carrier. Consumers shopping for wireless service should be sure to consider a carrier's customer service reputation on equal footing with the price of the service and coverage. In addition to its good reputation for customer care, T-Mobile is also one of the lower-priced carriers, though their coverage has been an issue of concern for many subscribers. Another interesting finding from the J.D. Power study was that customers who called telephone service centers with problems were significantly more likely to be satisfied with their interaction that if they tried to fix the problem via automated response systems (the dreaded ?phone trees?) or the Internet.
Source: Telecommunications Research and Action Center. http://www.trac.org
