Confirming, yet again, that T-Mobile is pushing hard to keep the JD Power Customer Care trophy on their mantle, JD Power has just named T-Mobile USA the No. 1 US wireless carrier in terms of customer care.
JD Power conducted their customer satisfaction survey from July through December of 2008, and included more than 13,000 wireless customers who had made customer service inquiries in the past year. The results have T-Mobile edging out Verizon Wireless as the leading US wireless carrier when it comes to customer care quality.
T-Mobile scored 755 points, out of a possible 1,000 points, in the customer care performance category, followed closely by Verizon Wireless with 749 point. Alltel brought up the third-place spot with 744 points.
JD Power notes that, while T-Mobile showed strengths in transferring calls from its automated customer care system to a live customer service representation, T-Mobile performed well on in-person and online customer care metrics.
A few notes about the JD Power study:
- 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.
This latest JD Power award marks the 7th time that T-Mobile USA has been named the best US wireless carrier for customer service in the last 8 years. Despite spotty service and a still-nascent 3G network that has yet to connect the East and West coasts with high-speed wireless data, T-Mobile has been getting high marks for its excellent customer care.
Will customer service quality alone be enough to grow T-Mobile into a Top 3 US wireless carrier? Probably not until they can roll out a more complete 3G network in the US. But, we can think of at least one company that has done quite well for itself by focusing on putting the customer first…