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October 25, 2011

Sprint Drops Back to the Bottom in Customer Satisfaction, According to Survey

By Tracey E. Schelmetic, TMCnet Contributor

There is a battle going on in the wireless U.S. industry, but it's not about who has the most desirable smart phones to offer or who gives subscribers the best bang for their buck in usage plans.

It's about customer service, and up until recently, it was a race to the bottom.

Wireless companies have never carried the banner for exemplary customer service, but some wireless companies are less bad than others. AT&T, once at the bottom of the heap for customer service, seems to have recovered a bit, while Sprint (News - Alert) lost ground, according to a new study on phone-based customer service quality conducted by Vocal Laboratories Inc. (Vocalabs).



Vocalabs conducted the survey via telephone interviews that took place immediately following a customer service call during the three months ending September 30, 2011. Here is how the numbers fell out:

  • Sixty-six percent of AT&T (News - Alert) customers surveyed reported being “very satisfied” with the customer service experience. This number was up from 56 percent in the prior period.
  • Fifty-three percent of Sprint reported being “very satisfied” with their company's customer service. This number is down from 64 percent in the prior period. (Whatever new program you're carrying on in customer service, Sprint, it's time to evaluate it...quickly.)
  • Fifty-five percent of T-Mobile subscribers reported being “very satisfied.”
  • Verizon (News - Alert) fell into second place, with 60 percent of its customers claiming to be “very satisfied.”

Sprint has moved in a giant circle in its customer service ranking. The company's satisfaction rates shot upward in 2010 (from the bottom of the pile in Vocalabs 2009 study) to being statistically tied for first place in many key metrics. These gains seemed to vaporize in 2011, however, and some of its customer satisfaction scores have dropped back to or below 2009 statistics.

“Sprint’s story has been one of ups and downs,” said Peter Leppik, CEO of Vocalabs. “Last year we applauded them for their significant gains, but this year they have slid backwards. Some of this can be explained by a shift towards prepaid customers in our survey sample, but even among traditional postpaid customers, key service metrics declined over the past three months.”


Tracey Schelmetic is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Tracey's articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Jennifer Russell
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