Wireless customer care is improving, according to the latest J.D. Power and Associates customer care performance study. Customers reported shorter hold times and improved rates of problem resolution on the first contact.
More than three-fourths (76 percent) of calls to customer service are resolved on the first contact, compared with just 66 percent six months ago. Hold times now average 5.55 minutes, compared with 6.58 minutes in February, according to the study.
Alltel, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless rank highest in wireless customer care performance, in a tie, each with a score of 747. J.D. Power says that Alltel performs particularly well when contacts are resolved through customer visits to the retail store and the automated response system (ARS), while T-Mobile's strength is in transferring customers from an automated response system to a live service representative. Verizon Wireless performs well with regard to identifying customer problems quickly and resolving them efficiently with service representatives.
AT&T received an index score of 730, and Sprint Nextel’s score was 704, with the industry average score being 735.