The new American Customer Satisfaction Index has been released, and one of the takeaways from the survey of 80,000 consumers is that they think service from the cable companies is really poor.
According to MarketWatch, one director of the poll said: To some extent, companies in those industries "can afford to have low satisfaction and still do well. Comcast is a good example: Low and declining satisfaction and pretty good financials because the buyer has limited power to punish the service provider."
Charter Communications (CHTR) had a score of only 55 out of 100 for customer satisfaction. Comcast (CMCSA) was at 56 (a sever percent decline from the prior year) and Time Warner Cable (TWC) had a score of 58. Satellite TV provider Echostar (DISH) did much better at 67.
The phone companies are not known for their service, but their wireless operations got good scores in the survey. Verizon Wireless scored a 71. If they can bring this level of customer relations to their fiber TV, broadband and voice services, they may be able to break cable’s hold on bundled services. With cable using VoIP to steal their customers, they could use the leverage.
Phone customer services operations involve tens of thousands of people, making a change in quality control difficult. But, it may be the key to marketing fiber services to consumers over the next few years.
Douglas A. McIntyre
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