The top 25 companies in customer service. I have used some of these products. Whenever I want to buy a new Porche or Lexus, I always receive the best of service.
And when I want to help out the American workers and buy a Caddy or a Buick, the sales people are always the best. I don't see where any food establishments-other than Starbucks-made the list. And I question S.B. being listed. When I go there, I ain't getting no top-notch service. Sorry! The Ritz-Carlton? Different story altogether. Here's the top 25, which are submitted for your perusal and approval.
1 USAA Insurance A+ A+ 992.6 79%
USAA keeps its promises, customers say. Ninety-six percent of home and 98 percent of auto policyholders report that USAA meets their commitments to call back regarding claim issues on time.
2 FOUR SEASONS HOTELS AND RESORTS Hotels A+ A+ 991.3 60%
When a Four Seasons executive says the luxury chain has an "obsession to be perfect," he means it. In 2006, just 2% of guests reported major problems with their hotel stay, halved from 4% in 2005.
3 CADILLAC Automotive A+ A+ 985.4 51%
Servicing a vehicle at a Cadillac dealer after the warranty expires is a top-notch experience, customers report. The brand scored at least 47 points higher than the industry average on all six related factors.
4 NORDSTROM Retail A A- 947.1 57%
Nordstrom's famed service levels didn't disappoint our respondents. Customers ranked the courtesy of the Seattle-based department store chain's people tops among all retailers.
5 WEGMANS FOOD MARKETS Supermarkets A- A 938.9 60%
You know they're good if customers rank the ease of returning things higher than Nordstrom. Wegmans received the best scores of any retailer for the ease of returning items to the store.
6 EDWARD JONES Broker A- A 938.2 58%
Edward Jones ranked 50 points higher than average full-service brokers overall. Their financial advisors, which received high marks for knowledge levels, scored 11.9 points higher than the industry average.
7 LEXUS Automotive A+ A+ 932.5 55%
At Lexus, there's no quesiton good service builds loyalty: More than 91% of customers said they would "probably" or "definitely" return to the dealer for customer-paid maintenance services.
8 UPS Shipping A B+ 931.5 40%
This global shipping giant ranked high on delivery timeliness and drivers' knowledge and flexibility. Only 1% of UPS customers reported problems with the service they received.
9 ENTERPRISE RENT-A-CAR Rental Car A- A- 926.8 44%
When it comes to rental cars, price drives satisfaction more than anything else. Enterprise earned the top score on all three price factors, from the cost of additional coverages to that dreaded fuel surcharge.
10 STARBUCKS Restaurant B+ B+ 920.3 45%
Starbucks baristas, no surprise, ranked high on their levels of friendliness, knowledge and availability. With almost 9,000 locations in the U.S., it's no wonder they also did well on convenience of locations.
11 THE RITZ-CARLTON Hotels A+ A+ 911.4 56%
Sure, it's what you'd expect from a luxury hotel, but the Ritz gets it right, guests say. Ninety-seven percent of customers report that their reservations were accurate, and just 4% reported a billing error.
12 AMICA INSURANCE Insurance A+ A+ 909.3 66%
When it comes to resolving auto claims--a headache for anyone who's had an accident--Amica's scores are second only to industry leader USAA, besting the insurance average by almost 90 points.
13 SOUTHWEST AIRLINES Airlines B B 901.1 50%
It's not just the low fares that customers "LUV" at Southwest. The airline's check-in process, and particularly its kiosks, won significantly higher than average scores from customers.
14 WASHINGTON MUTUAL Banking B B- 895.3 34%
Washington Mutual may be most known as a pioneer of free checking, but it's also notable for speedy service, customers say: 62% of respondents reported that problems were solved in one day or less.
15 CABELA'S Retail A- A- 888.4 66%
The outdoor retailer's loaner program, which allows employees to borrow, test out, and review its products for free, pays off. Cabela's ranks top among all retailers when it comes to product knowledge.
16 RAYMOND JAMES FINANCIAL Broker B+ A 887.4 48%
At this full-service brokerage firm, which includes 4,600 advisors in 2,200 locations, people are tops.
17 PORSCHE Automotive A+ A+ 880.2 55%
Porsche enthusiasts love to tell their friends how much they love their cars: Fifty-five percent say they would definitely recommend a Porsche, the second-highest ratio of any of the auto makers. (Lexus is No. 1.)
18 APPLE Electronics C- B+ 875.4 58%
Despite frustration about iPod battery replacements, Apple's customer service phone support ranks tops among electronics providers. In particular, customers rate its automated phone system as easy to navigate and good at resolving questions.
19 PUBLIX SUPER MARKETS Supermarkets A- B+ 872.1 60%
Customers gave this grocery chain, which is based in the Southeast, the highest marks among super markets when it comes to convenience of locations and speed of checkout.
20 HERTZ Rental Car B+ B 864.8 40%
Hertz's "#1 Club Gold" program, which lets frequent customers skip the rental counter, is gold indeed: Customers rated all five aspects of the car pick-up process significantly higher than the industry average.
21 FEDEX Shipping B+ B 857.5 43%
Customers say they recommend FedEx to their friends, family or colleagues slightly more often than they do UPS. They also give it top marks when it comes to dependability.
22 JW MARRIOTT HOTELS & RESORTS Hotel A+ A 854.0 51%
JW Marriott customers hail the brand's web site reservations, including the ease of booking online and quality of information on the site, with ratings above the luxury hotel category average.
23 T-MOBILE Wireless C C 850.7 36%
T-Mobile has the best billing process in the industry. Customers rank T-Mobile highest on four of the five "billing" attributes, including accuracy, ease of understanding bills, and timely problem resolution.
24 BUICK Automotive A+ A+ 827.8 46%
Buick ranks highest among non-premium auto brands in J.D. Power's customer satisfaction index study, receiving the highest scores for service advisor ratings, service quality, and dealership friendliness.
25 LINCOLN Automotive A+ A+ 827.3 47%
Few things can irritate customers more than a pushy car dealer. Lincoln's customers give the auto brand high marks for low pressure to buy accessories they don’t want.
P.S. Always a song. Take it away, Jimi. I watched a movie about him last nite. Made in 2000. Quite interesting actually.
2 comments:
Starbucks, as you know, has always been one of my favorites.
I heard a radio interview of the guy who put it all together and continues as CEO. He remembered that his dad worked hard all his life and never had any "benefits." His dream was to put together a company the likes of which his dad never had a chance to work.
Nuff said.
Here it is.
SCHULTZ: ... I joined Starbucks in the fall of 1982 when the company was getting ready to open up their fourth store and I was in a unique position in August of '87 to potentially buy the company, which we successfully were able to do, and we bought Starbucks when they had six retail stores and at the end of 1987 we had 11 stores and 100 people working for the company.
And I should say I didn't have a dime to my name in August of '87, had to really go out and try and find investors who believed or shared with me the dream that I had to try and build a different kind of company and a national brand.
RYSSDAL: Let's talk about how you got to that dream for a second. You're a kid from Brooklyn.
SCHULTZ: Right.
RYSSDAL: Grew up in the projects.
SCHULTZ: Uh-huh.
RYSSDAL: How'd you wind up out here running a big coffee company?
SCHULTZ: Wasn't a big company when I came out here.
Well, you're right; I grew up in Brooklyn, New York. I guess it's been well documented, many times, in federally subsidized housing known as the projects. My dad never made more than $20,000 a year and I saw first-hand what it was like to kind of live on the other side of the tracks, literally. And I think my story is, I think, emblematic of the American dream in so many ways.
RYSSDAL: How does it effect what you do day-to-day in this company now?
SCHULTZ: Well, I think the company is deeply-rooted in a sensibility and trying to build the company with a conscience primarily, I think, defined by the fact that we did something in 1989 and 1990 that had never been done before, which was creating a program in which we had comprehensive health insurance for all employees including part-timers and created a mechanism for equity in the form of stock options, also for every employee, and both those benefits had never been designed for part-time people before and I think those benefits in many ways transformed the company, created the kind of culture and values and guiding principles in which we wanted to build a company in which people would not be left behind. In many ways I wanted to build a company that in a sense was the kind of company that my father never got a chance to work for.
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