Sprint’s new found focus on customer service is seeing some results. New research from Pali Research reveals dramatic improvement, including Sprint leaping from last to first place in customer care call response times. Sprint answered 91% of the calls into its call center within 30 seconds, improving from 68% in the previous year. The noticeable improvement also leads all their competitors, with Verizon having the closest percentage at 85%. T-Mobile’s rate was slightly less than half of Sprint’s rate, at 45%. AT&T brought up the rear, coming in at 33%. Sprint’s progress went beyond answering the phone quickly. They also are apparently getting better at resolving customer issues on the first call. Here’s hoping they can maintain these customer service numbers, and not just use them as a short term gimmick to slow their dreadful decline is subscriber counts.
Kudos to Sprint for improving customer service, but you have to wonder if it will be enough to slow their subscriber exodus. The iPhone effect is probably hurting Sprint considerably, and T-Mobile’s G1 will soon have its moment in the sun. Adding insult to injury, Verizon will soon be exclusively trotting out the BlackBerry Storm. Sprint’s going to need some smartphone mojo of their own to keep up. Will XOHM be able to pick up the slack?
