Consumers Give Sprint Nextel Failing Grade in Latest Survey

The Overland Park, Kan., wireless company ranked last in overall customer satisfaction among major carriers in each of six regions included in the latest J.D. Power and Associates report, released Thursday.

Verizon Wireless received top honors in four regions, T-Mobile USA ranked highest in one and Alltel (NYSE: AT) was best in another, according to the report, which sought the views of more than 22,000 wireless customers last September and again in January.

Trend Spotting

The research firm asked the customers about call quality, brand image, cost of service, service plan options, billing and customer service. Many of this year's regional winners scored well on similar surveys in recent years.

"There is a consistency," said Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services at J.D. Power. "Verizon, T-Mobile, they consistently do well in the areas most important to customers."

AT&T (NYSE: T) is the nation's No. 1 wireless company, with 71.4 million subscribers. The company, however, joins Sprint in facing customer satisfaction challenges. AT&T ranked below average in five of the six regions assessed in the report.

Sprint has fared poorly in recent versions of the report, which Parsons said reflected a variety of its recent troubles.

Lasting Effects

Changes made to the Nextel portion of Sprint's network , for example, resulted in call quality problems and customer frustration. Sprint also was criticized last summer -- just before J.D. Power researchers began collecting information for this new report -- when the company canceled service to about 1,000 disgruntled customers who had called in frequently with complaints.

"They had issues with the care side, and they had issues with the network side," Parsons said. "That bleeds into other areas."

Sprint executives respond that they began revamping their customer service operations last year. The changes have been effective, though that has yet to be reflected fully in the Power report, they said.

"We have seen some slight improvements in their numbers," Parsons said. "In January, we did see their satisfaction scores go up a little bit."

Taking Steps

Last summer, for example, Sprint began hiring more customer service representatives , said Roni Singleton, a Sprint spokesperson. Other improvements focused on technology that is more effective in routing customer calls to the department best able to help them.

Sprint also is encouraging representatives to focus more on solving customers' problems the first time they call in. The company is judging the performance of call center workers less on how quickly they handle a call.

Though many of these changes already are in place, there will be a lag time before they change Sprint's position in surveys such as the new J.D. Power report, Singleton said.

"Customers are going to slowly see the changes," Singleton said. "The things we are doing are making a difference."

Some Bright Spots

A notable overall finding of the Power report was that wireless customers buying unlimited text messaging packages and similar calling plans tended to be more loyal and more satisfied.

Sprint and several other wireless carriers recently began offering flat-rate all-you-can-call plans. Sprint has tried to best its rivals by also including messaging, Internet browsing and other data services for the same price.

This affirms Sprint's decision to offer its "Simply Everything" flat-rate packages, Singleton said. The company will follow up this year with new programs that reward longtime customers, she said.

"We will be leading the industry in the loyalty area after we make announcements this year," Singleton said.

Sprint shares closed Thursday at US$7.85, up 18 cents.