The problem with customer satisfaction surveys is that, by their nature, they look back in time and not forward. Bloomberg BusinessWeek announced the results of its customer service poll recently. The project used JP Power data and the magazine’s survey of 5,000 people. The poll covered 200 brands.

The companies at the top of the list will probably not come as a surprise to anyone. They include LL Bean, Apple (AAPL), the Ritz-Carlton hotel chain, and Starbucks (SBUX).

The list also includes Lexus, the luxury brand of Toyota (TM). If the survey had been conducted in the last six weeks instead of using 2009 data, the results are likley to have been very different. The public’s view of the car company has worsened by recalls and accusations of a cover-up of safety data.

Insurance companies, usually not viewed as paragons of customer service, did particularly well. USAA and Amica made the top 25. Hotels also did well. Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons, and Fairmont made the list. Supermarkets and hardware stores which are mundane retail businesses took four of the top slots–Publix, Ace, Wegman’s Food, and True Value.

Surveys like the BusinessWeek one cannot help consumers determine who may have good customer service in the future. The presence of Lexus on the list shows that. The same might be said for companies with fickle customers like Jaguar and Del (DELL)l. They would have been at the bottom of many customers services polls just a few years ago.

As brokers and mutual funds say on their literature “Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results”

Douglas A. McIntyre

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