Sprint (S) Still Near Top Of MSN "Worst Customer Service" List

Palm (PALM) may not have had much of a choice in terms of which cellular company was going to market its new Pre. AT&T (T) and Verizon Wireless (VZ)(VOD) were probably not interested. Palm’s marriage with Sprint (S) may hurt the handset firm’s chances at a turnaround.  Sprint’s customer service still gets remarkably poor ratings.

The latest MSN survey of customer satisfaction was conducted in April and covered 145 companies. Cable companies and banks made up most the list of the ten worst firms. Time Warner’s (TWX) AOL was at the bottom with almost 45% of its customers saying its service is “poor.” Comcast (CMCSA) and Time Warner Cable (TWC) both made the list. So did banks Capitol One (COF), Bank of America (BAC), HSBC (HBC), and Citigroup (C).

Sprint (S) finished as the third worst based on the “poor” service rating with 41% of its customers putting it in that category.

The excuse that the companies on the list may offer is that they deal with so many people each day that there are bound to be some customers who are unhappy. The does not explain why firms like Wells Fargo (WFC), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), and AT&T got positive rating.

Douglas A. McIntyre