By The usual feeling is that the smaller carriers have the best customer care ratings and the bigger carriers don’t quite stack up, but that trend seems to have been turned upside down in the past year or two. JD Power has released yet another customer care survey report, where it cultivates data from thousands of users in order to see which carriers provide the best support experience.
Verizon ranked first in the race for a fourth consecutive time, giving the carrier a nice, round number to push in its advertising. Big Red credits the strides it’s made with its full-time social networking team. They monitor the likes of Facebook and Twitter to seek those with issues and help resolve them, going as far as extending conversations via direct messaging or by initiating a phone call if need be.
AT&T was ranked second in the survey with a few points above average. Sprint was third as the Now Network ranked below average by 9 points. Finally, way on the bottom of the totem pole is T-Mobile, who ranked a whopping 40 points below average. Once upon a time T-Mobile had the luxury of boasting about having some of the best customer service around, but if this survey is anything to go by then the carrier has a bit to worry about.
We’re sure not everyone has a horror story to tell in this regard, but we’d love to hear it from you — is Magenta really that bad these days, or do these survey results not tell the whole story? Let us know how your recent calls into T-Mobile’s customer care department have gone in the comments section below.
PS: In case you were wondering, Virgin Mobile and MetroPCS topped the list of customer care rankings for non-contract carriers, while the folks at Straight Talk and Cricket find themselves toward the bottom this go-around. Take a look at more of those numbers below.
JD power is getting that fat chunk in their wallet. He who pays the most has the best reviews!! Obviouse!!!
Yep, as bad as I’ve been treated there’s no way they could be at the top. The only reason I stay is they have the best coverage.
Yet the only carrier the geniuses at Google support is T-mobile while a CDMA/LTE Nexus 4 is MIA so half the US population are slapped in the face.
Works on AT&T also.
Closed radios. Verizon gimped the GNex and Google is done with their BS.
wrong.. got it turned around. nice try though.
screw the big v and sprint neither deserve a nexus
Well I completely agree if the survey was the most phone friendly carrier, but thats not the case, Verizon is the least phone friendly because they are very picky about their phones, but that does describe who has the best customer service, which I agree Verizon does. You pay for what you get, also I think its where you are located at because you can get assholes in every carrier store and you can find very nice service in every carrier store, I think the survey reflects overall in the country.
They’re trying to help you out by pushing you away from Verizon’s “share your wallet” plans. For the love of god, they’re trying to use marketing to get people to believe “not only do you want a tiny data bucket, but you want to pay extra to access that same tiny data bucket from more than one device”.
It’s absurd.
There’s more to “customer service” than retail stores and call-centers IMO.
Preach on brother.!!!
I deal with both straight talk and t mobile right now. Straight talk is by far the worst customer service I have experienced. It’s hard to explain but it’s like they are always guessing the answers to your questions….
straighttalk might as well be tfumble.. low budget carrier that has little effect on US cell usage.
That’s very interesting. I’ve dealt with virgin a lot lately and they were terrible every single time. In fact I just left them because I had a small issue with a new phone upgrade having a phantom voice mail notification, and whole on the phone with the rude and impatient cs rep, she did something that completely broke my service and I was no longer “authorized” to make calls, as if I hadn’t paid my bill. She got defensive, insisted it wasn’t her fault, and told me there was nothing she could do but escalate this new problem and I would hear back in a few days. Meanwhile with no service. So I switched companies. I had to call T-Mobile only once to change my plan, and there was no issue there at all.
I agree with the ease of TMobile
I think the problem is that T-Mobile caters to the lower earning demographic. These people generally are a bunch of complaining cry babies. (My experience with dealing with the lower echelon of society) I have Verizon service by the way. Had T-Mobile in the past and loved it too.
That’s bull. I’m around very rich, very well off people on a daily basis and they are the biggest wining, complaining cry babies I have ever encountered.
being around the rich, by driving into the city to work at a restaurant doesn’t rub the rich on to you.
There are cry babies and whiners at all levels of income. Being an ass doesn’t require income verification
I have no idea what makes you think TMobile is for low income people. They have the lowest rates and solid phones, plus the use Sim cards which makes phones easier to find on the secondary market.
Very odd. My experience with TMobile had always been great. AT&T was my least favorite. I will say though, TMobile is less willing to throw freebies and discounts around like they did in the past
They definitely didn’t call me when compiling their Verizon data. I’m beyond sick of verizon and their terrible Customer service and their network is going to crap.
How is their customer service terrible? I’m on Verizon, and while being the “NexusMan” I have definite issues with Verizon, general customer service is not 1 of them.
My biggest issue with Verizon had always been their Billing department. Many of my friends and family feel the same way
Lies
T-Mobile sux! I’ll never do business with them again simply because they don’t know how to treat customers. too much to type out, but just know I am one of many T-Mobile victims. glad to be with Verizon now
I’ve been a customer of T Mobile since the Window MDA slide phone and 1st Sidekick days. I’ve never has a problem with their customer service,I have had better connections than friends on the other networks and I hear their horror stories. I’m not poor, but know when I have a great deal. I also do a lot of tethering from my phone with no set limit. I don’t have to worry about my bill ever being slightly higher…I know my bill every month no matter the usage or who I let (friends) use my wifi. Friends with other providers constantly look at their wifi usage. I’m not giving substance to this JD fake-port.
Verizon has the greatest customer service of all the major carriers and makes it easier to manage your account and get the help needed eithout jumping through hoops
I’ve experienced briefly, and then briefly worked for, Verizon’s customer service. It is horrible. I do not believe this report for one second. AT&T is nearly just as bad, but Sprint and T-Mobile both have given me excellent customer support every single time I’ve interacted with them.
Verizon has great customer care in my opinion. They have always been real nice and helpful.
I guess to each one’s own. I had Att, Sprint, Metro, and Verizon, I can honestly say I am with Verizon now because it was the best service. Every problem I had with any of my phones they exchanged it no problem. I rarely had dropped calls, and this is coming from a g-nex, and every time I call they always do a good job of answering my questions and servicing my needs. I have been reading Phandroid for a few years now, and it seams that people are just biased against Verizon for their high prices, lockdown on phones, and slow updates. This reminds me of how the Isheep are so against android even though they never had an android, same here but for Verizon. I can afford Verizon with no problems paying my bills, and as for the lockdowns and updates, root your phone and rom it and those problems go away. As for the business decisions that Verizon makes, that is how they keep good services and bring you the most coverage, cellular and LTE. BTW if it wasn’t for Verizon all of the carriers would be pushing HSPA+ right now, not saying LTE won’t come around, but it sure will take a much longer time.
I’m gonna go with anyone calling BS saying JD’s surveys are skewed ($$$).
I’ve been a T-Mobile customer since the Voicestream days (had a brief stint with Nextel and left after Sprint bought them) and I’ve NEVER had an issue. Never been overcharged, always had great conversations with intelligent people on the phone, etc. I lived in HI and had great coverage and for the past 6 years in LA I’ve had excellent coverage. I don’t ever see myself leaving them … though the thought of that AT&T buyout had me considering it.
My one visit to a TMobile store was more satisfactory than any of my 20+ visits to Verizon. The employee even let me try out some phone cases on her own GS3 before I bought it.
they do that at VZW too. Best Buy as well. Point? None.
My AT&T store is not friendly at all.
I know more than the average person does about cell phones and carriers and when I go in there I think they assume I don’t but I am insulted that they offer me things that are not a deal for me. And they have never let me try out a case or something in the store, I can try the phones sitting out and that is it.
There are no T-Mobile stores in my area but when I travel and I go to one they are very friendly, down to Earth people. They don’t try to BS me and they make interesting conversation.
The one time I went to a Verizon store the guy was not friendly to me. This may be an isolated case but everyone says that Verizon is the “better coverage” version of AT&T. I mean come on, AT&T and Verizon tried to duopolize the wireless market in the US not that long ago. They definitely were (maybe still are) doing all sorts of anti-consumer things. But I digress.
HAH tfumble.
I feel like it’s just all relative…the lesser of evils but still evil. :-)
Been with Verizon for a while now. Honestly one of the things that keeps me staying with them is the customer support. Few yrs ago when my original Droid randomly died, VZW let me get a Droid X (awesome phone btw) for absolutely free. The agent that I spoke to was extremely nice and very helpful. The Nexus had its issues (as many of us know) Verizon would then offer me a Galaxy S3 for free to replace the Nexus. Say what you want about VZW…yeah they can be a bit pricey but their custom support as well as their service, is absolutely amazing. AT&T on the other hand? Yeah -_- My contract is up this year and whether I get the GS4 or new iPhone, I’m staying with Big Red
Been tmo since the beginning never a prob till recent. My phone died burnt out no work anymore done. I’m 2weeks from a full upgrade one would think they would be more more than happy to push that upgrade so I could have a phone that worked, but no not happening. Their words we regretfully can’t do anything till you upgrade is available. Well that is a deal breaker for me tmo seriously suckin ballz as of late time to bounce to sprint hate to but need the unlimited.
I find this VERY hard to believe. Especially considering that T-Mobile’s reputation is the opposite everywhere else. This chart would be more accurate if you turned it upside down.
This reminds me of when the American automakers crashed and then all of a sudden in this Toyota’s Lexus brand was dethroned of “best brand” or whatever title it held for the past many, many years before that. Does anyone else remember that?
Where did U.S. Cellular come in? They always are in the lead for ratings.
verizon has good speeds but so does my wifi at home and work which I am around 95% of the time. Aside from that they are evil bastards. I dropped them and now my bill is $45/month w a nexus 4.
That is pretty much the opposite of my experiences with Verizon, T-mobile and Sprint. As far as customer service goes, Sprint and T-mobile are really good. Verizon knows they have the best network, and seem to think that they can just treat you like crap and you’ll stick around.