Atomic Fangirl

Wellp, at least now it’s official. So when you say you freakin’ hate Comcast/Cox/Time Warner Cable/WhateverallISP, you now have a study to reference. Or if you’re like me, you’ll simply point to your ever-blinking “all-in-one” modem/router. Siiiiigh…

TV and Internet Service Providers Deliver the Worst Customer Experience, According to Temkin Group Research

Fifth Annual Temkin Experience Ratings Evaluates 293 Companies Across 20 Industries

WABAN, Mass., March 18, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — TV service providers and Internet service providers earned the lowest overall customer experience scores, according to the 2015 Temkin Experience Ratings, an annual ranking of companies based on a survey of 10,000 U.S. consumers.

Of the 20 industries covered in the 2015 Temkin Experience Ratings, TV service and Internet service providers received the lowest average ratings. These industries have been at the bottom of the Ratings for the past three years, and their scores hit an all-time low this year.

The poster child for poor customer experience in these industries—Comcast—was not only the lowest-scoring TV service and Internet service provider, but it was also one of the lowest-scoring companies in the entire Ratings. It ranked 289^th overall out of 293 companies for its Internet service and ranked 291^st overall for its TV service.

Of the 17 companies that received “very poor” ratings (below 50%) across the 193 companies, five of them were from these two industries: Comcast for TV (43%), Comcast for Internet (45%), Time Warner Cable for Internet (47%), Charter Communications for TV (48%), and Time Warner Cable for TV (48%).

“Internet and TV service providers are awful to consumers. The lack of competition continues to fuel this bad experience epidemic,” states Bruce Temkin, managing partner of Temkin Group.

At the other end of the spectrum, Cablevision earned the highest rating for both of these industries, with a rating of 61% (ranked 199^th) for its TV service and a rating of 60% (ranked 207^th) for its Internet service. The only other company to receive an “okay” rating—above 60%— was DirecTV for TV services. Every other company in these industries had a “poor” or “very poor” rating.

Only Verizon (+3 points) and AT&T (+1 point)—both for their TV services—improved their ratings between 2014 and 2015. Bright House Networks (-8 points), Time Warner for Internet (-8 points), Cox Communications for TV (-7 points), and Cox Communications for Internet (-7 points) declined by the most.

Now in its fifth year of publication, the 2015 Temkin Experience Ratings is the most comprehensive benchmark of customer experience in the industry, evaluating 293 companies across 20 industries: airlines, appliance makers, auto dealers, banks, car rental agencies, computer makers, credit card issuers, fast food chains, health plans, hotel chains, insurance carriers, Internet service providers, investment firms, parcel delivery services, retailers, software firms, supermarket chains, TV service providers, utilities, and wireless carriers.

To generate these ratings, Temkin Group asked 10,000 U.S. consumers to evaluate their recent experiences with a company across three dimensions: success (can you do what you want to do?), effort (how easy is it to work with the company?), and emotion (how do you feel about the interactions?). Temkin Group then averaged these three scores to produce each company’s Temkin Experience Rating.

The 2015 Temkin Experience Ratings, along with other ratings, can be accessed at the Temkin Ratings website, www.TemkinRatings.com. The free report “2015 Temkin Experience Ratings” is available for download at the Customer Experience Matters^® blog (ExperienceMatters.wordpress.com) and at the Temkin Group website, www.TemkinGroup.com.

About Temkin Group: Temkin Group is a leading customer experience research and consulting firm. Many of the world’s largest brands rely on its insights and advice to steer their transformational journeys, and Temkin Group accelerates their results by combining customer experience thought leadership with a deep understanding of organizational dynamics. Rather than layering on cosmetic changes, Temkin Group helps companies embed practices within their culture by building up four core competencies: Purposeful Leadership, Employee Engagement, Compelling Brand Values, and Customer Connectedness. The firm’s ongoing research identifies leading and emerging best practices for engaging the hearts and minds of customers, employees, and partners. For more information, contact Bruce Temkin at 617-916-2075 or send an email.

*Customer experience matters is a registered trademark of Temkin Group.