I remember back 10 years or so, I had a friend who refused to buy a car with power windows or locks. “Just one more thing that can go wrong,” he said. I always respected that advice, though I never took it for my own cars. Loosely applying this to wireless, it would seem that the more services connected to someone’s account, the more that can go wrong. This made sense upon first thought, but then I saw a J.D. Power and Associates survey which claimed that people with more plan features were actually happier. On a 1,000-point scale, customers with extended warranties, unlimited favorite number calling, unlimited text plans, and data plans rated from 740 to 770, while those with base plans rated 699 on the happiness scale. So what gives?
Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services at J.D. Power, offers up his take. “Additional plan options not only increase overall satisfaction by offering customers access to newer features, but they may also reduce the number and severity of problems customers experience that require contacting the carrier. For example, unlimited usage plans may reduce the number of contacts pertaining to overages and incorrect billing, which helps to sustain and improve levels of first-contact problem resolution and wait times. Reducing some of these types of problems allows service representatives to focus on resolving more complicated issues and optimizing their customers’ wireless experiences.”
I’m not quite sure. I’m certainly skeptical of the end, which is clearly corporate speak. The first clause I buy, but to say that additional plan features means less contact with customer service is, in my experience, not true. People with unlimited plans can still be improperly billed, and that can be every bit as big a pain as someone with a base plan.
Most likely, I think, it’s the beginning, that their satisfaction increases because they’re using more services. Sounds simplistic, but I can’t think of a better reason.
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