Customer Satisfaction With Information Services Plunges to 7-Year Low

The latest American Customer Satisfaction Index looked at subscription TV, Internet, wireless and fixed line telephone, and computer software for its score.

With tales of woe from customers of Comcast, one of the USA's biggest broadcast and cable companies, regularly making headlines for its abominable customer service it probably doesn't come as a surprise that the information services industry is not doing well when it comes to CX - according to its customers, at least.

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The information services sector, which includes subscription TV, Internet, wireless and fixed line telephone, and computer software, has dropped 3.4 percent to an American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) score of 68.8 on a 0 to 100 scale.

This is the lowest level in seven years, and TV service and internet service providers in particular don't fare well. Both received a satisfaction of just 63, which is the lowest score of all 43 industries covered by the index.

Claes Fornell, ACSI Chairman and founder, said: "There was a time when pay TV could get away with discontented users without being penalised by revenue losses from defecting customers, but those days are over.

"Today people have more alternatives than ever before. Consumer abandonment of pay TV is shaking up the industry and lower satisfaction could mean even more cord cutting by subscribers ahead."

Unsurprisingly, perhaps, the ACSI reports huge drops in customer satisfaction for Comcast and Time Warner Cable, following their failed merger.

Already one of the lowest-scoring companies in the ACSI, Comcast sheds 10 percent to a customer satisfaction score of 54. Meanwhile, Time Warner Cable earns the distinction as least-satisfying company in the Index after falling 9 percent to 51.

The data for the index is based on 14,176 customer surveys collected in the first quarter 2015.

The report includes ISPs, subscription television service, fixed-line and wireless telephone, and computer software. It also covers cell phones, part of the durables sector, as well as detailed data for the top-selling smartphone brands available to U.S. consumers.