Brett sent us a story perfectly illustrating why Sprint has really crappy customer satisfaction ratings. While the other cellphone service providers scores hover slightly under the national ACSI average of 75, Sprint's are a dismal 56. It must be because of too many situations like the following danse macabre of incompetence:

1. Brett can't get coverage around his house
2. Tech support ineffective in solving this problem
3. Told he could cancel without ETF
4. Cancels, ETF taken out of his checking account anyway
5. Has so far spent four months calling and refaxing documents, still doesn't have his money back.

Possible solution: Call the Sprint Consumerist executive customer service line at 703-433-4401.

Customer Satisfaction Falls Again; Retail, Financial Services Down; Wal-mart, Home Depot at All-Time Lows [ACSI]

 
In the commentary on last quarters scores, ACSI says they've started including Nordstrom again because of its increasing market share, and back before it dropped off the survey in 2001, it held the top spot frequently, so no surprise there.

They also suggest that Dollar General, "which typically serves neighborhoods that may be too small to attract Wal-Mart," may be scoring high because of its wide variety of items in such small retail spaces.

Sears and Kmart are pretty much exactly where we'd expect them after their plunging customer service last year.

One thing we're not sure about is how the various recall disasters last year affected scores—clearly Dollar General emerged unscathed, despite its healthy dose of lead-tainted toys, Halloween pails, and holiday decorations.

"Q4 2007 and Historical ACSI Scores" [ACSI]
"Customer Satisfaction Falls Again; Retail, Financial Services Down; Wal-mart, Home Depot at All-Time Lows" [ACSI]

RELATED
"How are ACSI data collected?" [ACSI]

(Thanks to Shaula!)

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DirecTV's email to customers:

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[...]

For seven years running, DIRECTV has had higher customer satisfaction ratings than cable, thanks to loyal customers like you. Thank you for your business.

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Q1 2007 and Historical ACSI Scores [American Customer Satisfaction Index]
(Photo: cmorran123)

The AP poll, conducted Monday through Wednesday, found that the more people travel, the less they like TSA.

But it also found that 53% of air travelers think TSA does a "very" or "somewhat" good job.

The inconvenience of security was the top complaint of air travelers, mentioned by 31% of those who had taken at least one trip in the past year. That figure rose to 40% for those who have taken five to 10 trips.

TSA's parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, also ranked at the bottom of an index of consumer satisfaction released this week, supplanting the IRS as the prime subject of grumbling in that survey. The authoritative American Customer Satisfaction Index questioned 10,000 people about their experiences with the federal government.

Behavioral observation and document checking are proving to be the most successful in rooting out would-be terrorists, [Administrator Kip Hawley] said. Screeners do catch people who try to bring guns onto planes. "But they're not terrorists. They're just stupid," he said. Terrorists know better than to try to bring prohibited items through security, he said.

Poll: Travelers dislike TSA as much as IRS [AP]
(Photo: Getty Images)

After reading a scientific article in the Journal of Science claiming exactly that, we put together two mock stock portfolios. One contained companies that both scored in the top 20% of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) relative to their competition and beat the national ACSI average. The other was the reverse, companies scoring in the bottom 20% and having scores lower than the national mean.

Since May, when the portfolios began, the ACSI fund is down 5.63%. The ANTI-ACSI fund is down 8.16%. Also, we messed up. Overview inside...

It's much too early to draw any sort of conclusion whatsoever but we thought you might be interested in seeing how they were doing so far.

We realized two things we did very wrong:
1) We're a month behind in reporting the changes, somehow we miscalculated 4 months (we figured for four months in advance, rather than four months inclusive... doh!)

2) The ACSI index covers over 200 companies, but it only releases new scores for a limited number of industries each quarter. That is, different industries take turns getting reported each quarter and you don't see the industries next set of scores until 12 months later. Therefore... we have a bunch of number crunching to do and have to evaluate and buy a crapload more companies, backdated to their May prices when the experiment began. Good thing we're only playing with imaginary money!

PREVIOUSLY:
The Consumerist ACSI Fund v2.0
How To Beat The Stock Market: Buy Companies With High Customer Satisfaction Scores

We also made the The Consumerist ANTI-ASCI fund, buying only companies performing in the bottom 20% on the ACSI relative to their competition and having ACSI scores below the national average.

Peek at our portfolios...

We know, ha ha, the ANTI-ACSI is outperforming the ACSI. Even if it was the other way around, you can't tell anything from a mere 2 hours and 20 minutes of the market being open...

In that spirit, Correlation does not equal causation. To truly see the experiment's hypothesis out, it will need to run for far longer than any of us will probably be writing this blog. Something like 10 years, ya know?

Even still, we'll have fun tracking the funds' progress, and seeing if it might be true that company's with higher scores on the American Customer Satisfaction Index outperform the market indexes. — BEN POPKEN

NOTES:
* Made these charts with Google Finance's portfolio function.
* It's easier to find companies below the national ACSI average than above it.
* Samsung was excluded as they're not public ally traded on the American stock market.

PREVIOUSLY: The Consumerist ACSI Fund

(Photo: Getty Images)

These companies are in the top 20% on the ACSI scale relative to their competition, and their score is higher than the national ACSI average (75.2).

We used the same methodology as an article in the Journal of Marketing whose backtested portfolio outperformed the major indexes by 93%

We'll monitor the portfolio and see if you can really beat the stock market by buying companies with high customer satisfaction. — BEN POPKEN

PREVIOUSLY: How To Beat The Stock Market: Buy Companies With High Customer Satisfaction Scores

From 1996-2003, the portfolio outperformed the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 93%, the S&P 500 by 201%, and NASDAQ by 335%.

Past performance doesn't indicate future results. ACSI only goes back to 1994. However, these startling findings help vindicate one of our central claims: investing in customer service and satisfaction is good for your bottom line.

"Cost-cutting" and "profit-enhancing" measures like outsourcing all your tech support to India, creating a byzantine apparatus for warranty repairs, and using rebate systems designed to trip up your customers will only hurt you in the long run. — BEN POPKEN

Customer Satisfaction and Stock Prices: High Returns, Low Risk (PDF)

RELATED:
Most And Least Improved Companies In Customer Satisfaction Since 1994
Customer Satisfaction Winners And Losers
Customer Satisfaction Up Thanks To Lower Prices, Not Increased Quality

Here's the Best and Worst on the ACIS Q1 2007 index, based on how much their customer satisfaction score has improved or worsened relative to their competitors since 1994, when the study began.

BEST
Airlines: Continental +3
Cable & Satellite TV: DirecTV -4.3
Cellphone Service: T-mobile +9.4
Cellphone Makers: Motorola +2.9
Energy Utilities: Sempra Energy +19.4
Fixed Line Telephone Service: Verizon -1.4
Hotels: Holiday Inn +4.3
Limited Service Restaurants: Domino's +11.9

WORST
Airlines: Delta -23.4
Cable & Satellite TV: Charter Communications -12.7
Cellphone Makers: Samsung -4.1
Cellphone Service: AT&T/Cingular -2.9
Energy Utilities: Ameren Corporation -26.9
Fixed Line Telephone Service: AT&T -17.6
Hotels: Ramada -1.4
Limited Service Restaurants: Papa John's, Starbucks +1.3

You may be surprised to see stastics that don't jive with your personal experience with the company. That's because you're just one person while these numbers are based on interviews with around 80,000 other people. — BEN POPKEN

RELATED:
Customer Satisfaction Winners And Losers
Customer Satisfaction Up Thanks To Lower Prices, Not Increased Quality

WINNERS
Airlines: Southwest (76, +2.7)
Cellphone Service: Verizon (71, +2.9)
Cellphone Makers: Nokia, Motorola (72, +4.3, +1.4)
Cable & Satellite TV: Echostar (67, -1.5)
Energy Utilities: Southern Company (82, +2.5)
Fixed Line Telephone Service: Verizon, Qwest (72, +4.3, +2.9)
Limited Service Restaurants: Wendy's (78, +2.6)

LOSERS
Airlines: United Airlines (56, -11.1)
Cellphones: Sprint (61, -3.2)
Cellphone Makers: Samsung (70, -4.1)
Cable & Satellite TV: Charter Communications (55, 0)
Energy Utilities: Ameren Corporation (57, -23)
Fixed Line Telephone Service: Embarq (66, +3.1)
Limited Service Restaurants: McDonald's (64, +1.6)

— BEN POPKEN

ACSI Quarterly Scores [ACSI]
Most And Least Improved Companies In Customer Satisfaction Since 1994
Customer Satisfaction Up Thanks To Lower Prices, Not Increased Quality

But if the increase in quality is minor and ACSI growth is driven mostly by lower prices, or an absence of price increases, satisfaction becomes vulnerable to more volatility because prices change much quicker than quality.... Pricing power depends on upward shifting demand curves. But an upward shift is unlikely unless there is shrinking supply or higher levels of buyer satisfaction. There are no signs of the former in most industries, so the latter becomes more critical.

ACSI Quarter Commentaries Q1 2007 [ACSI]
ACSI Quarterly Scores [ACSI]
Most And Least Improved Companies In Customer Satisfaction Since 1994
Customer Satisfaction Winners And Losers

University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) increased to an overall 74.9 score out of 100 in the fourth quarter of 2006, its highest level since the survey first started in 1994. That's a gain of almost 2 percent from the previous year and a 0.7 increase from the previous quarter.

Home Depot raised their score, while Lowe's dropped 5.1%. Lowe's is still winning overall. "Elsewhere, consumers tabbed wholesale club operator Costco with the highest satisfaction numbers among retailers, while electronics seller Best Buy had the biggest jump in its score."

In banking, Wachovia was the clear winner for the sixth year in a row. —MEGHANN MARCO

Customer Satisfaction Hits All Time High [CNNMoney]

(Photo: tellumo)

Netflix, Amazon, and LL Bean emerged flush and aglow, while CompUSA, Costco and CDW scraped the bottom of the felch bucket.

Full results inside...

— BEN POPKEN

Holiday Shopping: Netflix, Amazon, LL Bean, QVC Lead Top E-Tailers [Business Wire]