US Telecoms’ online customer service criticised

The study found that 69% of home pages do not allow customers to log in to their account. Nearly 40% of home pages don't have site search functionality and only 38% offer a help link. In addition, none of the telecom carriers studied by Brulant provide account security information on their home pages.

The carriers studied include Qwest, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, MCI, Vonage, Skype, Windstream, SunCom, together with several others whose names weren't disclosed.

Out of the carriers discussed in the report, Sprint and Vonage scored the highest in various categories. Both offer services on their home pages, such as account sign-in, a customer service link, and site search.

MCI and Skype scored the lowest on the survey. It is considered that when customers fail to get their basic account needs met via the home page, it creates a sense of dissatisfaction that is difficult for the telecom provider to overcome later in the customer service relationship.

The survey found that most carriers don't take into consideration customers with special needs and site performance. Only 15% of carriers link to information for the disabled. About 8% of sites are available in text-only or low bandwidth view, while 15% of carriers offer a browser recommendation for viewing their sites.

In May 2007, an American Customer Satisfaction Index survey published by the University of Michigan found that only 75.2% of US customers were happy with the service they were getting.