Ericsson and Verizon Wireless Are Tops In Customer Respect: Report

Ericsson was rated the top networking manufacturer by customers for customer respect, while Verizon Wireless was rated the top telecommunications company, according to a report released today by the Customer Respect Group, a research and consulting firm.

The report measures customers' online experiences when interacting with companies via the Internet. It found that overall, networking and telecommunications companies are rated higher by consumers than at any time previously.

In the networking category, Ericsson was followed by Nortel Networks, which came in second place, Motorola, which came in third, and Cisco, Juniper, and Siemens AG, which were tied for fourth. Qualcomm was rated the worst.

In the telecommunications category, Verizon was followed by Nextel, Spring, CenturyTel, and BT Group. Charter Communications came in last place.

The report noted the firms are increasingly responsive to customers, and answer questions in a more timely fashion than they had previously. However, it also found that only 56 percent of the answers were judged to be helpful by consumers.When it came to privacy, firms still left much to be desired, the report says, with the percentage of companies that share personal data with business partners at 28 percent

"We very much like the direction in which the telecom and networking industries are moving with their Web sites," Terry Golesworthy, president of The Customer Respect Group, said in a statement. "That said, we still see room for improvement in a number of areas, including privacy. Consumers are very sensitive to having their data shared with others, and our research indicates that firms that don't implement opt-in policies can expect to see a backlash. Moreover, while responsiveness has improved in some areas, far too many responses were considered unhelpful."