Consumers see improvements in auto customer service

Massive changes in the last two years have been reported for the better, regarding the reputation of the auto industry and other industries, while poor reports came in for other businesses. The reports are based on public perception.

Statistics were taken and measured from the latest Harris Poll on twenty-two of the United States’ largest industries, including the automotive industry. The changes recorded were extremely positive in the way the public believes that the automobile industry has improved in their efforts to do a good job of serving their consumers.

Other industries that people shared that they believed did a great job with customer service according to the Harris Poll were for supermarkets (plus 80), online search engines (plus 74), hospitals (plus 66), computer hardware companies (plus 61) and computer software companies (plus 55).

To the contrary, the industries that got poor feedback on the Harris Poll for serving customers well were first and foremost, the airline industry. Other industries that did not do well on the list were oil companies (minus 31), tobacco companies (minus 21), managed care companies (minus 13), health insurance companies (minus 9) and investment and brokerage firms (plus 3).

This year, the Harris Poll surveyed 1,956 adults, aged 18 and over by telephone solicitation and online solicitation between August 8 and 15, 2011. They were done by Harris Interactive. The Harris Poll has been surveying people on their perceptions of major industries every year for the past fourteen years and attitudes and opinions of the different industries have been very different each year.

What seems to effect the changes in how people perceive companies and their customer service varies year to year. Such things as events companies hold, services the companies provide and media coverage can have a huge results on customer perceptions. As of late, public attitudes towards the auto industry, as well as pharmaceutical, health insurance, telephone, banking, financial services and oil industries have been all over the board. Again, many factors influence attitudes.

When asked how they feel about how the auto industry treats customers, here are how some consumers responded:

Arthur M. from Raleigh, North Carolina stated, “I just recently purchased a new car and was very happy with the service I received. I thought that I would be pushed into buying the car, but the salesperson was very kind and considerate of this huge decision that I was making. That meant a lot to me.”

Jill W. from Los Angeles, California stated, “I never expected that I would be treated kindly or fairly as a woman going in to buy a car. Especially in Los Angeles. (She laughs) However, they really gave me a lot of time and patience and I appreciated that very much. I’d definitely go back there again and recommend this dealership to others.”