@jbtaylor on tech

Earlier today, we heard two bits of news from the folks at J.D. Power that I'm pretty proud of.

First, J.D. Power ranked the experience customers have when they visit the retails stores of the national wireless carriers. T-Mobile was ranked first, Sprint was ranked second, AT&T was ranked third and Verizon Wireless was ranked last. It's been a remarkable rise by Sprint. Just a year ago, we were last in this rating. Now were are 19 points higher.

Then, J.D. Power announced that Sprint was among 40 companies in the U.S. that they deemed "Customer Service Champions".

According to their news release:

"Brands that receive the J.D. Power Customer Service Champions designation are among the top 5 percent of more than 800 evaluated brands, based on their performance in five key areas identified as the J.D. Power 5 Ps: People, Presentation, Price, Product and Process. J.D. Power Customer Service Champions not only excel within their respective industries, but also stand out when evaluated across multiple industries."

In addition to Sprint, U.S. Cellular and T-Mobile were named to the list. Those consumer advocates and regulatory reporters who criticize the wireless industry perhaps need to stop painting with a broad brush when they make claims that the wireless industry isn't customer friendly.

This follows on the heels of the news last month from an independent wireless study which ranked Sprint customer satisfaction number one in terms of satisfaction with calls to Customer Care. According to the survey, Sprint leads all national competitors in both call satisfaction and first call resolution, two key metrics in the overall quality of customer service.

While our team is justifiably proud at our improvement, we recognize that we have more work to do. Our Chief Service Officer Bob Johnson put it best when describing our reaction to being named on of the country's 40 "Customer Service Champions." Bob said, “We are pleased to receive this distinguished honor and proud of the hard work of our employees in enhancing every customer experience. These important interactions take place in our stores, on our website or in calls to our care centers. What makes this honor especially gratifying is that we received this distinction directly from our own customers. They recognize the consistency and high quality of service we’re committed to providing. Our steadfast focus is on customer satisfaction and it will continue to be our top priority.”

Friday night, the New York Yankees will play the Texas Rangers in the first game of the American League Championship Series. The game will be held in Arlington, Texas at a ballpark, locals like to call "The Ball Park" but is officially called "The Rangers Ball Park".

No sports sponsorship there.

I'm not sure how many tickets will be sold, but Wikipedia lists the seating capacity of the facility at 49,170.

Now we should expect that regardless of the outcome of the game, some fans will go home disappointed that their team lost. But at the end of the day, it's still a thrill to watch a pennant race game, even if you're not a baseball fan.

Tickets will be sold at hundreds, if not thousands of dollars above face value.

While fans of the losing team will be disappointed, how many fans will complain that they didn't get their money's worth while watching the game? How many fans will say their seat was uncomfortable, the concessions were bad, or the drunk fan sitting next to them ruined the game for them?

There will probably be a few.

But what if only one fan went home angry and disappointed -- only one fan out of 49,170 who will watch the game in person?

What if there was only one angry fan and 49,169 fans said they had a good time?

That would make for a successful night for Major League Baseball, I think.

The FCC would disagree with me though.

According to their latest study of wireless complaints, 764 wireless customers complained to the FCC in the first half of 2010. That's 764 people out of 292.8 million wireless subscribers.

Well, using the stadium analogy, it's like the FCC is saying one angry fan is unacceptable and requires government action.

My math is generous to the FCC though.

Actually, using the FCC's ratios, if the ball park in Texas seated 390,314 people and one person went home angry, the FCC would still see a problem.

My personal view -- and this is my personal view and not Sprint's -- is that the FCC's "Bill Shock" initiative does point out billing mistakes that carriers have made, but that these mistakes have been described by the FCC and the reporters covering this story with very little perspective and context.

So when you watch Friday night's game and you see the Rangers lose to the Yankees (my prediction and my hope), ask yourself if it really makes sense for the government to step in on behalf of one angry Rangers fan.

Or put differently, are 764 complaints out of 292.8 million subscribers really a problem that requires government regulation?

I think not.

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p.s. I can't take full credit for the "One Angry Fan" analogy. Joe Farren, who once was a spokesman for CTIA, our trade association, first shared this with me many years ago. Joe is now with a PR firm in town and represents another wireless carrier, but I don't think he'd mind me using his thinking here. As for his baseball leanings, I'm not entirely sure he backs the Yankees, but maybe he will comment below.