Best and Worst of Customer Service

A recent list ranks industries according to customer satisfaction.

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If you'd like to refine your company's customer service reputation, take note from the nation's piano tuners. They top the list of small companies with the best customer service, compiled by online consumer rating company, Angie's List.

"They're offering a more personal service and probably sitting down with each consumer," says Angie Hicks, founder of Angie's List, a social networking site that offers reviews on professionals by more than 750,000 consumers. The list was compiled from a year's worth of national consumer feedback collected online.

Rounding out the top five on the list were the following industries: music instruction, lamp repair, dryer vent cleaning and mailbox repair.

Home warranty companies earned the dubious distinction of worst customer service because, according to Hicks, consumers are often misinformed about what's included in their coverage plans.

Also ranked among the worst customer service: cable TV and internet service providers, home builders and bridal shops.

Often, says Hicks, bigger purchases can make for more demanding customers, so those businesses pedaling pricier goods should be all the more attentive to their consumers' concerns.

"I think in these economic times it pays for companies to get back to basics and to take care of the little things that customers care about," she says. If poor customer service doesn't cost a sale at the time, it may jeopardize business in the future.

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