Chaos at the PC Call Center

Meanwhile, some PC makers are focusing on customer service as a way to differentiate themselves from the competition. In March, Velocity Micro, a private, Richmond, Va., PC maker, unveiled a so-called concierge service.

According to Velocity Micro, the concierges act as a customer's main contact within the company, complementing the existing technical support staff.

CFI Group conducted online surveys of more than 900 participants to examine the following six industries: insurance, banking, catalog retailers, cell phone service, cable/satellite TV and PC. The industry with the highest call center satisfaction was the catalog retail business.

The trend of offshoring call centers to foreign countries had a negative effect on satisfaction across all the industries examined by the report.

In the PC business, though, offshore call centers proved particularly thorny. The difficulty in understanding speakers from another country, combined with the technical jargon inherent in solving PC problems, creates a "recipe for significant communications issues," says the report.

According to the survey, nearly a quarter of PC callers hang up with their issue unresolved.

"Too many companies treat call centers as cost centers rather than seeing them as an opportunity to solidify the customer relationship, resulting in increased loyalty and retention," said CFI's Sheri Teodoru, who authored the study.

"Based on this research, any company that isn't putting resources into making sure that the call center is delivering customer satisfaction rather than frustration is taking a huge risk with its customer asset."