FINDLAY, Ohio -- A nationwide survey released yesterday revealed which businesses provided the best customer service in 2007. RealPeopleRatings.com, a quarterly consumer perception survey conducted by Corporate Research International, showed that Subway, Olive Garden, Cici's, BP, Nordstrom, Stride Rite, Ace, Staples, Publix, Dick's, Walgreens, RadioShack, Marriott and Southwest Airlines earned the highest marks in their respective industries this year.
The survey listed 18 convenience store/gas station retailers in its Convenience Stores category. The [image-nocss] top 10 were BP, Chevron/Texaco (tie), Shell (tie), The Pantry, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Circle K, Valero, Diamond Shamrock, Marathon and 7-Eleven, respectively.
Other c-stores on the list were Stop-N-Go, Shamrock, CITGO (tie), Cornerstore (tie), Ultramar, Beacon, Getty Mart, respectively.
Other category winners (top three):
Supermarkets: Publix, Kroger, Safeway. Drug Stores: Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid. Fast-Food Restaurants: Subway, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Quiznos. Full-Service Restaurants: Olive Garden, Texas Roadhouse, Outback Steakhouse. Pizza Restaurants: Cici's, Papa Murphy's, Papa John's. Department Stores: Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale's. Shoe Stores: Stride Rite, Shoe Carnival, Payless. Home Improvement Stores: Ace, True Value, Lowe's. Office Supply Stores: Staples, Office Depot, FedEx Kinko's. Sporting Goods Stores: Dick's, Foot Locker, Finish Line. Electronics Stores: RadioShack, Best Buy, Circuit City. Banks: Credit Unions (as a group), Washington Mutual, Wachovia. Hotels: Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton. Airlines: Southwest, JetBlue, American.
RealPeopleRatings.com was launched in 2005 by Corporate Research International, Findlay, Ohio, a market research firm specializing in mystery shopping and customer satisfaction surveys. The company sends the quarterly surveys as online opinion polls to its pool of panelists. On average, more than 2,500 panelists participated in each quarter's survey.
Each quarter, respondents rated their perception of each business' customer service on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest possible score. If a respondent did not have experience with the business, the panelist did not enter a score. The scores are averaged using the results from all four quarters in 2007 to reveal this year's winners.
Survey respondents represented all regions of the country and completed only one survey each. Respondents spanned all ages, household incomes, education levels, and ethnicity.
The scores reflect the mean score, the most reliable way to describe the "center of gravity" of a distribution of scores. The mean is an average of the sum of each score divided by the total number of observations.
Click the Download Now button below to view the category charts.
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