You could be calling to find out how much money is in your bank account. Or perhaps you want to order some new cable TV channels. Whatever the reason, most Canadians use their telephones from time to time to get things done.
At CBC News, we wanted to see just how effective Canadian companies are at providing telephone-based customer service. So, earlier this year, we launched a survey called "How May I Help You?"
Working with the CBC Research Department, we developed a unique set of standards that evaluate everything from the interactive voice response system that answers most calls these days, to the time you're left waiting on hold. We also measured the effectiveness of the operator - how well they understood the caller, how well the caller could understand the operator, and their demeanour.
We called each company three times: once during a weekday, once at night and once on the weekend. Our call researchers kept detailed notes of each call and then scored the company's performance out of 100. You can see how each company performed by clicking their name in the chart below.
Here are the results of the CBC News "How May I Help You?" survey.
| Rank | Company Name | Category | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sears Home Repair | Retail | 90.9 |
| 2 | Bank of Nova Scotia Visa | Credit | 90.3 |
| 3 | Aliant | Telephone | 86.8 |
| 4 | Fidelity Investments | Brokerage | 86.6 |
| 4 | TD Waterhouse | Brokerage | 86.6 |
| 5 | Flight Centre | Travel | 85.7 |
| 6 | Cogeco Cable | Cable | 84.6 |
| 7 | RBC Visa | Credit | 84.2 |
| 8 | Shaw | Cable | 83.9 |
| 9 | Globe and Mail | Media | 83.2 |
| 10 | American Express | Credit | 80.5 |
| 11 | SaskTel | Telephone | 80.0 |
| 12 | Sears Catalogue | Retail | 78.3 |
| 13 | Canadian Tire | Retail | 75.2 |
| 14 | Microsoft | Computer | 75.1 |
| 15 | CBC | Media | 74.8 |
| 15 | TD Canada Trust Visa | Credit | 74.8 |
| 16 | Aeroplan | Travel | 73.6 |
| 16 | Telus | Telephone | 73.6 |
| 17 | Bell Sympatico | Computer | 72.8 |
| 18 | Rogers Wireless | Telephone | 72.3 |
| 19 | WestJet | Travel | 70.2 |
| 20 | CIBC Visa | Credit | 67.0 |
| 21 | Chapters Indigo | Retail | 65.7 |
| 22 | Expedia.ca | Travel | 64.4 |
| 23 | Air Canada | Travel | 64.2 |
| 24 | Rogers Cable | Cable | 64.0 |
| 25 | Dell Computer | Computer | 60.4 |
| 25 | National Student Loans | Government | 60.4 |
| 26 | MTS Allstream | Telephone | 58.0 |
| 27 | Rogers Yahoo Internet | Computer | 57.7 |
| 28 | National Post | Media | 57.1 |
| 29 | Telus Internet | Computer | 56.2 |
| 30 | BMO Bank of Montreal Mastercard | Credit | 53.2 |
| 31 | Bell Mobility/Home Phone | Telephone | 52.7 |
| 32 | Sun Life | Insurance | 51.3 |
| 33 | Great West Life | Insurance | 50.0 |
| 34 | Canada Revenue Agency | Government | 49.0 |
| 35 | HBC | Retail | 48.3 |
| 36 | President's Choice Financial Mastercard | Credit | 22.8 |
