Tech Vendors Are Treating Customers Worse Than Before

Despite all the information pointing to the importance of customer loyalty to a company's bottom line, many of the largest technology vendors in the U.S. have been doing a poor job of satisfying their customers, and the trend appears to be worsening. Of 54 companies considered, VMware was the only one to earn an "excellent" rating in a recent survey by the Temkin Group; 17 were rated "very poor."

Businesses depend on their customers, and it would make sense that good customer service would translate into loyal customers and more sales, but high-tech vendors don't seem to have gotten the message.

The average customer experience rating for tech vendors fell from 58 percent to 52 percent since last year, in on a survey of 800 IT professionals on their customer experiences with 54 large high-tech vendors.

Respondents to the poll, which was conducted by the Temkin Group, worked at North American organizations with at least US$500 million in annual revenue.