Segment: Brokerage
Publication date: Tuesday, July 31, 2007
# Pages: (37 pages)

Abstract | Table of Contents

There is no better way to review a firm’s customer service line and representatives than to test them out in “real-world” scenarios – and that is exactly what we did. Calling as a prospective client that wants to request account opening materials to be sent by mail, we called each firm’s customer service number three times at different points throughout the day.

In total, our request for information by mail was fulfilled by only 10 of 17 firms. Most firms unable to fulfill our request were full-service brokerages that require prospects to speak with a financial advisor. One full-service firm broke the mold by offering to send an application in at least one of the random calls we made.

In addition to our request for materials, we also focused on the overall experience of the call, tracking hold times and call lengths. Of the firms with customer service lines, eight had average hold times under one minute, seven featured wait-times of one to two minutes, and one had an average hold time of more than two minutes (a whopping five minutes and 17 seconds, actually). Average call lengths ranged from 1:16 to 8:21. All of these numbers point to one positive piece of news for the industry – most firms have improved their call center responsiveness since we last tested them in our 2004 report.

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