AmerenUE has been recognized for customer satisfaction excellence for a fourth consecutive year under the J.D. Power and Associates Certified Call Center Program.SM The Certified Call Center Program distinction acknowledges a strong commitment from AmerenUE call center operations to provide “An Outstanding Customer Service Experience.”
“By achieving certification, AmerenUE has once again demonstrated its commitment to customer service, which is absolutely critical for service providers that want to stay competitive,” said Mark Miller, senior director of client services at J.D. Power and Associates. “Call center customers are particularly pleased with the resolution of their problems, as well as the courtesy and knowledge of customer service representatives.”
AmerenUE call centers handle more than 3.6 million telephone calls, e-mails and faxes from customers annually. To become certified, the call center operations successfully passed a detailed audit of its recruiting, training, employee incentives, quality assurance capabilities, and management roles and responsibilities. As part of its evaluation, J.D. Power and Associates conducted a random survey of AmerenUE customers who recently contacted its call centers located in Jefferson City and St. Louis, Mo.
For certification status, a call center must also perform within the top 20 percent of customer service scores, which is based on benchmarks established in J.D. Power and Associates’ cross-industry customer satisfaction research. The evaluation criteria include: courtesy; knowledge; concern for the customer; usefulness of the information provided; convenience of operating hours; ease of reaching a representative; and timely resolution.
“J.D. Power and Associates’ certification is a tremendous honor for our contact center employees because very few other contact centers have achieved this distinction,” said Richard Mark, AmerenUE senior vice president, Missouri Energy Delivery. “This took hard work and a strong commitment to excellence by everyone involved and clearly demonstrates the great concern and respect AmerenUE contact center employees have for our customers.”
The Certified Call Center Program was launched by J.D. Power and Associates in 2004 to evaluate overall customer satisfaction with call centers and to help call centers in various industries increase their efficiency and effectiveness by establishing best practices for handling service calls.
There are more than 75,000 call centers in North America and an estimated 125,000 worldwide that help customers with product and service questions across a multitude of industries, ranging from credit cards, financial services, investment services, utilities, service warranties and insurance to telecommunications, healthcare and office products.
About J.D. Power and Associates
Headquartered in Westlake Village, Calif., J.D. Power and Associates is a global marketing information services company operating in key business sectors including market research, forecasting, performance improvement, Web intelligence and customer satisfaction. The company’s quality and satisfaction measurements are based on responses from millions of consumers annually. For more information on car reviews and ratings, car insurance, health insurance, cell phone ratings, and more, please visit JDPower.com. J.D. Power and Associates is a business unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies.
About The McGraw-Hill Companies
Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP) is a leading global information services provider meeting worldwide needs in the financial services, education and business information markets through leading brands such as Standard & Poor’s, McGraw-Hill Education, BusinessWeek and J.D. Power and Associates. The Corporation has more than 280 offices in 40 countries. Sales in 2008 were $6.4 billion. Additional information is available at http://www.mcgraw-hill.com.
Media Relations Contacts:
Syvetril Perryman; J.D. Power and Associates;
Westlake Village, Calif..; (805) 418-8103; media.relations@jdpa.com
Tim Fox, (314) 554-4335, of AmerenUE