American Customer Satisfaction Index increased

According to the report released by the University of Michigan, the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), a national economic indicator of customer evaluations of the quality of products and services available to household consumers in the United States, showed a second straight quarterly improvement. For the first quarter of 2009, the Index jumped 0.4 % to 76 on ACSI’s 100-point scale. Claes Fornell, founder of the ACSI, stated: “Stock prices have been rising, real estate is showing signs of life, consumer confidence is up, corporate earnings are mixed but generally better than expectations and inventories are becoming more in line with demand and, above all, consumer spending rebounded in the first quarter. It is too early to predict whether the recession has bottomed out, but since ACSI is usually a precursor to increasing consumer demand, it could very well be signaling a revival for a very depressed US economy.” One of the signs is that passenger satisfaction with airlines improved for the first time since 2003, up 3 % to an ACSI score of 64. For example, Southwest Airlines had the highest rating for the 16th straight year, up 3 percentage points to an all-time high of 81. Customer satisfaction with wireless telephone service hit a new all-time high with a score of 69. This quarter Verizon Wireless led the industry and jumped 3 percentage points to 74. Representing cable and satellite TV service, Direct TV had a comfortable lead over its competition, up 4 percentage points to 71. Customer satisfaction with energy utilities is steady at 74, tying its highest level since 2000.