Ace Hardware tops another customer service survey

For the 13th consecutive quarter, Ace Hardware was ranked first in the customer service category by Corporate Research International (CRI), a market research firm specializing in mystery shopping and customer satisfaction surveys.

Ace has ranked at the top of its category since the survey began in April 2005, including for the second quarter of 2008, when Ace earned a 7.96 rating.

Ace was followed in the CRI rankings by True Value and Lowe’s, making up the top three performers in the home improvement category, according to the report.

CRI sends quarterly online opinion polls to its pool of mystery shoppers, who rate their perception of each business’ customer service on a scale from one to 10, with 10 being the highest rating.

Other first-place customer service winners include Chipotle Mexican Grill in the fast food category, Olive Garden in the full-service restaurants category, Speedway in the convenience stores category, Dick’s Sporting Goods in the sporting goods category, Best Buy in the electronics category and Nordstrom in the department stores category.

Founded in 1989 in Findlay, Ohio, CRI was named to the 2005 and 2006 Inc. 500 list of fastest growing private companies.