Which Canadian financial services firms excel on customer service?

Low fees, innovative products, new platforms; they all come and go but one thing consistently wins, great customer service.

And it appears that digital disruptors in the financial services space should ensure that their focus on customer service isn’t lost in the drive to be something different.

A new ranking of Canadian financial services’ customer service shows that strong service levels remain as key as ever, even for online services.

The Surviscor Service Level Assessment review has given Qtrade top-ranking for the fifth consecutive year with a 98% score for customer service.

"Providing outstanding service to our clients has always been one of Qtrade Investor's key values. We are very proud to be the first organization to win for five consecutive years. It's an achievement that directly reflects our ongoing commitment to our clients and recognizes the dedication and professionalism of our client service team." – Christine Zalzal, SVP, Head of Online Brokerage & Digital Wealth.

Paying more, getting less

Surviscor president Glenn LaCoste says it’s vital that firms don’t take their eye of the ball when it comes to customer experience.

"Over the past decade, online access and mobile devices became the new norm for just about everything, but that shift hasn't translated into improved customer service. Canadians pay more for services but get less support from financial service firms who promote digital availability while masking deteriorating service responsiveness," said Glenn LaCoste, President of Surviscor Inc. "The confusion grows when we looked at non-branch firms, as they provide inadequate responsiveness and there is no alternative for customers. 

The other brokerages that make the top 10 are Questrade (3rd place with 90%) and RBC Direct Investing (8th place with 79%).

The analysis of 6,700 service enquiries sent between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2019, also includes 7 banking providers including several credit unions.

"We've always prided ourselves on our member services and it's great to have this validated externally as well as by our members," said Don Norris, Vice President Marketing & Communications at Servus Credit Union, ranked second. "We provide them with an extensive suite of financial fitness tools, when and where they want these, and are always striving to improve our responsiveness to any questions they may have about these products and services."