TSP Customer Service Examined

The Thrift Savings Plan uses many of the same customer services that private money managers employ, including automated telephone services, customer service representatives and online services, although the two use different standards in measuring the effectiveness of such services, the General Accounting Office has said (GAO-05-38). It said that while TSP emphasizes measures such as the time it takes to respond to incoming calls, private plan managers place a higher emphasis on the policy of satisfying each customer’s needs in one call. Private managers also regularly assess customer satisfaction to improve their services, such as through the use of on-the-spot surveys to gather information on the participants’ experiences with the call center or online sites. The private plan mangers “also appear to utilize more up-to-date technologies to provide customer service, such as allowing participants to create account statements for any period of time or offering seminars over the Web on different plan topics that participants can access anytime,” GAO said.