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Company: NEW Customer Service Companies, Sterling, VA
Company Description: Founded in 1983, NEW is the leading global provider of extended service plans, buyer protection services and product support, providing coverage to more than 150 million consumers around the world. NEW delivers a comprehensive customer care solution that begins on day one of the product purchase and extends through the end of the product life cycle.
Nomination Category: New Product & Service Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: IVR or Web Service Solution – New

Nomination Title: Repair.com

Tell the story about this nominated product or service (up to 500 words). Describe its function, features, benefits, and sales to date:

Repair.com is taking the pain out of home repairs, making it simple and stress-free for consumers to schedule appointments with prescreened, licensed local service providers. Backed by N.E.W. Customer Service Companies and fueled by a commitment to customer convenience, Repair.com aims to revolutionize the repair service industry, replacing uncertainty and anxiety with ease and customer service support throughout the entire repair process. The service – which covers appliance and TV repair – is available 24/7 by web or by phone in 50 major cities throughout the U.S.

Indeed, as fewer customers turn to the yellow pages, Repair.com has stepped in to transform the repair scheduling experience from “Oh, no!” to “No problem!” In the past, a broken TV or appliance could trigger questions with unclear answers: Who do I call? How do I know the job will be done well? Now, Repair.com has consolidated all of that necessary information in one place, so customers don’t have to check multiple sources or call multiple providers. After describing the problem and providing their location, they can view service providers’ ratings and schedules side-by-side and make the choice that’s right for them.

Using this streamlined model, Repair.com has booked over 18,000 appointments – as one user recently commented, “Never has scheduling an appointment been so stress-free, simple, and fast.” Customers can access the service in a variety of ways (including web, iPhone, tablet, Android), and the intuitive website design is easy to use.

Repair.com is not just focused on the customer – service providers are given a unique opportunity to access highly qualified jobs, which helps them expand their business. On at least one occasion, a service provider had to boost hires to keep up with demand.

In conjunction with making it simpler to book appointments, Repair.com also serves as a destination for original articles and product pages that give do-it-yourselfers helpful, creative tips for simple household issues. Developed by a team of home appliance experts, content has been featured in major consumer outlets like Parade Magazine and Working Mother.

Of course, high quality call centers go hand in hand with high quality customer service. Finalists for the 2011 Stevie Call Center of the Year award, NEW’s call centers dispatch over 4,000 adaptable agents who are well-versed in repair-oriented customer service. Aside from Repair.com, the call center agents have helped solve users’ repair problems for the world’s top retailers. This variety requires that the call centers are staffed by versatile employees used to adjusting on the fly and addressing each customer’s situation.

Through an innovative approach and easy-to-use features, Repair.com takes the hassle out of the appliance repair scheduling process and provides its users with everything they need to tackle household repair issues. To be sure, the job is not finished – Repair.com is constantly looking for ways to evolve in order to provide the ultimate stress-free repair experience. But up to this point, with excessive time and anxiety out of the equation, customers have never had it so easy.

Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the team that developed this nominated product or service:

As General Manager of Repair.com, Chris Spanos is responsible for leading the vision, the strategic planning, development and execution of services. Chris is a veteran product and marketing executive with 20 years’ experience working with some of the most well-known Internet and consumer brands in America. Chris was a founder and CEO of SeniorChecked, a local business network for seniors that was acquired by NEW. Chris also served as General Manager of AOL Local and Vice President of Going.com, where he grew underperforming and unprofitable businesses into a $20 million annual revenue portfolio of leading consumer destinations including AOL Yellow Pages.