IRS, SSA score highest in customer satisfaction, survey says

Americans rank the Internal Revenue Service and Social Security Administration as the best federal agencies for customer service, according to a new survey.

Other top-scoring agencies include the U.S. Postal Service, Education Department and State Department, according to the “Uncle Sam at your Service” report prepared by MeriTalk and RightNow Technologies.

The survey of 1,000 Americans was conducted in July and released Aug. 29.

The survey respondents indicated that federal agencies' customer service had improved in the past year, with 31 percent of participants saying they were “very satisfied” with the service they had received, compared with 24 percent who said the same in 2010.

Survey respondents who interacted with federal agencies via the Web reported “good” or “excellent” interactions 67 percent of the time.

By comparison, the same level of satisfaction was reported by only 52 percent of those who interacted in person, 51 percent via phone, 51 percent via e-mail, 26 percent via mobile applications, 25 percent via texting, and 24 percent via social media.