There are some areas eBay is very good at. There are other areas practically everyone agrees could use some improvement. Into the latter category would have to fall customer service, which eBay does not offer via telephone. A just completed national survey conducted by Greenfield Online for Aspect Communications Corporation may have eBay reconsidering just how important that voice on the other end of the line is to their future growth.

Greenfield surveyed 1,000 Internet users and found that almost a quarter (24 percent) of those surveyed said they were dissatisfied with the service they receive over the phone. Five percent called themselves "very dissatisfied," and the majority (52 percent) said they were only "somewhat satisfied." Greenfield surveyed users on their Internet-based marketing research panel, which is weighted by age, gender and household income to be representative of the Internet population.

eBay instituted LivePerson Inc.'s real-time chat capability in June, but only for answers about how to buy, sell or register with the site. Since operators do not have access to customer accounts, the support is of limited use when customers have problems.

What impact can a cranky customer have on the bottom line? To 59 percent of the respondents, poor service means they would stop doing business with a company, 53 percent would tell their family and friends not to do business with the company, 48 percent would complain to the company directly and 16 percent would go so far as to contact consumer advocacy groups to file complaints. In addition, 50 percent would have an improved perception of a company if they didn't get passed from rep to rep before their problem was resolved, and 66 percent would feel more satisfied if they didn't have to wait as long for service in the first place.

"These results indicate that companies can expect their fortunes to rise and fall based on the quality of customer interactions," said David Puglia, Aspect's senior vice president of global marketing. "Ultimately, service quality is a key factor in determining a company's success."

On the flipside, an overwhelming 82 percent of consumers would recommend a business to family and friends after having received good service, and 78 percent would go on to become repeat customers based on a perceived quality customer service experience.

Anyone care to give eBay a jingle and see what they think?