Riverwoods, IL, June 1, 2006
– Discover Financial Services LLC, a business
unit of Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), today announced
that the Discover Card has been awarded top honors
for the ninth consecutive year in the 2006 Brandweek
Customer Loyalty Awards. Discover Card was recognized
with a Gold Award in the credit card category
based on rankings in the tenth annual Brand Keys
Customer Loyalty Index
® from Brand
Keys, Inc., the New York-based research consultancy
that conducts a yearly survey on the brands that
have generated the greatest customer loyalty.
“It's a tremendous honor when our commitment
to putting our Cardmembers first earns this kind
of industry recognition and loyalty from consumers,”
said Carlos Minetti, Executive Vice President
of Cardmember Services at Discover Financial Services.
“By consistently anticipating and caring for
our Cardmembers' needs, Discover Card has become
a leading innovator in customer service. We will
continue to build upon this track record by providing
the most responsive and customized services available.”
“In a category that is increasingly becoming
commoditized, and where brands are having difficulty
differentiating themselves from one another, Discover
Card has consistently managed to meet -- and even
exceed -- customer expectations,” said Robert
Passikoff, President of Brand Keys, Inc. “It
is this kind of brand management and communication
that guarantees increased levels of engagement,
share-of-wallet, and profitability.”
Some
of the key features of Discover Card's customer
service offerings that help deliver the quickest
and most efficient fulfillment of its Cardmembers'
needs include:
- Highly Skilled Agents:
Discover Card's customer service agents, all
based in the U.S., have among the longest tenure
in the industry. Agents are measured not by how
fast they get off the phone, but by how effectively
they resolve customer needs.
- Fast
and Easy: Nearly every inquiry to Discover
Card customer service is resolved in a single
phone call. Cardmembers can speak with a customer
representative in less than a minute, or start
using the automated voice-response system even
faster.
- The Extra Mile:
Discover Card customer service agents routinely
go “above and beyond” to help Cardmembers in any
situation, from routine credit line extensions
to overnight delivery of a replacement card to
a vacationer's hotel.
- Discovercard.com:
For Cardmembers who prefer online self-service,
Discover Card provides the easiest self-service
options that put them in complete control of their
Accounts – making payments, redeeming rewards,
setting up e-mail alerts and more.
- Customization:
Cardmembers can personalize their experience
by selecting card designs and signing up for helpful
and timely e-mail reminders that help them avoid
fees, manage their budgets and use their credit
wisely.
The 2006 Brandweek
Customer Loyalty Award builds upon the other best-in-class
distinctions that Discover Card has recently received,
including “Best in Class” for fraud information
and protection services from the January 2006
Credit Card Monitor Report, as well as the number
one ranking in online customer experience in a
March 2006 study performed by Keynote Systems,
The Internet Performance Authority
®.
About the Brand Keys Customer
Loyalty Index Brand Keys Customer
Loyalty Index, the basis of the 2006 Brandweek
Customer Loyalty Awards powered by Brand Keys,
determines (95 percent confidence level) which
products and services people will buy in the coming
18 to 24 months. Brandweek magazine published
the complete winners list in its May 22 edition.
Please visit
http://www.brandkeys.com/awards
for a complete list of the 2006 winners.
About Discover Financial Services
LLC Discover Financial Services LLC,
a business unit of Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS),
operates the Discover Card with more than 50 million
Cardmembers, and the Discover Network, which is
the largest proprietary credit card network in
the U.S. with more than 4 million merchant and
cash access locations. Discover Financial Services
also operates the PULSE ATM/debit network, which
serves over 4,200 financial institutions and includes
almost 250,000 ATMs and approximately 3.4 million
POS terminals. For more information, visit
www.discovercard.com,
www.discovernetwork.com
or
www.pulse-eft.com.
# # #
Media Contact
Mai-Lee Ua
Public Relations
(224)
405-3082
maileeua@discoverfinancial.com