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Real People Rate "Best of 2007" for Customer Service

Consumer Perception Survey Reveals Best Businesses by Industry

A nationwide survey released today reveals which businesses provided the best customer service in 2007. RealPeopleRatings.com(TM), a quarterly consumer perception survey conducted by Corporate Research International, shows that SUBWAY, Olive Garden, Cici's Pizza, BP, Nordstrom, Stride Rite, Ace Hardware, Staples, Publix, Dick's Sporting Goods, Walgreens, RadioShack, Marriott and Southwest Airlines earned the highest marks in their respective industries this year.

RealPeopleRatings.com(TM) was launched in 2005 by Corporate Research International, a market research firm specializing in mystery shopping and customer satisfaction surveys. The company sends the quarterly surveys as online opinion polls to its pool of panelists. On average, more than 2,500 panelists participated in each quarter's survey.

Each quarter, respondents rated their perception of each business' customer service on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest possible score. If a respondent did not have experience with the business, the panelist did not enter a score. The scores are averaged using the results from all four quarters in 2007 to reveal this year's winners.

"These results contribute to companies achieving a complete, 360 degree view of how customers perceive their business," Mike Mallett, CEO of Corporate Research International said. "Business owners can stay ahead of their competition by having the most up-to-date information available about their customer service."

Fast Food Restaurants
SUBWAY
Chipotle Mexican Grill
Quiznos

Full-service Restaurants
Olive Garden
Texas Roadhouse
Outback Steakhouse
Pizza Restaurants
Cici's Pizza
Papa Murphy's Take 'n' Bake Pizza
Papa John's

Convenience Stores
BP
Chevron/Texaco (Tie)
Shell (Tie)
The Pantry Inc.

Department Stores
Nordstrom
Saks Fifth Avenue
Bloomingdale's

Shoe Stores
Stride Rite
Shoe Carnival
Payless ShoeSource

Home Improvement Stores
Ace Hardware
True Value
Lowe's

Office Supply Stores
Staples
Office Depot
FedEx Kinko's

Supermarkets
Publix
Kroger
Safeway

Sporting Goods Stores
Dick's Sporting Goods
Foot Locker
Finish Line

Drug Stores
Walgreens
CVS/pharmacy
Rite Aid

Electronics Stores
RadioShack
Best Buy
Circuit City

Banks
Credit Unions
Washington Mutual
Wachovia

Hotels
Marriott
Hyatt
Hilton

Airlines
Southwest
JetBlue
American

For a complete list of rankings, visit www.realpeopleratings.com or contact Becca Litchfield at rlitchfield@paulwerth.com.

Quarterly Survey Methodology

Survey respondents represented all regions of the country and completed only one survey each. Respondents spanned all ages, household incomes, education levels, and ethnicity.

The scores reflect the mean score, the most reliable way to describe the "center of gravity" of a distribution of scores. The mean is an average of the sum of each score divided by the total number of observations.

About Corporate Research International

Corporate Research International (CRI) specializes in mystery shopping services and interactive customer voice and Web response surveys. CRI was named to the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing private companies in 2005 and 2006. For more information visit www.corpri.com.

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