Some of the biggest employers in East Anglia feature in a new ranking of the UK’s top-rated firms for customer service.

Employee-owned department stores chain John Lewis has reclaimed top spot in the latest UK Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI), published twice-yearly by the Institute of Customer Service.

The 87.7% satisfaction rating for John Lewis, which includes a John Lewis at home store in Ipswich, puts it just ahead of online services giant Amazon which returns to second place having overtaken John Lewis in the last survey in January.

Completing the top 10, from third place downwards, are First Direct, Tesco Mobile, Marks & Spencer (food), Waitrose, Specsavers, Aldi, Next and, in joint 10th place, Nationwide and the Co-op Bank.

Holiday village operator Center Parcs, whose sites include Elveden Forest in Suffolk, is the highest ranked tourism and travel company, in 13th place, while friendly society LV=, which includes a call centre operation in Ipswich, is the top-rated insurer in joint 14th position.

Paul Kent, operations and development director at Center Parcs, said: “We are delighted to have been featured as the number one travel company for customer service in the UK.

“We pride ourselves on our excellent service to guests and it is part of the overall high quality experience we offer. Our success over the past 27 years has been down to our commitment to delivering the best family short breaks in the UK.”

John O’Roarke, managing director of LV= General Insurance, said: “Our approach to customer satisfaction is actually quite simple: we believe that if we provide consistently fair premiums and great service, the rest will take care of itself.

“Naturally, we’re delighted with the results of the UKCSI survey as they confirm the high level of trust we have earned with our customers and explain why we are now the UK’s most recommended insurer.”

Other major retailers making the top 50 include Argos (joint 14th), Boots (16th), Greggs (joint 21st), Iceland (23rd), Morrisons (joint 26th), Superdrug (joint 30th), Sainsbury’s (joint 34th), Asda (joint 40th), Wilkinson (also joint 40th) and Marks & Spencer (non-food) (46th).

However, while Tesco Bank (joint 18th) joins Tesco Mobile in the listing, there is no place in the top 50 the Tesco’s core supermarket business.

Car manufacturers also figure prominently, incluing Skoda (joint 18th), Mercedes Benz (20th), Honda (joint 21st), Hyundai (joint 26th), Kia (joint 30th), BMW/Mini (joint 38th), Toyota (joint 38th), Audi (joint 40th) and Volkswagen (joint 49th). Also featuring are motoring support businesses RAC (joint 34th), Autoglass (37th) and AA (joint 48th).

Other tourism and leisure companies in the top 50 include hotel brands Premier Inn (joint 24th), Marriott (joint 32nd), and Hilton (36th), eateries Toby Carvery (17th) and Pizza Express (47th), coffee chains Costa (joint 40th) and Caffe Nero (joint 48th), and travel operators, P&O Cruises (joint 24th) and P&O Ferrries (29th).

The UKCSI is based on information supplied by 10,000 customers and involving 40,000 individual customer experiences.

Overall, the index shows a continuing fall in satisfacton, with only Tesco Mobile, Next and Center Parcs showing an improvement year-on-year. Nearly half of the 197 organisations featured in the index have seen a fall in satisfaction of at least one point.