GE Commercial Finance Fleet Services Awarded Center of Excellence Certification

GE Commercial Finance Fleet Services' maintenance control center, located in Eden Prairie, Minn., has been recognized as a Center of Excellence for customer service by the Purdue University's Center for Customer-Driven Quality. Eden Prairie, Minn. - Sept. 27, 2005 - GE Commercial Finance Fleet Services' maintenance control center, located in Eden Prairie, Minn., has been recognized as a Center of Excellence for customer service by the Purdue University's Center for Customer-Driven Quality.The Center of Excellence certification is given to customer service call centers that rank in the top 10 percent for effectiveness and efficiency. GE Commercial Finance Fleet Services is the first in the fleet industry to receive the certification for its around the clock maintenance control center. GE's team of 107 technical advisors all based in Eden Prairie, handle more than 5,000 calls a day. They help customers control costs by directing fleet drivers to preferred vendors and negotiating repair costs. To earn the Center of Excellence designation, GE Commercial Finance Fleet Services met stringent criteria by independent researchers. Key criteria include customer satisfaction, service level standards, resources, employee training, leadership, process management and operational efficiency. These measures were taken via live call monitoring, evaluation of performance metrics, conducting team focus groups and contacting Fleet Services' customers for direct feedback. Dr. Jon Anton, Founder of Purdue University's Center for Customer-Driven Quality stated, "GE Commercial Finance Fleet Services now ranks in the top 10 percent of thousands of centers. To achieve the 'Center of Excellence' certification, the Fleet Services' team mastered handling calls efficiently, performing to quantity best practices, while simultaneously delivering quality call handling experiences-a truly balanced scorecard." "We are proud of the hard work and dedication of our technical advisors to consistently go above and beyond delivering exceptional service to our customers," said Anna Durham, general manager maintenance & safety solutions, GE Commercial Finance Fleet Services. "This certification attests to our commitment to providing best-in-class customer service." About GE Commercial Finance Fleet Services GE Commercial Finance Fleet Services, based in Eden Prairie, Minn., is a global fleet management company with operations in the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. GE Commercial Finance is the business-to-business finance unit of General Electric. With deep industry expertise and lending, leasing and financing services of every kind, GE Commercial Finance plays a key role in helping its customers grow. Conducting business in 35 countries, GE Commercial Finance has assets of over US$230 billion and is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, USA. General Electric (NYSE: GE) is Imagination at Work - a diversified technology, media and financial services company focused on solving some of the world's toughest problems. Contact: GE Commercial Finance Fleet Services Gina Seppi, 952.828.2236 gina.seppi@ge.com About BenchmarkPortal BenchmarkPortal is the custodian of the Purdue University Center for Customer-Driven Quality database of contact center metrics, the largest in the world. It provides reports, products and services for contact centers in the areas of operational metrics, customer satisfaction measurement and agent satisfaction measurement. In 2005, BenchmarkPortal, Inc. received U.S. Patent #6,877,034 for its unique methodology of contact center performance benchmarking through metric gap analysis. BenchmarkPortal's Web site can be found at: www.BenchmarkPortal.com. For additional information contact: Susan Hampton Corporate Communications BenchmarkPortal, Inc. SusanHampton@BenchmarkPortal.com