By Natasha Lomas, 30 June 2009 13:17
NEWS
Telecoms companies may tell us it's good to talk but they seem to be struck dumb when it comes to communicating with their own customers, according to a new poll.
In a survey asking 5,000 Brits to vote for UK businesses with the worst customer service half of the top 10 are telecoms companies.
The wooden spoon for worst customer service goes to telco BT, with utilities company British Gas coming second and broadcaster-cum-telco Sky in third.
Fourth place goes to cable TV, broadband and telephony company Virgin Media, with mobile retailer Carphone Warehouse in fifth place, and mobile operators Vodafone and O2 in sixth and 10th place respectively.
Banks Barclays and HSBC are also named and shamed. See the box on the right for the full list.
According to the survey, which was conducted by market research company OnePoll.com, the biggest customer service complaint is automated call systems which delay contact with a real person.
Another significant bugbear is customers having to repeat themselves as they are being passed around several call centre staff.
Other complaints include offshore call centre staff struggling to understand English accents, rude staff and having to answer endless security questions.
Respondents believe they spend an average of around 23 minutes on the phone trying to sort out problems each time they call a company. BT also topped the poll for longest call holding times.
Comments
There are 15 comments. Join the discussion
1. Chris Green
Personally I would have put Sky above BT, but both along with Virgin Media are awful when it comes to dealing with customer queries, complaints and fault reports.
Quite how these companies manage to become so big and profitable while at the same time handling their customers in such an unprofessional and amateurish way beggars belief.
2. David Bradley
Report is spot on and mirrors my experiences. The culture within these organisations is so ingrained that I doubt there would be any significant change for the better with 'help lines' in my lifetime.
3. Mike Poole
At the other end of the scale I was amazed by the service provided by T-mobile. As a business customer I benefitted from their Scottish call centre (domestic calls are offshored). The staff were so helpful that they kept suggesting other things they could help me with. After half an hour of amazing service I was struggling to get them off the phone!
It is a shame that companies with such good service often end up being consumed by cost-cutting companies such as Vodafone.
4. Tim Jackson
I once made the mistake of responding to a BT marketing call with an enquiry. They promptly passed me through to holding queue to speak to someone else, who, when the eventually answered, did the same thing again. It took over an hour to get them to relinquish the line - it was their call so I couldn't end it. I ended up screaming at the poor girl "PUT THE PHONE DOWN ***NOW***|".
5. Richard
Fortunately, my Virgin Media cable broadband has been fairly reliable.
However, during a recent failure, I did phone their tech support to ask whether a network fault had been reported.
After the usual lengthy rigmarole (at my expense) of being told to reboot the modem etc.;
Tech support finally agreed to look at their fault reports:
Yes, there was a network fault in my area; yes, their staff were working on it; with luck, the fault would be repaired within 10 hours!
6. anonymous
our BT business broadband has been down for 8 days. Their customer service is terrific though - I've phoned them what seems like about 30 times and always get through to a lovely friendly person in about 5 minutes who wants to do everything they can to help. Its a pity BT's engineering lets them down. Maybe this is a metaphor for Britain in general - nice people shame about the engineering?
7. Daz Hughes
The reason a lot of these companies get away with this truly awful service is because a) most of us put up with the service and don't switch (and as this survey shows, the competition isn't necessarily better), b) customers don't always have a choice so can't switch and c) Some of the companies (e.g. Sky) spend far more effort in getting new customers than retaining old ones - e.g. "Free box, free install, pay nothing for the first three months" etc. If an existing customer needs new equipment - even if they've been loyal for many years - they are told to pay up again. Stinks.
8. anonymous
If you put the phne down, and leave it down (i.e. don't pick it up to check) it will tale approx 3 mins for the call to clear. This is the CSH (Called Subscriber Held) Timer. Might help you in future.
9. anonymous
Customer service is so old fashioned.
10. Anonymous
"Nice people shame about the engineering" I disagree with this entirely, it's the numpties that run the background processes that have got it all wrong. As a business user you speak to a UK based help desk which boosts confidence in a quick resolution but the end result is the same. Nothing!
BT middle management are now obsessed with statistics and the faults department create as many cases and resolutions for the same fault as they possibly can. It looks good on paper! How many of you out there have had to re-report the same fault over and over again on a daily basis?
Engineering are driven by the system and do what they are told to keep the management figures looking good, QOS is a secondary target, they've lost the plot completely.
11. Gordon Brundell
I am very suprised that Virgin Media are on the list.
On the couple of occasions I have contacted them recently they have bee very responsive and efficient.
Just shows that you can not always act on customer surveys.
12. anonymous
Maybe this is the time for the board's of these companies to get off their fat overpaid arses, rejoin the real world and have an epiphany.........
..........and realise customers hate with a passion all these useless outsourced/off-shored call centres and start bringing these jobs back to the UK.
13. Martyn Davies
I don't find BT that bad. I would agree that offshore call centres is by far the biggest problem, combining as they do uselessness, bureaucracy and poor communication.
In this category I would nominate "3" (Hutchison 3G) and MBNA. "3" have the worst customer care of any organization that I have experienced in 25 years, not just in telecom, but overall.
14. Kanti Mistry
The worst thing is that you are being charged for the call (0870 and so called national numbers). It would not surprise me that the revenue is shared by both the Telecoms company and the Service Provider! The longer you hang on the more money they are making! What happened to the 0800 numbers we used to have some years back?
15. Anonymouse
Hate being charged for customer service