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TalkTalk worst of big guns for customer service

angry_man
Helen Knapman
Helen Knapman
News & Investigations Editor
7 June 2011

TalkTalk and KC have been voted as worst telecoms firms for customer service, in a massive poll of 24,056 votes.

Worryingly for TalkTalk, of the five broadband providers ranked lowest in the MoneySavingExpert.com survey, it and three other members of the TalkTalk Group – Tiscali, Pipex, and AOL – occupied four out of the five spots, with Hull-only KC scoring worst of the lot.

It was a similar story on landlines with KC worst and the TalkTalk Group occupying three out of the worst five spots.

The results heap more pressure on TalkTalk which has regularly caused frustration for its customers due to poor service. Last month, it was found guilty of mis-selling landline services by communications regulator, Ofcom.

Below are the results. Bear in mind users were asked to rate firms purely on service, not value for money.

Broadband service - Top five worst rated

Provider

% of firm's customers who voted it 'poor'

KC

56%

Tiscali

50%

Pipex

47%

TalkTalk

43%

AOL

40%

Home phone service - Top five worst rated

Provider

% of firm's customers who voted it 'poor'

KC

38%

Tiscali

29%

Pipex

26%

TalkTalk

26%

Orange

19%

The votes highlight how Tiscali and Pipex now have poorer customer service than their parent company TalkTalk Group, indicating service levels may have suffered following their takeover in 2009.

KC, which received the worst ratings, is often accused of poor service. In Hull, it has a monopoly so consumers must sign up to its broadband or landline deals to get those services.

The best firms – broadband

A whopping 94% of Zen broadband customers rated it as having good customer service, putting it top.

It was closely followed by BE with 88% of users voting its customer service as good.

Broadband service – full results

Provider Good Ok Poor Total votes
How each firm's customers voted its service
Zen 94% 6% 0% 83
BE 88% 9% 3% 195
Utility Warehouse 85% 11% 3% 88
O2 79% 15% 6% 909
Plusnet 78% 14% 8% 1,039
Post Office 63% 19% 17% 144
Virgin 53% 26% 21% 2,495
Sky 46% 28% 26% 1,265
BT 42% 24% 34% 2,135
Orange 39% 27% 35% 350
AOL 31% 29% 40% 455
TalkTalk 30% 26% 43% 2,047
KC 28% 16% 56% 306
Pipex 23% 30% 47% 94
Tiscali 19% 31% 50% 265
Although 28 companies were listed in the poll, only those that received 50 votes or more for each service are included here

The best firms – home phones

Utility Warehouse topped the home phone poll with a massive 87% voting its customer service as good.

However, this could be a skewed result as Utility Warehouse customers are encouraged to recommend and even sell the product to others in return for lower bills, so would therefore be likely to rate its service highly.

Utility Warehouse was closely followed by O2, with 80% of its home phone customers rating its customer service as good.

Home phone service – full results

How each firm's customers voted its service
Provider Good Ok Poor Total votes
Utility Warehouse 87% 10% 3% 103
O2 80% 14% 6% 341
Plusnet 79% 15% 6% 541
Post Office 73% 18% 10% 221
Sky 54% 34% 12% 1,134
Virgin 52% 33% 16% 2,208
Primus 50% 37% 13% 197
AOL 49% 34% 17% 172
Orange 45% 36% 19% 170
BT 43% 41% 16% 4,063
TalkTalk 40% 34% 26% 2,088
Pipex 37% 37% 26% 78
Tiscali 33% 38% 29% 207
KC 31% 31% 38% 290

Although 28 companies were listed in the poll, only those that received 50 votes or more for each service are included here

A TalkTalk spokesman says: "We take pride in providing a great value for money service to our 5 million customers and we've grown rapidly thanks to their recommendation.

"Over the last year we have completed the complex task of moving all of our customers on to our network and a new billing platform and in some instances this has led to lower levels of satisfaction than our customers would normally expect.

"With this work nearing completion we are seeing our customer's satisfaction with our service, performance and value increase."

Nick Thompson, from KC, says: "Our own research tells us we have lots of satisfied customers and that satisfaction levels are increasing, so while they're disappointing, we don’t believe the poll results reflect the typical customer experience.

"However, we're not complacent – we're continually working to improve the customer service we provide."

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