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