Broadband customer satisfaction falling

The broadband industry is flourishing, with 13 million households now spending a whopping £2.8 billion a year subscribing to their service. Yet, customer satisfaction is falling, with over a quarter of customers now dissatisfied with the overall level of service provided by broadband companies.

Technical support has emerged as the biggest villain in the recent survey of nearly 11,000 broadband customers by independent price comparison and switching service, uSwitch.com. Less than half (49%) of UK consumers are satisfied with the level of technical support offered by their broadband company, a drop of 11% since March 2006.

Over 5 million broadband customers have turned to their broadband provider for technical help over the last year, having to foot a £31 million bill for the privilege. Consumers make on average four calls per year. The most common complaint is a problem with the network connection, caused by their broadband service failing to work or frequently cutting off. General interruptions to service are a common complaint for nearly 1 million customers, and 800,000 broadbanders have experienced problems over the last year just trying to set up their connection.

Main reasonsfor calling technical support

1. Networkconnection problems (37%)
2. Serviceinterruptions (18%)
3. Set-upproblems (16%)
4. Wirelessrouter problems (11%)
5. Issues withspeed (9%)
6. Other / don’tknow(9%)

While both the fault and the remedy of these problems usually lies in the hands of the broadband providers rather than the customers, the majority of firms charge a premium rate to call technical support lines. While the average charge is 9p per minute, customers on Oranges’ Starter broadband service have to pay a staggering 50p per minute to call their technical helpline.

Steve Weller, Head of Communications Services, at uSwitch.com comments: “New advances in broadband technology appear to be having an adverse effect, with connection problems and service interruptions occurring all too frequently. Customers have found themselves having to make numerous calls to get their problems fixed so it’s no wonder satisfaction is at an all time low.

“It’s disheartening that broadband companies are not content with the £2.8 billion already being channeled in by customers who are simply paying to receive a service that works. To rake in an additional £31 million just for helping customers to resolve technical hitches is just wrong. It’s interesting that sales lines are free to call.”

The uSwitch.com study reveals that customers have to call technical helplines up to three times to fix the same problem. Just 4 out of 10 customers have successfully resolved a problem in just one call. Worst of all, however, is that on an average 17 minute call customers spend over six minutes waiting to be connected. As a result, the nation is spending £11.2 million a year on hold to broadband companies.

uSwitch.com is calling for:

Charges tocustomers calling technical support helplines to be waived or capped; followingthe example set by TalkTalk which offers free support or by PlusNet who chargesstandard call rates

If the issuecan’t be resolved in the first call, customers should not be charged for furthercalls

Waiting timesto be reduced and charges waived during thistime

Rates to bereduced or waived in the first month of a broadband contract while the customergets successfully connected.

Weller continues: “TalkTalk should in theory be the ‘hero’ as customers can call up technical support for free – but it comes bottom of the league for overall technical support with just 37% satisfied. It could be that customers are simply frustrated with the number of problems they have experienced. PlusNet on the other hand, which was voted ‘Best Overall Provider’ in our poll, charges an exemplary 4.5p off-peak flat rate for the first 60 minutes of any technical support call.

“Broadband has become part of our lives and we now spend 34 days a year online, so when things go wrong we need assurance that our service will be back up and running again as quickly as possible and at minimum expense. We call on the industry to stamp out the extortionate and inconsistent charging structures currently in operation and to focus instead on getting the service right first time. We look forward to the day that broadband works straight out of the box and we will just pay for the service we sign up to.”