uSwitch: Broadband Customer Satisfaction Awards

Seven years on since its introduction, over half the country now has broadband, with 15 million customers spending a whopping £3 billion a year.

But, while prices are at their lowest ever and speeds are at their fastest ever, companies are still not getting it right. 1 in 2 consumers are still not happy with the customer service they receive. The UK’s largest ever independent customer satisfaction survey also reveals the widest ever gap between the best and worst broadband provider.

PlusNet shows competitors a clean pair of heels, gaining 8% in popularity and winning 9 out of 11 categories, including Best Overall Provider with 86% of customers satisfied

With almost 1.5 million customers and 10% market share, Orange wins the wooden spoon for the third time running - over 500,000 (35%) customers are not satisfied

As the pricing war intensifies, the customer satisfaction gap between the best and worst providers widens from 13% to 21% - making it more important than ever for consumers to check both price and service

Value for money remains one of the most important factors for consumers, yet 5 million broadband customers feel short-changed by their provider

Low value: BT, with 21% of the broadband market, is rated bottom by its customers for ‘Value for Money’ for the second time running – its service is 50% more expensive than the cheapest in the market

Over 8 million broadband customers are not sure their provider has them on the best deal

Customer satisfaction scores for 7 out of 9 companies fall below the 50% mark on technical support...nearly 8 million broadbanders say it is not good enough

1 in 2 consumers are not happy with the customer service they receive.

Over half of UK homes now subscribe to a broadband service, yet the difference in service levels has never been greater, according to the 2008 Broadband Customer Satisfaction Report by uSwitch.com, the independent price comparison and switching service. The UK’s most comprehensive report into customer satisfaction, based on responses from nearly 11,000 broadband customers, reveals a 21% gap between the best and the worst broadband provider – an 8% increase in less than a year. Broadband is cheaper and faster than ever before, yet over 4 million customers are not satisfied with their provider and 4 out of 9 companies have less satisfied customers this year than last.

Best broadband – Putting clear blue water between it and its competitors, PlusNet comes top of the poll for the second time running, with 86% of its customers satisfied – an 8% improvement since 2007. Acquired by BT in November 2006, PlusNet has retained its identity as a provider of low-cost, reliable services. With its competitive pricing and 24/7 Sheffield-based customer service centre, the company has swept the board in the uSwitch poll, winning 9 out of 11 categories including Best Customer Service, Best Technical Support and Best Quality of Connection.

On the other hand, parent company BT’s position has continued to drop. With over 3 million broadband customers, it has been voted 6th out of 9 with a score of 72% for Overall Satisfaction. It has come last for Value for Money for the second time running, with less than 6 out of 10 (58%) customers satisfied.

Sky has moved ahead of its rival Virgin Media to take second place overall, with 8 out of 10 (81%) customers satisfied, a 5% increase since 2007.

Worst broadband – With nearly 1.5 million customers, Orange is now suffering a hat trick at the bottom of the league table. Half a million customers – over a third - are not satisfied with its overall service (35%). Orange has slowly lost its sparkle since the 83% score it achieved in 2006, following a lukewarm ‘free broadband’ launch that was blighted by a series of technical issues. Orange is also the only company appearing to go backwards in customer numbers, bucking the growth trend seen across the industry. Having reported a net loss of 4,000 customers in the last three months of 2007, it is now up to their newly appointed CEO to turn the company’s fortunes around.

Pipex has seen the biggest drop in satisfaction. Its £210 million sale to Tiscali last September has failed to stop its overall position falling from 6th to 8th place in the poll of 9 providers – a fall of 4% since 2007 and 10% since 2006. Meanwhile, the survey suggests that the pioneer of ‘free’ broadband, TalkTalk, is at last seeing a sea change from the days of its customer service “nightmare”. Over a quarter (28%) of its customers are still not satisfied, but the company has pulled itself up from the bottom two position last year to come joint 6th with BT - a rise of 3%. However, TalkTalk still comes bottom in 4 out of 11 categories: Quality of Connection, Speed, Ease of Use, Set-up Support.

Customer service – Despite forking out over £3 billion a year for broadband, only 1 in 2 (52%) customers are satisfied with the levels of customer service provided by their supplier. A massive 30% gap has emerged between the best (PlusNet) and worst (Orange) provider, with Pipex (down 9% to 45%) and AOL (down 6% to 59%) seeing the biggest falls.

The lowest overall scores are seen in the category ‘Best Deal for You’, assessing whether customers feel their provider has placed them on the most appropriate plan. Just 39% of Pipex customers are satisfied that this is the case, and the average score for all suppliers is a meagre 45%.

Technical support - Customer satisfaction with the technical support offered by broadband companies remains low, with 7 of the 9 providers failing to satisfy more than half of their customers. Overall, almost 8 million customers are unhappy with the level of support on offer when they need it the most – when their broadband isn’t working properly. Scoring 67%, PlusNet is the best provider in this category, while TalkTalk sees the biggest improvement with 48% of customers now satisfied, compared to a disappointing 37% last year.

Steve Weller, communications expert at uSwitch.com comments: “Last year consumers spent £31 million on phone calls trying to fix problems with their broadband, and over £11 million of this was wasted on hold waiting to speak to someone. Since our last poll, TalkTalk has introduced a technical helpline number that is free to call from a TalkTalk landline, which could explain the sharp increase to its technical support score. However, it’s still unacceptable that, when it comes to technical support, just two providers are managing to satisfy more than half of their customers.”

The battle of the giants - Sky has finally distanced itself from industry rival Virgin Media. Its overall score of 81% places it 7% ahead of Virgin Media, with the gap widening to 17% in the ‘Value for Money’ category where Sky comes joint first with PlusNet.

Sky is the UK’s fastest growing broadband provider, having acquired 1.2 million customers in less than two years - partly due to attractive pricing and ubiquitous advertising. Last year Sky spent £115m on above-the-line advertising, more than double the £51m spent by its rival. Virgin Media, the UK’s largest broadband company with 3.7 million customers, comes joint third overall with almost three quarters (74%) of its customers satisfied – a 2% drop since last year. It has particularly fallen down on ‘Value for Money’ (-2%), Customer Support (-3%) and Technical Support (-4%).

Steve Weller, communications expert at uSwitch.com, continues: “Once again PlusNet is putting its larger competitors to shame – it’s definitely a case of ‘small but perfectly formed’. The rest of the pack needs to seriously up their game. A figure of one in two customers unhappy with the customer service they receive is unacceptable. Issues can no longer be put down to ‘teething problems’ – broadband has been up and running for seven years so any flaws should have been well and truly ironed out by now.

“The 21% gap between the best and worst provider shows just how important it is to choose a provider on service and not just price. Despite prices falling by 36% in four years, over 5 million have never switched their broadband provider. Our advice for customers is to decide what they want from their service, be it price, value or support, and do some research before entering into a new contract. By comparing both price and service levels among providers, customers should be able to find the best deal to suit their needs.”