Britain's broadband bothers exposed
A new survey of over 2,500 broadband customers carried out by Broadbandchoices.co.uk has revealed what their priorities are when it comes to the service they receive and the complaints they make.
When asked to identify the most important aspect when choosing a broadband service, over one third (35%) chose connection reliability. This was closely followed by connection speed (32%) whilst value for money came in third (22%), mirroring results from the previous year's survey. Surprisingly, customer service was completely overlooked by respondents with only 6% saying they valued this aspect the most.
When asked if they felt their broadband provider had lived up to its claims, a disappointing 39% said no. Whilst this is an improvement on last year's results (47% said they were disappointed with their broadband provider in 2009) it still indicates that despite progress being made, there is still much to be done when it comes to improving customers' experience of their broadband service.
Disappointment with connection speed was the top gripe at 77% - a worrying increase of over last year's survey (70%) where it also topped the list of broadband bugbears. Customer service came 2nd with over a third (35%) experiencing frustrations in this area. 32% of respondents said they were unhappy with the reliability of their broadband connection.
Michael Phillips, product director, commented: "The main reason for dissatisfaction amongst broadband customers is still overwhelmingly due to broadband speeds not living up to the hype, demonstrating that there continues to be a huge disparity between speeds advertised and the speeds delivered. These results are even more troubling given Ofcom's - and the ISPs - supposed attempts to make this more transparent to consumers. Dissatisfaction with connection speed has actually risen since last year's survey.
"It was particularly interesting to see that well over a third (35%) found their broadband provider lacking in customer service skills - the second most common complaint. Whilst few people seem to make purchasing decisions based on customer service (a mere 6%) it clearly matters when consumers are forced to contact their ISP to get other problems resolved.. Raising a complaint is never easy but consumers can significantly reduce any hassle and dramatically improve their chances of speedy resolution by following our top tips below:"
Be wise before the event. Even if your relationship with the ISP is running smoothly, make sure that your paperwork is in order. Keep your bills filed in chronological order and keep all correspondence between yourself and the ISP.
Always approach your ISP first with any complaints or grievances and insist that they explain their official complaints procedure to you before you enter into a dispute.
Tell them, in writing, of your grievance and that you wish to enter into an official complaints procedure.
Maintain a call log detailing each call that you made to your ISP. Include such details as the time and date of the call, and the name of the person that you spoke with.
Remember any passwords or keywords that you might need; your claim will lack credibility if you forget.
Use bank statements to add credibility to your claims, particularly those concerned with billing errors.
When communicating with your ISP, be both patient and personable. Don't raise your voice or get irritable. Make sure that you are targeting the correct department and the right people with your complaints.
Insist on written confirmation of any changes to your contract, or any verbal agreements that are made over the phone.
If you have exhausted your ISP's complaints procedure with no resolution after 8 weeks, contact Cisas or Otelo, and ask them to advise you on the next step you should take.
If all else fails, get legal help - Which? Legal Services provides low cost, smart consumer legal advice.