A growing number of people say their home phone service is lax and
almost half suspect they are on a contract that is not beneficial.
The indictment of fixed line talking seems to be a reaction to
providers charging customers for certain types of payment, putting them
on longer contracts and imposing exit fees.
Dissatisfaction with our home phones has risen since 2006, and although
we spend £5billion on them every year, 10million Britons are today
unhappy with their service.
A survey of 10,000 consumers, by comparison site USwitch, also found
that younger home phone companies now outperform their more established
counterparts.
For the first time, BT, the UK’s biggest home phone provider, was voted
bottom of the satisfaction poll, followed by Virgin Media, the UK’s
second largest company.
In contrast, consumers ranked Sky, the newest entrant to the market, as
the best provider: not only are 85% of its customers satisfied, but it
also won 7 out of 11 categories.
TalkTalk won best value for money provider for the fourth year running,
and was second overall, despite putting up its charges since vowing to
guarantee cheaper prices than BT.
Tiscali, meanwhile, was the victim of what USwitch called a “shock
turnaround” as it saw the biggest drop in overall satisfaction, yet
more than 70% of its customers were still “satisfied.”
“The younger phone companies are easily outperforming the traditional
incumbents,” reflected Tim Wolfenden, Head of Home Services at USwitch
“Sky may have swept the board in the home phone survey but its strong
performance in our recent broadband poll demonstrates its commitment to
delivering a consistent service across more than one product area.”
However as an industry, the home phone providers aren’t impressing:
dissatisfaction rose 4% last year and 45% think their provider put them
on an unsuitable contract.
Recent monthly hikes to line rental, and call charges (-which have
since dropped), were blamed for the gloomy consumer sentiments.
For example, BT came under fire over the last 12 months for new charges
it introduced, on top of increased line rental and call rates for some
customers.
Thanks to today's providers, consumers are stung by £237million a year
simply for receiving their bills by paper or paying by methods other
than direct debit.
BT illustrated the point: the company introduced an annual
administration charge of £18 for 3million customers not paying their
phone bills by direct debit.
Of the industry, USwitch said: "It’s extremely disappointing that, 24
years since the market was deregulated to increase consumer choice and
reduce prices, phone companies are still not getting it right."
Apr 11, 2008
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