UK’s biggest broadband partners are providing services that can be termed mediocre, at least in the eyes of their customers, considering the fact that they happen to be asking for much more funds for the privilege.
With quite significant as well as much-talked-about price rises already looming over the UK, one could be forgiven for assuming that the service providers may as well go out of their way to get a customer satisfaction tick. However, as per the latest broadband provider study, this is certainly not the scenario.
While the consumer group hasn’t shared the entire results of its survey, it does paint a market picture in which Sky, BT, Virgin Media, as well as TalkTalk, are actually underwhelming the customers. The fact is that most of them are getting mediocre ratings from their set of customers.
As a matter of fact, mediocre looks like the word of the day as far as the present state of broadband in the UK is concerned. According to Rocio Concha, who happens to be the director for policy and advocacy, it is indeed unacceptable that major firms related to broadband are stepping up the prices for the mediocre services that they are providing.
With only a few days to go when the inflation-busting prices take shape, out-of-contract customers must now take action to move away, cut the prices, and avoid paying more than what they have been currently offered, added Concha. He also went on to recommend that the operators must surely allow the customers to leave their contracts without any penal charges in case of any price rise and also cancel the hike for those who happen to be financially vulnerable.
At this time, however, it does seem very unlikely that there is going to be any shift from big broadband firms, primarily due to the fibre builders targeting undeserved markets as well as new resellers such as the likes of Rebel Internet that launched earlier in March. The message seems to be pretty clear: big players aren’t providing anything better despite raising their prices by 14% already.
The survey of around 4000 broadband customers went on to find out that although firms such as BT and TalkTalk are almost on the verge of issuing high-mid contract increases in prices, they are offering just a little over slow speeds, a very disturbing customer service scenario, and average technical support. That said, the smaller companies that are committed to the amount that is being paid happen to be rated the highest.
The survey named TalkTalk as the worst broadband service provider and noted that its customers gave it the lowest possible rating when it came to tech support, broadband speed, and customer service. Apparently, one of the five respondents who moved away from TalkTalk called its service very slow. On the other hand, BT has already been suffering due to its planned price, with almost 40% of the respondents stating that customer service as well as value for money happen to be its major weaknesses. However, the service provider did manage to have better ratings than those of the other players.
The survey also advised customers to leave Virgin Media as they can still do so without any penal charges, highlighting the fact that the service provider’s ratings were among the lowest when it comes to value for money. Sky customers, on the other hand, had some problems with their connection over the past year, but their prices went up less and they could leave without being charged.
All said and done, the warpath involving the big broadband providers is working really hard to aid the customers in making a switch. The survey data also goes on to show that more than half of the customers using broadband have been with the same service provider for more than 2 years, whereas 46% have never switched. It is highly likely, according to the survey, that the customers of the Big Four have been with another service provider.
