back to article BT tops Ofcom's broadband whinge list

BT has topped a UK watchdog's quarterly whinge list for the most moaned about fixed line broadband provider in Blighty. Communications regulator Ofcom said it received 300 complaints a day for mobile, broadband, phone and Pay TV. The report for the three months to June published today, deals with Blighty's biggest providers. …

  1. Chika
    Mushroom

    WARNING: Rant incoming!

    It occurs to me that customer service is becoming more of a joke, mostly because they are seen as the bottom of the heap in IT terms. Phone jockeys. People who have but one goal in life which is to tell users to turn it off and on again. Those who are serious about the work often get crapped on, both by their superiors and in monetary terms because they are seen as grunts.

    There's an old, old saying. Pay peanuts, get monkeys. I'd go further than that in that I believe that the monkeys are already in residence at some companies and nothing is being done about it. Those that are willing to be trained aren't being trained. As long as they get through umpteen calls a day, dealing with all sorts of levels of user competence and temper, sticking (at least superficially) to the standard and following procedure, then all is right with the world. That's how I see such companies as BT with whom I have had plenty of dealings with over the years and have had more to complain about than to compliment.

    Not every service centre or help desk is that bad. I know of such groups that work well together and provide a level of support that BT users would envy if they came across it. They understand that ITIL is a framework and know how to apply it, not a handy badge to make them look good in the eyes of their peers. Would that every company were as serious.

    1. A Non e-mouse Silver badge

      Re: WARNING: Rant incoming!

      The problem is that the average consumer only cares about the (headline) price of the product/service they are purchasing. Support staff are overhead, and companies try and lower overheads to keep their prices low to attract customers. This means support staff are paid as little as possible and overloaded with work.

      Good support costs. I bet many El Reg readers know this, and probably pay more for their broadband because they're with smaller players who focus more on overall quality rather than subscriber quantity.

      1. Pen-y-gors

        Re: WARNING: Rant incoming!

        Good support costs.

        Quite agree, and that's why I get my broadband from BT business, who have fairly intelligent UK based call centre support, who seem to know what they're talking about. Had a couple of problems recently, and any delays in fixing have usually been down to Openreach, who seem to be very busy stringing fibre everywhere, so I'm willing to forgive them for now!

        1. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

          Re: WARNING: Rant incoming!

          > and that's why I get my broadband from BT business

          Any why I get a business-class FTTC line from Zen rather than from cheaper providers. The two times I've rung their support I've got through to people who knew what they were doing (despite theit Manc accents :-) ) and could fix the problem..

      2. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

        Re: WARNING: Rant incoming!

        > the average consumer only cares about the (headline) price

        If only I could give you more than one upvote. It's pretty simple - (in general) if you go for the cheapest then what you are buying is going to be less good/less functional/have features missing compared to stuff that has costs like proper support factored in.

        There are (of course) exceptions to this..

  2. Snivelling Wretch

    "It said BT’s main faults were due to service and provision issues; issues with billing, pricing and charges; and complaint handling."

    So... that's basically everything?

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    ARRRRGH - OFCOM needs to be burnt at the stake !

    Quoted from this article in which the F%#@-wits state :

    "BT’s complaint volumes were on their face higher but, due to operators using different methodologies to compile subscriber figures, we have identified through sensitivity checks that Plusnet’s performance may be comparable to BT’s."

    Of course it's going to be comparable you corrupt and inept arse-wipes, it's the same fucking organization!

    My apologies for my outburst but do OFCOM know a single thing about telecoms (I mean other than what their BT cronies tells them to do)?

    1. BRYN

      Re: ARRRRGH - OFCOM needs to be burnt at the stake !

      Whilst its correct that BT owns PlusNet

      They're far from the same company. Plusnet's systems are very different to BT's since. BT bough the already established company and have never integrated onto the same internal systems.

  4. inmypjs Silver badge

    Ofcom = useless

    There are plenty of ISP in competition and it is easy to switch. If you want service pay a small premium to the likes of A&A and there are plenty of options if you want cheap.

    The problem (and it is Ofcom's job to address it) is they are all reselling product from the BT Openreach monopoly. Ofcom have some control over BT Openreach prices but do little to monitor and nothing to control the quality of service provided for those prices.

    That results in BT Openreach being a company that won't go an extra mm to provide good customer service. As long as everyone gets crap service the ISPs don't care. They only moan when they think BT Openreach is giving BT (ISP) preferential treatment.

    1. Pen-y-gors

      Re: Ofcom = useless

      A & A?

      Just looked at their tarriffs - make the rail companies' ticket pricing look simple! There are an awful lot of complicated essential extras, and the prices can be VERY high!

      1. A Non e-mouse Silver badge

        @Pen-y-gors Re: Ofcom = useless

        Just looked at their tarriffs - make the rail companies' ticket pricing look simple! There are an awful lot of complicated essential extras, and the prices can be VERY high!

        Their Home::1 package is quite simple: Pay £25 per month for 100GB with no filtering. Or pay £10 extra for FTTC. Or pay £40 for 1TB download. Sure, you can make your own tariff, but the Home::1 package is good enough for a lot of people.

        Yes, the tariff is more than the likes of BT, TalkTalk, etc. (I reckon I could cut my broadband cost in half by going elsewhere) But their 1st line support staff are more like the others 2nd or 3rd line support staff. And this doesn't just stop at the technical side. Their billing support is good too: One time, they emailed me to say that they were going to give me £10 compensation before I'd even noticed the mess their billing system had made. When was the last time you got cold hard cash out of BT or TalkTalk for their screw-up?

        A very happy A&A customer.

    2. Mystic Megabyte
      FAIL

      Re: Ofcom = useless

      >>The problem (and it is Ofcom's job to address it) is they are all reselling product from the BT Openreach monopoly.

      Tell me about it, my local exchange will always be in thrall to BT :(

      When we were on 512kb/s BT did not inform either it's customers or my ISP that the exchange had been upgraded to ADSL+. The reason was that they charged more for the lower speed package! How can you have trust in a firm like that? (+Phorm!!)

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Ofcom = useless

      "hey are all reselling product from the BT Openreach monopoly. "

      *Cough* Virgin *Cough*

      "Ofcom have some control over BT Openreach prices

      Ofcom set Openreach's prices.

      1. inmypjs Silver badge

        Re: Ofcom = useless

        "*Cough* Virgin *Cough*"

        For less than 1/3rd of the country. Switching to/from them isn't simple or cheap. Their broadband price and performance doesn't really complete with FTTC until you get 1/2km away from the cabinet anyway.

        "Ofcom set Openreach's prices."

        Still letting them make 20% profit on 5 billion turnover - my heart bleeds.

      2. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

        Re: Ofcom = useless

        > *Cough* Virgin *Cough*

        Who currently have subcontractors digging up our pavements to add their fibre to our road. I'm awaiting the inability to drive in and out of our drive and/or our existing telephone lines mysteriously dying..

  5. Mage Silver badge
    Headmaster

    Meaningless stats?

    The complaints per operator need scaled with the number of customers per operator.

    1. inmypjs Silver badge

      Re: Meaningless stats?

      The article figures were per 100k customers - even Ofcom are not that dumb.

    2. Roland6 Silver badge

      Re: Meaningless stats?

      The complaints per operator need to be adjusted to take greater account of demographics. So for example what is the comparative level of complaints per operator in a major city.

      I suspect the (Openreach) figures are being skewed by BT having a greater number of customers in areas where they are effectively the sole provider, such as the areas covered by the BDUK project....

  6. Terry 6 Silver badge

    Customer service

    There appears to be, in some companies at least, a disconnect between providing goods and service and charging for them. The beancounters (on behalf of corporate investors, usually) want to do the second of these (take in money) without bothering too much about the left side of the equation, which is all "cost".

    The problem is that they don't understand that "trade" is a two way process. Their aim is to rake in cash without providing more in the way of production and service than they can get away with. Customer service is therefore kept to the lowest minimum level. As is product quality, IT security, investment ( as opposed to acquisition ), product development, staffing levels, working conditions, and so on.

    1. inmypjs Silver badge

      Re: Customer service

      What? No company is going to charge less than they can or offer more service than they have to.

      Competition keeps them honest. They have to provide as much service per buck as the next guy or they lose business to him.

      That is why Ofcom need be concerned where there only is one guy.

      1. Terry 6 Silver badge

        Re: Customer service

        Err No. The sales start with carefully expensive marketing, headline pricing, small print and obfuscation. The sting comes after customers are tied in. It's a race to the bottom rather than the gloriously beneficial effects of competition in the free market.

  7. CAPS LOCK

    A number of my friends have ditched ADSL etc and gone with 'MiFi' type devices.

    I have a feeling that the flexibility and freedom from digging-up-the-road of 3/4G may be the future for many, if not all.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Actual Broadband FTTC is Great

    Clearly, it is bash BT time again while not brilliant, they are the only company, country wide, that invests in the infrastructure to most peoples great benefit including the companies such as Sky and TalkTalk who use their infrastructure and are the their biggest detractors.

    My Broadband FTTC service in fantastic but accept when this go wrong, Customer Services leaves much to be desired.

    1. Roland6 Silver badge

      Re: Actual Broadband FTTC is Great

      My Broadband FTTC service in fantastic but accept when this go wrong, Customer Services leaves much to be desired.

      BT aren't the only one's with questionable Customer Service. Just had a problem on a business broadband (ie. a line that comes with 'enhanced' support) with an ISP who resell BT Wholesale services. Whilst support at the ISP were helpful etc. they still delayed in getting the line fixed by Openreach, because naturally Openreach charge them for each engineer's visit, regardless of outcome. Thus much time (weeks elapsed) was spent doing various line checks and badgering the ISP into accepting the fault was with the line and not customer premises equipment and that the only resolution was to get an engineer out to physically check the line. However, having performed a line check, the client is now awaiting the engineer's visit to effect repairs...

      Aside: I've not mentioned the name of the ISP as suspect others aren't too different in their reticence in incurring additional costs and calling out Openreach.

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