Survey from Which? reveals BT, Sky and TalkTalk all received a customer score of below half, with John Lewis Broadband top with 76 per cent
BT has finished bottom of a broadband customer satisfaction survey, with customers preferring the service they receive from smaller providers.
This is according to the latest research from Which?, with scores and star ratings based on the results of a survey of 1,757 broadband users it conducted in December and January.
John Lewis Broadband came out on top of the 11 providers measured, with a customer score of 76 per cent, followed by Zen Internet (75 per cent), Utility Warehouse (73 per cent), Plusnet (72 per cent), Post Office (61 per cent) and Tesco Broadband (56 per cent).
However, three of the larger providers received a customer score of below 50 per cent. BT was bottom with (45 per cent), followed by TalkTalk and Sky (both 48 per cent). EE scored 50 per cent with Virgin Media scoring 52 per cent.
The providers were measured across the following criteria: clarity of bills, ease of setup, speed, reliability, value for money, ease of contacting, customer service and technical support. The customer score combined overall satisfaction and how likely it is the person would recommend the provider to a friend.
In addition, Which? is campaigning for providers to improve service and deliver speeds customers are promised. It wants advertising watchdogs, The Committee of Advertising Practice and The Broadcasting Committee of Advertising Practice to tighten rules to ensure advertised speeds more closely match the real experience of most customers. Currently, they are allowed to advertise speeds that only 10 per cent of customers can receive.
Its ‘Give us Broadband Speed Guaranteed’ campaign, which has more than 50,000 supporters, is also calling for advertising speed claims like “superfast” to be quantified by providers, customers to be given written estimates at the start of their contract, with an accurate estimate for their individual address; and people to be allowed to exit contracts without charge if they don’t receive the minimum speed estimated at any point in their contract.
Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: “Smaller suppliers are leaving larger rivals in their wake when it comes to the service they provide so we need to see the big players up their game. Ofcom is also currently reviewing this market and we now need it to identify how it plans to ensure broadband customers get a better deal.
“We’ve told the advertising watchdogs that companies need to be much clearer with their customers about the speeds they can expect. However, three months on, we’re still waiting for them to announce how they’ll ensure adverts only show the speeds most customers actually receive.”
