One of the largest British ISPs, TalkTalk, has gained the highest percentage in some dissatisfaction levels in the national customer satisfaction research 2012.
TalkTalk has previously been slated as the worst ISP for customer service and in 2012 gained 18% dissatisfaction again – the highest result among landline providers. In the meanwhile, Orange came out with 20% dissatisfaction with a fixed broadband provider.

In other words, the broadband industry fared badly. The experts believe that there is a lot of work to be done in the area. According to Ofcom, overall satisfaction with customer service is still lowest in the fixed broadband market – 62% of the respondents complained it was not good enough. Despite the fact that TalkTalk had avoided the dreaded bottom spot, the ISP apparently has more to do to win over consumers.

As for the mobile space, the situation is the same: now there are more mobile subscribers who are dissatisfied with the customer service. 14% of the respondents admitted they were unhappy in 2012, which is 5% more than in 2009. However, there had been improvements in some aspects of customer service: for instance, in the ease and speed of contacting customer services. Moreover, overall customer service ratings also rose in the landline market, increasing by 6% since 2009.

On the opposite, Sky’s subscribers were satisfied with some aspects of its customer service more than average. They were especially satisfied with the ease of getting through to the right person. Sky’s subscribers claimed they would stay with the company more often than its competitors. Virgin Media also showed positive results – its improvements increased from 53% to 64% since 2011. As for BT, its increase in satisfaction since 2009 has stayed at 63%.

In the meantime, O2 was rated above average for the customer service satisfaction in mobile: more than 3/4 of those asked admitted they were happy. The ISP also scored higher than average on a number of elements of its service, including providing clear advice, the speed of resolving problems, and offering compensation or a goodwill gesture.

The Ofcom’s customer service research was conducted within the frames of a broader program of work to make sure that the subscribers have access to more reliable, accurate and timely data so that they could take informed decisions.