A recent survey by Which? revealed that poor customer service from energy and broadband companies is costing customers millions of pounds and wasting hours of their time.
Around 45% of respondents had contacted their broadband supplier and 42% had contacted their energy provider in the past year, with many facing issues related to long wait times for assistance and resolutions. Customers have lost an estimated £298 million and 27.3 million hours due to poor customer service, impacting their finances, time, and emotional well-being.
One in five energy customers and 14% of broadband customers gave up trying to resolve their issues, leading to financial losses averaging £137 and £93 respectively. And last year, 1.2 million energy customers were £166 million worse off, and 950,000 broadband customers were £89 million worse off due to poor customer service and unresolved problems.
Customers spent an average of 112 minutes on energy-related customer service issues and 98 minutes on broadband-related issues, totaling 13.9 million hours in energy and 13.4 million hours in broadband over a year.
Poor customer service also negatively impacted customers’ emotional well-being, with many feeling frustrated, angry, helpless, stressed, and anxious.
The Customer Service Counts campaign by Which? highlights the need for reform in the energy and broadband sectors to ensure customers can easily access support and receive timely and efficient resolutions.
Companies like British Gas, Scottish Power, and Virgin Media have been singled out for poor customer service performance, with calls for urgent and significant improvements to their customer service teams to better serve consumers.
