Energy firms keep customers on hold for over 20 minutes, claims Which?
Some of Britain’s biggest energy companies are keeping customers waiting on the phone for longer than 20 minutes, while one firm in Which?’s latest snapshot investigation had callers holding for more than 40 minutes on average.
In a mystery shop investigation, the consumer champion made 384 calls to 32 energy providers to reveal how long it took for customer service teams to answer. Which? called each provider 12 times at different times of the day and days of the week.
Many call centres have faced challenges as they adapted to new ways of working due to the pandemic. However, at the time of the Which? investigation in September and October, it was clear that while some were coping well, others were struggling to provide an acceptable level of customer service.
Boost Energy, a pay-as-you-go supplier owned by Ovo Energy, was the slowest to answer calls. On average customers were left waiting for 40 minutes and 58 seconds before their calls were answered. That’s longer than the entire first half of a rugby match. One caller was left waiting for two hours, 39 minutes before their call was answered – the longest single call waiting time.
On four other occasions, Boost took more than an hour to answer phone calls to its customer service team.
British Gas was the second slowest provider to answer calls in Which?’s snapshot investigation. It took 23 minutes and 32 seconds on average to pick up calls – longer than a typical episode of Coronation Street (minus the ad breaks). This was closely followed by Orbit Energy, a small energy company, that left customers waiting for 23 minutes and 15 seconds on average.
Around a third of energy firms kept customers waiting for more than 10 minutes on average before their calls were answered – including three other large energy companies. On average, Npower took 21 minutes and 46 seconds to answer calls, while Eon only picked up calls after 19 minutes and 40 seconds. EDF Energy customers were left waiting 13 minutes and 26 seconds on average before their calls were answered.
So Energy was the fastest company last year answering calls in 38 seconds, on average. However, the challenger brand struggled to maintain its top spot and slipped to the slowest 10 this year after it left callers waiting for 16 minutes and 52 seconds on average.
Together Energy, which recently acquired the domestic customer base of Bristol Energy, was the fastest energy provider to pick up calls, with customers left waiting for just 51 seconds on average. Octopus Energy, which has rapidly grown its customer base since launching in 2016, was the fastest of the energy firms with the largest market share and only left customers waiting for two minutes and four seconds on average.
Of the 10 energy companies with the largest market share, Scottish Power was the second best and on average answered calls in two minutes and 28 seconds. This is a massive improvement compared to last year when the Glasgow-based energy firm was the worst provider for answering calls and left customers waiting for 21 minutes and 24 seconds, on average.
Live chat
Which? also contacted the 18 energy suppliers that offered a live chat function for customers and found Shell Energy was the worst when it came to responding – it took 33 minutes and 39 seconds on average to respond to queries on live chat.
Outfox the Market was the fastest energy company on live chat and only left customers that contacted them through this channel waiting for 10 seconds on average.
Says Natalie Hitchins, Head of Home Products and Services at Which?
“We know the pandemic has made things difficult for call centres, but it is unacceptable that some firms are still wasting customers’ time with such long waits, especially at a time when consumers may need additional support from their provider.
“Customer service is an important factor when choosing an energy provider. Those who face lengthy waits just to speak with a customer service adviser should consider moving to a provider that can offer better service – customers could also save hundreds of pounds a year by switching.”
Adds a Boost spokesperson:
“With our waiting times during the last quarter averaging 8 minutes, we’re disappointed not to meet our usual high standards for our customers. During this period, we had a higher number of customers contacting us to ask for support.
“We’re always looking for ways to improve and have planned for additional resources over winter. We also offer a call-back service that allows customers to receive a call from one of our team, rather than have to wait. To support those who can’t pay their energy bills because of the effects of Coronavirus we also launched a Hardship Scheme.”
