Which? estimates energy and broadband customers lost nearly £300 million to poor customer service in the last year
Which? research has found energy and broadband customers lost an estimated £298m and 27.3 million hours to poor customer service in a year.
Which? surveyed more than 4,000 people to uncover how many people had a customer service issue in the year to May 2024 and how poor customer service impacted their finances, time and emotional well-being.
As well as the huge losses in terms of money and wasted time, the consumer association estimates 8.9 million energy consumers and 9.2 million broadband consumers experienced ’emotional harm’ as a result of poor customer service.
In the energy sector, one in five (17%) who had contacted their energy provider said they gave up trying to get their problem resolved due to the issues they experienced with customer service. Almost a third (32%) of these consumers said this left them financially worse off. On average, they estimated they were £137 worse off as a result.
In total, Which? estimates that 1.2 million energy customers were left £166m worse off due to customer service issues forcing them to give up trying to get their issue resolved.
In the broadband sector, one in seven (14%) who contacted their broadband provider said they gave up seeking a resolution due to problems they experienced with the customer service. Three in 10 (29%) said that this left them financially worse off, and on average they estimated they were £93 worse off as a result.
In total, Which? estimates that 950,000 consumers were £89m worse off due to giving up contacting their broadband provider.
A small proportion of consumers (1 to 2%) said they did not even contact their energy or broadband providers due to previous bad experiences with their customer service. This adds an additional £37m to consumers being worse off due to poor customer service in the energy sector and an additional £6m in the broadband sector, bringing the total estimated loss to poor customer service across both sectors to £298m.
Which?’s survey also looked at how much time consumers lost trying to resolve customer service issues.
Over a third of people who contacted their energy firm (35%) and broadband provider (36%) reported having at least one problem that wasted their time. These issues included: not being able to reach customer service, phone calls being disconnected, being passed between departments and long call waiting times.
On average, Which? estimates those who experienced time-wasting customer service issues lost almost 2 hours (112 mins) of their time due to energy customer service problems and 1 hour 38 minutes of their time due to broadband customer service problems.
Separately, Which? research recently named Virgin Media, Scottish Power and British Gas the worst energy and broadband firms for customer service. The consumer association wrote to all three firms about their consistently poor performance. Although British Gas and Virgin Media say they are making improvements, Which? research shows many of their customers remain dissatisfied.
Says Rocio Concha, Which? Director of Policy and Advocacy:
“Our research lays bare the dire state of customer service in the energy and broadband sectors – with nearly £300 million lost to poor service in a single year. The impact in terms of wasted time and on people’s emotional wellbeing is just as concerning.
“It is never OK for firms to provide sub-standard customer service, but in essential sectors providing vital services millions rely on every day such as energy and broadband, it is completely unacceptable.
“Any firms falling short in the energy and broadband sector need to up their game and give consumers the customer service they deserve. No-one should have to spend hours going round in circles, put themselves through emotional turmoil or lose their hard-earned money because of poor customer service.”
