BT comes bottom in home phone survey

BT is the worst phone provider, according to a survey of 7,600 customers.

In a study of all the major home phone providers – BT, Virgin, Sky, and Talk Talk – BT, the former monopoly came bottom for the third year running, with 29 per cent of its customers indicating they were not satisfied with the company.

Customers, in the uSwitch survey, were questioned on 10 different categories including whether the companies offered value for money, easy to read and accurate bills and helpful support. BT came last in all the categories, performing particularly poorly in the value for money and "best deals" categories.

Though BT is not the most expensive provider, it was criticised for its decision to move its off-peak call hours from 6pm to 7pm, forcing many of its 13 million customers to wait for a while after they got home from work to take advantage of lower calls. TalkTalk has followed suit.

Across all the companies, the value for money score fell from 75 per cent last year to 67 per cent.

Steve Weller, communications expert at uSwitch.com, said: “Sky's hat trick at the top demonstrates its clear commitment to offering a consistently high service across all areas. But, overall, customers are disillusioned with the value for money offered by their home phone service and the impact that the latest round of price changes will have on bills is deeply concerning. If customers don’t change either their calling habits or calling plans they could see their annual bills rocket."

A BT spokesman hit back at the research. He said: "USwitch's research includes perceptions of customer service as opposed to actual experiences – which makes as little sense as asking the inhabitants of France or Italy whether they would vote Cameron or Brown. Truly independent research, conducted among actual BT customers who have contacted us confirms that our customer dissatisfaction is at an all-time low."

Source: Telegraph, 13th April 2010

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