21 February 2007
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Original content:
<div class="rxbodyfield" xmlns:o="urn:www.microsoft.com/office" xmlns:st1="urn:www.microsoft.com/smarttags" xmlns:st2="urn:www.microsoft.com/smarttags2" xmlns:w="urn:www.microsoft.com/word" xmlns:x="urn:www.microsoft.com/excel"><p>Energy supplier British Gas was found to be the worst for leaving customers hanging on the telephone in a recent poll carried out by onepoll.com.</p><p>Callers were regularly left on hold for over 45 minutes, according to the poll, suggesting that the recent criticism and fines the supplier received for leaving its Click Energy customers hanging on have had little effect.</p><p>To add to British Gas's woes, the price comparison and switching website uSwitch.com's recent energy customer satisfaction survey found that 56% of its customers were "not satisfied" with the supplier's service.</p><p>Geoff Slaughter, energy product manager at uSwitch.com, commented: "British Gas needs to re-focus on its customers urgently if it is to stem the tide of those flooding away and begin to reverse the damage its shoddy service has caused its reputation."</p><p>Mr Slaughter added, "...it is losing customers at a rate of 1 customer every 19 seconds * - this is no longer something British Gas can afford to ignore." </p><p>Other energy suppliers listed in the poll were npower, which was placed 8th, and ScottishPower, which was listed 15th. Powergen, which is currently investing in improving its customer service, was not named.</p><p>Is your energy supplier giving you the best price and service? uSwitch.com not only compares the cost of energy plans but also gives you the supplier's customer satisfaction score. See how well your gas & electricity suppliers perform, with the <a href="http://www.uswitch.com/Energy/Index.aspx?">uSwitch.com energy calculator - you may be surprised at the results!</p><p>* Centrica trading statement, 15/12/06 - British Gas lost 978,000 net customer accounts in 2006 to date. Assuming same rate for rest 2006, 1,022,837 customer accounts were lost in 2006. According to British Gas a customer switches to them every 60 seconds. So 525,600 customers switched to British Gas in 2006, gross. Using the formula: 'Gross switched away' - 'Gross switched to' = 'Net switched away', we estimate that 502,560 + 1,022,837 = 1,548,437 customers will have switched away from British Gas, gross in 2006. This equates to 1 customer every 19 seconds.</p><p><a href="http://www.adfero.co.uk" target="_blank"><img alt="track" src="http://feeds.directnews.co.uk/feedtrack/dn.gif?feedid=362&itemid=18067343" style="border:0 0 0" />© Adfero Ltd</a></a></p></div>