14 November 2006
An extensive survey carried out by the price comparison and switching website uSwitch has revealed that 5.5 million customers are not satisfied with their home phone service.
In addition, 7.3 million home phone customers felt "short-changed" on the issue of whether their subscription provided value for money.
Once again, it was the big companies who looked the worst, with BT and ntl, who between them own 63% of the market, were rated worst overall in the home phone industry.
For the third consecutive report, ntl came bottom overall with 1.27 million customers not satisfied with their phone service and BT remained second from the bottom with 2.9 million customers not satisfied.
With a loss of 54,600 customers reported by ntl and 380,000 reported by BT in the last quarter alone, it is evident that customers are voting with their feet.
The uSwitch.com Customer Satisfaction Report was compiled using the views of over 50,000 customers. Overall, the customer satisfaction rate had dropped by 4%.
On a lighter note, Tiscali took first position with 81% overall customer satisfaction from the previous winners, TalkTalk, but both providers experienced a sharp fall in ratings since March, with Tiscali falling by 7% and TalkTalk falling by 9%.
Steve Weller, head of communication services at uSwitch, commented that 3.2 million home phone customers were likely to review their existing deal in the next 12 months.
"Consumers have always known that they can shop around for better prices, but this report shows that suppliers can also be differentiated by other services such as customer service and value for money," he added.
Are you on the best talk plan for the way you use your home phone? Make a comparison with other suppliers and plans on uSwitch.com and if you could get a better deal, switch your home phone online today. It's free!