Orange and TalkTalk the pits of customer service

Customers have voted Orange and TalkTalk the worst UK broadband providers for customer service, according to an annual survey of more than 10,500 UK residents.

Consumers placed 'free' broadband provider Orange at the bottom of the rankings as more than one-third (35 per cent) of its customers said they were not satisfied with their broadband service.

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Fellow 'free' fat-pipe provider TalkTalk, from the Carphone Warehouse, was not far behind - with 31 per cent of its customers dissatisfied with its service despite its overhauling of its customer service operations in a deal with CRM vendor NetSuite last year.

Customer service satisfaction also fell three per cent across the board since October 2006, with a quarter of customers with top broadband providers dissatisfied with their broadband provider, the uSwitch.com survey reveals.

Chris Frost, communications expert at uSwitch.com, said new advances in broadband technology appear to be having an adverse effect, with connection problems and service interruptions occurring all too frequently and customers having to make numerous phone calls to get problems fixed.

In response to the uSwitch survey, an Orange spokesman said in a statement: "We acknowledge the findings of this survey but moreover listen to our customers and as a result, are aware that some of them have experienced service and technical issues over the past few months."

"We would like to reassure them that we work as effectively as possible to resolve their complaints. We also apologise to those customers who have experienced problems."

The spokesman added: "We are taking steps to improve our network capacity and customer services, including investing heavily in our teams and will continue to do so... Our focus is on getting things right for our customers and we shall continue working to improve the levels of service we offer."

Plusnet topped the broadband rankings, with more than three-quarters (78 per cent) of customers satisfied with its services, followed by AOL, Sky and Virgin Media with 76 per cent customer satisfaction rates apiece.

This is the first time the uSwitch.com survey has interviewed broadband customers from both Sky and Virgin Media.

Frost added: "Despite the on-going spat between the two providers, both claiming to offer a better deal than the other, the results astonishingly show the two media giants coming neck-and-neck with a score of 76 per cent, placing them in second place alongside AOL."

TalkTalk was not available for comment at the time of publication.