Mobile operators ditched over crappy service

Rubbish customer service is making more than a third of the UK's mobile users change operator, research has claimed.

About 35 per cent of mobile owners have had enough of poor service and are thinking of switching operator because of it, according to research from LogicaCMG, at the same time as fewer managers in the industry are rating service as their most important priority.

In 2003, 35 per cent of senior managers rated customer service as their number one concern. This year, 14 per cent did.

As the telecoms market claws its way out of its recent slow period, managers are now focusing on attracting new customers rather than holding on to the ones they've already got.

And as the operators scramble to get their business 3G products onto the market, Tim Bharucha, manager of LogicaCMG's OSS consultancy practice, believes that if service issues are unresolved, they could well come back to haunt them.

With 3G cards starting to become standard for business laptops, "the service has to be available – it's no longer a fun, entertainment thing, it's functional," said Bharucha, adding that those operators who focus on convincing people they have the best service might be able to win some loyalty from the potentially lucrative business market.

When it comes to consumers though, keeping residential users onside is a much easier business – like giving a kid sweeties, in fact. According to the survey, 28 per cent of users will complain to their operator before they switch.

"An operator has to do quite a lot to unpick that [dissatisfaction] that's probably been building up over months. What do they do? They probably offer you free minutes or an upgrade. It's the chocolate factor, a quick rush," said Bharucha.