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back to article Mobile providers less trustworthy than bankers, say punters

New research shows that when it comes to establishing trust and customer satisfaction, the mobile industry is judged less favourably than both the banking and insurance industries. Could it be any worse? The study, conducted by ECSP Europe Business School in partnership with Pitney Bowes Business Insight, asked a thousand …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Facepalm

    Post your own message

    Speaking as someone who sells pre-paid phones, I've heard and seen a lot that the major carriers both put out and have to put up with. You know you have an unwinnable battle when someone who's clearly unsuited for a large, glassy touchscreen and has gone to great lengths to prove it wants another phone because it only just barely fell on the floor.

    That said, the provider-based stores generally only employ people interested in selling contracts, don't learn their products, sell overpriced accessories and usually not the ones you're after.

    Immovable object vs. unstoppable force

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    1. N13L5
      Reply Icon

      Immovable object vs. unstoppable force

      I've always wanted to see that as a Hollywood movie!

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  2. Andy Johnson

    Poor customer service

    Over the time I spent with Vodafone, I had some very poor customer service experiences. Incorrect billing, suspending my account in error (they mis-keyed somebody elses number and got mine!), poor communication, Forcing me to say out aloud personal information in store and almost blackmailing me if I didn't. I have raised so many complaints with them that finally I left. They may deal with lots of customers and maybe only a minority experience poor service. The question is though, what proportion of customers who call customer services get poor service as opposed to the proportion of actual customers.

    My new provider managed to send my sim and welcome pack to the wrong address, but so far have managed to put things right. But should a customer have to battle to be a customer with these companies ? Are they really not that interested in loyal customers and providing good service ?!

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  3. chr0m4t1c

    Poor service + unrealistic expectations

    I don't think any of the mobile companies are particularly good at customer service, but they do also seem to attract a particularly special brand of stupidity too.

    I have a friend who works on a handset support desk for one of the big four and she regularly tells me of callers who have rung in about their landline being off (even though it's not provided by her company), or their computer has crashed or more recently someone who called to ask if the network was OK in her area (yes) and it transpired that she was calling because she couldn't get any channels on her Sky+ box.

    The problem is it eventually becomes rather difficult to get these people to go away without sounding condescending or implying that they lick windows in their spare time. And if the customers cotton on to that then they can take a serious hump.

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    1. N13L5
      Reply Icon

      I take exception to that!

      i like to lick windows in my spare time,

      you make it sound like that's a bad thing :(

      After the rain, there's that nice lemony, sour taste with so many subtle flavors,

      though it takes a lot of scrubbing to get that black tint off my tongue.

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  4. N13L5
    Pint

    one key thing that's hard to forgive...

    I've used carriers both in the U.S. and in Europe..

    Carriers in the U.S. are easier to reach, and they are more helpful than European counterparts, especially when its about reducing the bill for something a customer has a complaint about.

    And cheesy ploys to get you to buy more than you want or need exist in every industry...

    That said, there's two things I find impossible to ever forgive:

    1) Carriers have always turned a blind eye to ripoff scams with callback numbers and phony subscriptions to third parties, cause they get a percentage of the transactions... Its usually been impossible to get them to revert charges and even stop recurring charges from known scams, without getting a lawyer involved.

    2) Telco's continuous meddling in our daily use of our phones by installing non removable crapware on phones, without ever making those extra 'services' desirable or useful, and worse, conspiring to sabotage useful third party software.

    I credit Apple for creating some cracks in that cartel, even though it was their own selfish interest in replacing other walled gardens with their own.

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  5. Tony Paulazzo

    Wow

    >Mobile providers less trustworthy than bankers<

    Only if they eat babies without me knowing.

    I've been with Virgin Mobile for fours years now with no complaints. Every time I've had a problem with accounts it's been fixed within a couple of days, you can talk to a human operator at 10p for any length of time, they answer their emails, usually within 24 hours and have resolved problems that way too.

    When I couldn't upgrade my HTC Desire to 2.2 they sent me a new phone out which arrived the following day by courier (after attempting to resolve the issue over a week or so), and I'm not a huge spending customer - I have a £30 a month contract (1GB data allowance, 400 minutes - which rollover, and 3000 texts) which I rarely go over.

    Coupled with a new phone every contract (two last year - a crappy one for being a loyal customer and a Desire), I'd have to say Virgin Mobile act like they value my custom a lot more than my bank does (my bank hasn't given me any free stuff and treat my money like it's theirs).

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  6. richard345
    FAIL

    Orange

    My contract is due to end for two phones next month, so I am urged to 'upgrade' my handsets and start anoher contract early. When I told the CS person that I was going to leave because of the appalling coverage at my home and other places I need my phone, he said 'But you've got some super loyalty deals here, why don't you take advantage?'. I explained, again, about the poor network and he still said I could get a 'really good deal'. It took three goes for him to understand that I was leaving, and why.

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  7. David Barr
    Unhappy

    Vodafone fit the bill...

    At the moment Vodafone are attempting to resolve my complaint by responding to my emails with answers that don't attempt to answer the question.

    I think they're trying to see how long I will pursue a complaint before I just give up. I'm quite sure that will save them a lot of problems when people complain about being missold.

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