Almost all telcos fall short in nearly every category, according to the Commerce Commission's first 'league tables' ranking customer service. Photo / 123rf
Almost all telcos fall short in nearly every category, according to the Commerce Commission's first 'league tables' ranking customer service. Photo / 123rf
Which phone companies are best, or worst, for customer service?
The Commerce Commission has just released its first “customer service league tables”, as Telecommunications Commissioner Tristan Gilbertson calls them.
Gilbertson says people shopping for a new mobile phone or broadband plan have a good handle on the different providers’ pricingand features, but no good handle on who offers the best customer service. “It’s a critical information action that the dashboard is designed to close.”
In most categories, Spark’s budget brand Skinny comes out on top - which some industry watchers will find notable, given it runs a leaner operation than its corporate parent (see the full tables below). Skinny is wholly owned by Spark.
But Gilbertson said the bigger picture was that none of the telcos’ customer services were up to snuff, with almost all of the telcos, in almost every category, falling short of the level the regulator wants to see.
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“What we’re seeing here is really underwhelming,” Gilbertson told the Herald.
“A good example is NPS [net promotor score - a score of -100 to 100, based on how likely a person is to recommend a business to family, friends and colleagues]. NPS is not favourable until you crack 20. Excellent is 50 and world-class is 80. In the mobile space, only two of them [Skinny and 2degrees] were above 20. In broadband, only Skinny and Devoli partner Contact Energy were above 20 (Mercury, also included in some parts of the survey, partners with Spark).
“In terms of individual customer service ratings, ‘good’ begins at 75 per cent,” Gilbertson said.
“There has been a persistent issue with the level of customer service for more than a decade. We hope this [survey] will be a circuit-breaker,” Gilbertson said.
But it’s not quite the jolt it could have been.
The ComCom was shaping up to require telcos to prominently display the customer service league tables on their websites and in their stores.
He first got the idea a few years ago when visiting a branch of NatWest in the UK, where Britain’s banking regulator requires customer service rankings to be displayed.
But in a round of submissions in March, the telcos objected, saying the regulator was overreaching with a disproportionate response.
The telcos got their way, for now. Displaying the first round of results is voluntary.
Gilbertson wants Spark, One NZ, 2degrees and others to display the league table on their websites - to spur competition between them to improve their services. None have.
Asked if it would display the tables, One NZ came back with a one-word answer: “No.”
Other providers did not immediately respond, but the absence of the rankings from their homepages indicated they were on the same page as One NZ.
Gilbertson said he would consider “mandatory disclosure” (that is, ordering the phone companies to display the results down the track). It would be more practical once the regulator had several surveys in the bag. He would also gauge how the early results were treated.
Should the commissioner lean on the telcos to display the results?
“Not just yet, as this is only one survey,” said Technology Users Association head Craig Young.
“But in 12 months, if they haven’t voluntarily shared the results, then the Commission should look at mandating some form of disclosure.”
Starlink, waiting in the sky
The rankings released today are based on six months’ worth of data captured by an independent research firm (Perspective) and will be updated every month over the next six months - with public updates every quarter. Each month, at least 400 households will be surveyed, Gilbertson said.
A telco has to have at least 5 per cent market share to be included in the survey - for statistical validity, Gilberton says.
That means Elon Musk’s Starlink is missing, despite having attracted tens of thousands of customers over its first 18 months of NZ availability.
“At the moment, Starlink is sitting at about 2 per cent, but they’re growing really, really fast. They’re the fastest-growing proposition in the rural space,” the commissioner said.
Spark, One NZ and 2degrees have all recently become resellers for Starlink’s business-grade product.
“What we’re seeing here is really underwhelming,” says Telecommunications Commissioner Tristan Gilbertson.
Spark responds
“We’re pleased to see Spark and our low-cost brand Skinny leading in mobile for customer service, particularly for speed of resolution and staff knowledge and helpfulness,” a Spark spokeswoman said.
“Broadband experience is more variable for all providers, which we would expect given so much of the service experience relies on the speediness of resolution with third-party local fibre and copper providers, and the fact it is a more complex technology, with factors such as in-home networks and devices influencing the customer’s experience.”
The retail telcos have frequently complained that they wear the blame for install delays and other glitches that really fall at the feet of network operator Chorus.
“In relation to the commission’s NPS measurement, NPS is influenced by a wider range of factors, many of which are not service-related, such as price. Within our own business, we measure customer satisfaction with an interaction net promotor score (iNPS) rather than NPS. For iNPS, we survey customers directly after an interaction with us so the responses provide a more accurate representation of satisfaction with our customer experience.”
Consumer advocate Craig Young says the Commerce Commission shouldn't lean on telcos to publish results until it has a few surveys under its belt. But if they're still shy of displaying the customer service league tables on their websites or in-store after a year, the regulator should consider making it mandatory, he says.
One NZ replies
“While most customers have a great experience with us, we recognise we don’t always meet expectations, “ One NZ corporate affairs lead Matthew Flood said.
“We note the Commission’s results cover a period of change to the end of June this year as we rebranded from Vodafone to One NZ and don’t tell the full story of the improvement we’re driving for customers.”
Since the Commission’s first survey was carried out, One NZ’s own survey has found a 13 per cent increase in customer network experience, a 10 per cent increase in customers who report dealing with a knowledgeable and friendly representative and a 10 per cent increase in trust.
“We’ve seen a 25 per cent reduction in people needing to call us at all, and for those that do, we’re answering their calls faster and getting their issue solved by the first person they connect with, rather than being passed around,” Flood said.
2degrees weighs in
“We support moves to ensure Kiwis are fully informed when choosing a telco. Customer service and customer satisfaction are key elements that need to be considered when selecting a broadband or mobile service,” a 2degrees spokesman said.
“2degrees has been built on great customer service and great value offers. We love a bit of competition - we’ll stay focused on constant improvement across all areas and fighting for [fairness] for all Kiwis.”
Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.
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