20th January 2010
British Gas provides the worst customer service out of all the
companies in the UK, according to a Money Mail survey.
The energy giant was given the consumer affairs service's Wooden
Spoon Award after receiving more votes than all other companies put
together in a poll of over 10,000 Britons.
Complaints about the company included customers being left on
hold for hours when phoning for assistance and having to press an
extensive sequence of buttons before being put through to an
advisor.
Other criticisms included incorrect bills and the lack of an
apology when things go wrong.
British Gas boss Phil Bentley defended his company, saying that
British Gas has more customers than most companies and explained
that they are taking on customers' concerns and upgrading their
phone system.
However, HSBC, which has 15m customers compared to British Gas'
12.2m, received no votes in the poll.
Other awards dished out included 'Britain's most irritating call
centre', which went to BT where customers complained of complex
button pressing, having to repeatedly explain the problem and
difficulties in understanding the customer advisor's accent.
While mobile phone operator, Orange, received the award for
"Most pathetic excuse" for telling a customer experiencing problems
with their broadband to move the computer closer to the telephone
socket.
South East Water also found itself under criticism, winning the
"Longest time to solve a problem" award after pursuing a customer
for nearly 3 years for payment on an account that didn't belong to
him.
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