Significant failings in customer service across broadband and energy companies, says Which?

A survey of over 4,000 people revealed broadband and energy were two of the worst performing sectors for customer service. In broadband, Virgin Media was the worst provider; within energy companies, Scottish Power and British Gas received the lowest scores. 

Our latest research examined customer service across nine key sectors to identify those with the lowest standard of support, with companies given a net score for overall satisfaction which subtracted the percentage of dissatisfied respondents from the percentage of satisfied respondents. The scale ranged from -100 to +100. 

Broadband and energy received net satisfaction of just +52 and +51 respectively.

The research looked at several aspects of customer service, including time to speak to a representative, variety of contact options, and quality of issue resolution. As part of our Customer Service Counts campaign, we have written to all three of these companies to urge them to improve their services. 

Read more about our Customer Service campaign, including latest updates and advice if you are struggling. 

Virgin Media worst for customer service in broadband

Broadband companies performed poorly compared to the top sectors in our survey, achieving an average score of +52. This is a full 21 points lower than the top scorer - financial services, with a score of +72.  

Within the broadband sector, Virgin Media received the lowest rating. It scored just +29 overall, including +18 for time to speak to someone who could help and +38 for how well issues were resolved. It had the lowest score of all the companies we surveyed. 

In total, half of Virgin Media customers (50%) reported having at least one issue with their customer service team. The most common was waiting a long time on the phone to speak to an advisor (51%), followed by being passed between departments without a helpful response (36%) and speaking to unhelpful or dismissive advisors (34%). 

Shockingly, one Virgin Media customer told Which? that over a period of several months, they spent 10 hours trying to get their problem resolved. 

Had enough of bad service? Read our advice on how to broadband switch providers and see how much you could save. 

Scottish Power and British Gas worst for customer service in energy

Energy companies also performed poorly in our survey, scoring an average of +51. 

Scottish Power was the worst provider within this sector, with a score of +34. Over half of their customers (55%) experienced at least one customer service issue in the last year. British Gas performed only slightly better, scoring +43 overall, with 50% reporting an issue. 

Both companies have improved their customer services scores since Which? last carried out this research and have told us they are investing in their customer service. But our research shows there is still plenty of room for improvement. The issues reported by customers were similar across the two companies, with the most common being long waits to speak to an advisor - nearly half of Scottish Power (45%) and British Gas (46%) customers who had issues with customer service reported this problem. 

Almost one in five (18%) Scottish Power and British Gas customers said they could not even reach customer services despite continuous attempts. One Scottish Power customer told Which? that they had an unexpected debit of over £1,000 debit on their energy account. Their questions were not answered by customer service and after eight weeks of frustration, they then had to go to the Ombudsman to resolve the issue.

Read our impartial reviews of the best energy providers if you are looking to switch. 

Which? Customer Service Counts campaign

Customer service is in a dire state in vital areas and some companies are routinely failing their customers – leaving them frustrated and stuck in endless loops trying to get help. 

As a result, we have launched our Customer Service Counts campaign, with the aim of holding companies to account and improving customer service provision. 

Since December 2023, Which? has received 4,135 reports of customer service horror stories to its customer service tool describing people’s worst experiences over the last three years. Around 863 of complaints have been about energy suppliers and 1,002 have been about broadband suppliers.

We have written to the CEOs of Virgin Media, Scottish Power and British Gas, calling for all three firms to both make further improvements and clearly communicate with consumers when and how they will make these changes. 

Rocio Concha, Which? Director of Policy and Advocacy, said: 'Our research lays bare the dire state of customer service - with some companies simply not up to scratch. 

'Virgin Media, Scottish Power and British Gas remained the worst performing broadband and energy firms for customer service. It is never OK for firms to provide sub-standard customer service, but in essential sectors providing vital services millions rely on every day such as energy and broadband, it is completely unacceptable.

'We have written to all three firms about their consistently poor performance in our research. Which? is calling on them to give consumers the customer service they deserve and clearly communicate the steps they are taking to improve.'

If you have struggled with your provider, use our tool to report your experience of poor customer service.

What the companies told us

British Gas said: 'We’ve invested £50m in our customer operations since the start of the energy crisis - this includes hiring 700 more UK based contact centre staff at the end of last year [...]. Customers are seeing a difference, that’s why as part of the trusted Uswitch Energy Awards last month we received recognition for Best Overall Improvement.'

ScottishPower said: 'We service 2.9 million customers a year across a range of channels, including phone, chat, email and online. 97% of customer emails were responded to within 2 days and our average speed of answering phone enquiries is under 107 seconds. [...] We’ve worked tirelessly to improve and enhance our services for all of our customers and will continue to do everything we can to help them.'

Virgin Media said: 'We are making real changes across our business to deliver customer service improvements and we’re already seeing tangible results [...]. We have boosted the number of agents, including in specialist teams that handle the most complex issues, and are investing more money in customer-facing areas of the business. We’re also multi-skilling our teams, transforming our IT systems and improving our digital tools, including through new technology that will solve customers’ issues even before they report a fault.'

British Gas and Virgin Media responded to our public letters and reaffirmed a commitment to customer service. 

British Gas outlined initiatives already in place which should improve their customer service - we’ll be keeping a close eye on progress to make sure these changes translate to improved customer experience. We've asked for more detail from Virgin Media on exactly how and when promised investments into customer service will be felt by consumers and reflected in our research. 

Unfortunately Scottish Power failed to respond to our letter. We think their customers deserve better, and we’ll continue to demand more until we get honesty and accountability.

What to do if you are struggling with poor customer service

We recognise how frustrating it is to experience issues with your broadband or energy, and how much additional stress is added when it is difficult to get help. 

Depending on the issue, there are several ways you can deal with poor customer service. Possible next steps include: 

• Making a formal complaint: If you don't get a satisfactory solution from writing to your provider, you can go through its formal complaints procedure. 
• Contacting an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) scheme or the Energy Ombudsman: These independent schemes have the power to enforce resolutions on providers, meaning they can help resolve your dispute.
• Leaving your contract: In certain circumstances, for example if your broadband provider increases your bills outside of your minimum term, you may be able to leave your contract to find a cheaper alternative. 

Our customer service advice page contains more detailed information on all these steps, including for specific issues. It also has letter templates for the formal complaints service.