The United Kingdom’s communications regulator Ofcom has uncovered a significant increase in waiting times for call centres in the telecommunications industry.
Waiting times up across the board
According to a new report, entitled “Comparing customer service: mobile, home broadband and landline”, waiting times for broadband nearly doubled in length in 2020, reaching four minutes and nine seconds – up one minute and 59 seconds compare to 2019.
The same effect was seen for mobile customers, who had to wait an added 49 seconds (up to two minutes and seven seconds total).
The regulator said: “We’ve reviewed how telecoms firms treat their customers. There’s been some progress in providing fairer deals, clearer information and better support. But companies need to improve their customer service as a priority.”
The challenges for contact centres have come from multiple angles, as the report emphasised: “Our findings show that the Covid-19 pandemic had a particularly significant impact on providers’ call centres and call waiting times. The pandemic and associated restrictions meant that providers faced reduced call centre capacity, particularly in the early months of the pandemic, and this resulted in higher call waiting times for many customers.
“Many providers had to make system changes or send equipment to staff to allow them to work remotely, while providers with offshore call centres faced added logistical challenges due to the diverse nature of local restrictions in other countries. Some providers encouraged customers to use alternative contact channels, such as webchat, in order to try to reduce call volumes.”
A year of challenges
Ofcom pointed to the adoption of new working arrangements due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as a mitigating factor, but emphasised that service levels must return to 2019-equivalent once restrictions end.
The report read: “It has been a challenging year, and some customers experienced lower levels of service quality at times. This can be explained by the unique situation, but in cases where service levels worsened, we expect them to return to at least 2019 levels, or better, now that processes are established for operating in the pandemic, and as restrictions ease.”
Lindsey Fussell, Ofcom’s Networks and Communications Group Director, said: “Telecoms companies adapted quickly to meet soaring demand for their services last year – helping to keep the country connected. But some have struggled with customer service problems. We’re challenging them to act now, so the telecoms industry becomes the gold standard for customer service.”
On that note, BT achieved the fastest average waiting times for mobile, while Virgin Media was the slowest. In the broadband space, Virgin Media was again the slowest, with EE coming out on top at an average one minute and 15 seconds of waiting.
