Ofcom, the independent regulator and competition authority for the communications industry in the U.K., recently published customer complaint data for the country’s largest telephone, mobile, internet, and TV service providers. While total customer complaints across all segments decreased between Q3 and Q4 2015, mobile was the only category to experience a rise in complaints.
The data indicates that Vodafone, one of the world’s largest telecommunications companies, had an exceptionally high rate of complaints, jumping from 20 to 32 complaints per 100,000 monthly subscribers in just one quarter. To put it in perspective, the last mobile phone service provider to have more than 16 complaints per 100,000 subscribers was EE, the U.K.’s largest mobile communications company, back in Q1 2014.
Vodafone’s response regarding its performance:
“The points highlighted in this report largely relate to a major programme we undertook last year to transfer customers on to a new billing system, aimed at simplifying the operation of their accounts and opening up a range of better services, such as click and collect.
Unfortunately, there were some problems during the highly complex migration. Now that the migration exercise is essentially complete, we expect our £2bn investment in our network and services will start to deliver a step-change in customer experience.”
While it’s not uncommon for hiccups to occur during a large system migration project, Vodafone has a history of receiving a higher rate of complaints than its competitors, an unacceptable trend in today’s consumer-driven market.
All companies, especially those that operate in very competitive industries, must meet the high expectations and demands of consumers or risk being left behind for another provider. More than anything else, in today’s digital world, it’s essential for all companies to be tremendously responsive and engaging.
For this operational and digital transformation to take place, new technologies, such as Oracle Policy Administration (OPA), a business automation tool, and Oracle Service Cloud, a customer experience solution, can be leveraged to deliver the modern customer service experience today’s consumer is looking for in a provider. If you’re in the telecommunications space and are looking to win and retain customers, drop us a line.
