Top 5 worst places for customer service

New research reveals where customers suffer the most appalling service. We show you how to fight back.

A new study from Co-operative Bank reveals we each suffer a massive 246 incidences of terrible customer service during our lifetime. It’s an unavoidable fact, but you can fight back by refusing to accept second rate products or put up with less than helpful staff.

There’s no question some places have a worse reputation for sloppy service than others. I’ll run through the top five culprits and show you what you should do if you’re sick of being treated badly.

Here are the results in reverse order:

5. Energy providers

It probably won’t surprise you to hear that energy providers didn’t perform particularly well in the Co-operative Bank survey, taking 19% of the vote. If you’ve suffered nothing but poor customer service standards, the time has come to switch to a more reliable company. Better still, you can take advantage of a cheaper gas and electricity tariff at the same time.

But which provider has a more robust reputation than the others? In the last customer satisfaction survey results from Which? new players in the energy market performed better than the big six energy companies. The table below shows a quick rundown of the results:

Best and worst energy providers

Full results of the survey can be found here. Of course, these are only the conclusions drawn from one survey, but an interesting trend has emerged here nevertheless. Clearly, the big six have got far too big for their boots, with utility newcomer, Good Energy, proving to be far more popular with its customers with an overall score of 79%. This far outstripped the likes of British Gas, EDF and nPower with quite frankly terrible scores by comparison.

4. Broadband providers          

The next worst performer was broadband providers with 23% of the vote. Like your energy supplier, if your ISP leaves a lot to be desired then vote with your feet. Consumers are often swayed by big names which they perceive as trustworthy brands. But often the best service is to be found at the less well-known providers. 

I recently switched to Plusnet, which has a great reputation for offering good value but is a significantly smaller provider than the big boys like Sky and Virgin. I’m very pleased to report, having taken the plunge, there have been no problems so far apart from one slight delay in getting the service connected.  

Better still, the download speed is actually pretty close to what I’m actually paying for, which is a common problem for many consumers. So I’ve got no complaints given that the package costs just a few pounds a month. You can find out more in Get broadband for £4 a month - but hurry!

3. Mobile phone networks

Next up, it’s the mobile phone networks which, with thousands of unhappy customers, took 25% of the vote. If your network is driving you mad, and you’ve already reached the end of your original contract, there’s absolutely nothing to stop you from switching here and now. If the contract still has some time to run, a new network may even be willing to buy you out of it. It’s certainly worth a try so make sure you ask.

But the question is, which network should you switch to? A new mobile phone customer satisfaction report from uSwitch reveals that once again the newcomers are shining out, and beating the old networks at their own game:

Best and worst mobile phone networks

Full results of the survey can be found here. Virgin Media came out on top for both best customer service and best value for money in the pay monthly category. Meanwhile, Tesco Mobile impressed in the PAYG category, and was particularly noted for undercutting it rivals on cost. Second placed O2 was voted best for network coverage.

2. Banks

No survey on rubbish customer service would be complete without a mention of the banks! In fact, the banks were the second worst performers with 25% of the vote. It’s the same old story with the big high street banks shown to have the worst service track records, while more innovative banking brands, such as First Direct, rise to the top.

Recent figures from the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), which is the independent body responsible for resolving disputes between consumers and financial services companies, revealed that Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays and Santander received more customer complaints in the first half of 2010 than any other banks. And even taking into account that these banks have more customers and therefore are likely to have more complaints, their service standards are still pretty dire.

You can check out the full results in The banks you complained about more this year, and see all the winners and losers in terms of customer satisfaction in Britain’s worst bank revealed.

If the time has finally come for you to switch, remember that many banks have a dedicated switching service which should make the process a little more hassle-free. But before you, do make sure you compare current accounts first.

And so onto our winner of this dubious accolade…

1. Restaurants/bars

With a massive 27% of the vote, the worst place overall for truly appalling customer service was restaurants and bars. We’ve all suffered a less than pleasant dining experience, but to increase your chances of a decent night out, always check out the reviews before you book a table at a restaurant you’ve never been to before. Recommendations from friends and family are also really valuable.

These days there are lots of great restaurant websites which, not only offer great discounts, but also provide a rating system to help you decide where to book online. I like Toptable, but Opentable and TasteLondon are also good choices.

If you’ve had enough of surly waiters and disappointing food, why not cook at home instead? For a real culinary treat, which won’t cost a fortune, don’t miss our Frugal Recipes blog. Enjoy!

More: Dump these current accounts now | 2,000 reasons to hate this bank