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Customer satisfaction unmoved in Comms Alliance telco service level survey

The latest quarterly Telecommunications Customer Satisfaction Survey showed the overall satisifaction level of customer service provided by Australian telecommunication providers continued to be high at 68 percent.
Written by Aimee Chanthadavong, Contributor

The latest quarterly Telecommunications Customer Satisfaction Survey has shown only minor fluctuations from its last edition, with the level of service continuing to remain stable during April to June 2015, and with only minor fluctuations.

The survey (PDF), carried out for the Communications Alliance by Roy Morgan Research, showed that overall customer satisfaction with the level of service provided by Australian telecommunication providers continued to be high at 68 percent. Thirty-two percent of customers reported being very satisfied and 36 percent said they were satisfied.

The survey was the tenth installment of an ongoing quarterly series, which the Communications Alliance said was designed to measure the overall experience of Australian telco customers, particularly in relation to points covered by the Telecommunications Consumer Protections (TCP) Code that was revised in late 2012.

Telstra rated as the most popular telco provider amongst customers at 49 percent, followed by Optus at 26 percent, and then Telstra's Big Pond at 27 percent. Coming in fourth place was Vodafone at 16 percent.

The survey showed the satisfaction levels with the ease of contacting the telecommunications providers improved. Wave one of the survey showed 11 percent of customers were dissatisfied but that nearly halved to 6 percent in wave 10. Meanwhile, those satisfied or very satisfied with the ease of contacting their telco remained steady at 35 percent and 28 percent respectively.

The survey also showed there was a continued improvement in customer satisfaction when it came to the ease of understanding their bills. Eighty-nine percent said they were satisfied or neutral, a 7 percent rise from the 82 percent recorded in the first wave survey.

At the same time, the results showed improvements in customer satisfaction with ease of contacting service provider increasing to 80 percent where respondents said they were satisfied or neutral compared 69 percent in first wave survey.

The wave 10 survey results also showed there was an encouraging lift in customer satisfaction with the way service providers handled their complaints. Seventy-six percent of customers were satisfied or neutral, compared to 67 percent in the previous quarter, and 66 percent at the time of the first survey.

"Many service providers already deliver outstanding customer service and industry's concerted improvement efforts, combined with the impact of the TCP Code, has already seen customer complaints to the industry ombudsman fall by more than 40 percent to an eight year low, recorded at the end of 2014," the Communications Alliance said.

In a separate survey that tracked banking customer satisfaction, both ANZ and NAB trailed in satisfaction ratings out of the big four Australian banks.

Both recorded an average satisfaction rating of 7.1 out of 10 among business customers in June according to DBM Consultants' Business Financial Services Monitor.

That puts the two lenders behind rivals Westpac and the Commonwealth, which had average scores of 7.4 and 7.5, respectively.

The Commonwealth Bank and Westpac have consistently scored above ANZ and NAB during the past 12 months, according to the survey which covers 20,000 businesses a year.

DBM director Maria Claridad said satisfaction with the big four banks had generally improved in the past couple of years but had fallen back from its December peak.

"While businesses are providing good solid ratings for the big banks, fewer business customers are delighted with the offering," she said.

"It is very possible that their level of expectation has risen in recent years, so that what used to be seen as exceptional service is now expected by businesses."

With AAP

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