Mobile users vent bile online

Mobile operators have always been keen to encourage their customers to talk. However, it seems that when users get together they like to jaw about just how bad their providers are.

According to Web opinion monitoring company WaveMetrix, when mobile consumers go online to discuss their operators, 40 percent of chat is dedicated to discussing customer service — and two-thirds of that chat is based on rubbishing their poor customer service.

The most common complaints about mobile customer service include uninterested or rude responses from customer service staff and unresolved complaints.

WaveMetrix found that only Orange scored positively in online talks about customer support. Orange also recently won laurels for its customer service in a study by JD Power into users opinions of their providers.

Other popular topics of discussion around operators were network quality and value for money, both of which took up over 20 percent of online conversation — but both issues failed to generate the same level of customer bile as customer service problems.

A recent report into customer churn in the mobile industry by In-Stat found that improving customer service can help to keep users faithful. The research firm also found that those mobile subscribers that were impressed by their provider's customer service were also very likely to regard them highly overall.