It has been the eighth year in a row that a Which? survey has voted Vodafone as the worst mobile network provider. EE and O2 also finished bottom three. Giffgaff came top of the list ahead of Utility Warehouse and Plusnet Mobile. Which? said the study revealed that good “customer service” and “value for money” were important to people.
Vodafone said: “We are sorry that Which? members aren’t as happy as they could be with our service and are working hard to understand the issue and what more we can do.”
13 mobile networks were included in the survey of 6,135 Which? members in February. In the survey, Vodafone had collected one-star ratings for customer service, value for money and technical support. One in five of its customers said that “customer service, including complaints handling and the way their queries were dealt with, was poor”.
Only 27% of EE customers said they had received good or excellent service for technical support while one in 10 O2 customers rated the value for money poor.
An EE spokeswoman said: “We’re ranked top by OpenSignal for mobile experience in the UK, which is supported by other independent reports from Ofcom and RootMetrics.
“Ofcom’s latest figures also show that EE receives among the fewest complaints in the mobile industry, as we’ve continued to invest in the UK’s best customer service.”
Nearly all Giffgaff customers said it was “good or excellent” value for money and said they would recommend it to friends and family.
From July, all mobile phone customers will be able to switch provider by text message. Firms will also be banned from charging for notice periods running after the switch date. This practice means customers are caught paying for old and new services at the same time.
Natalie Hitchins, Which? head of home products and services, said: “The continuing reign of smaller networks over the big players goes to show exactly how important customer support and value for money are to mobile users.
“If you think you’re paying too much or are not getting the level of service you expect from your provider, you should shop around for a better deal – you might find you save yourself some money and probably a lot of grief, too.”
