FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS IN LATEST TELECOMMUNICATIONS NATIONAL CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEY

Sydney, 5 May 2017 – The latest Telecommunications Customer Satisfaction Survey has revealed further improvements in three key satisfaction metrics, including the ease of understanding bills, information provided on telecommunications products, and minimising unexpectedly high bills.

The quarterly national survey, carried out for Communications Alliance by Roy Morgan Research, shows that work by the telecommunications industry to provide tools to customers to manage their usage and bills has been having a positive impact. The percentage of customers who received an unexpectedly high bill has consistently decreased in each wave of the survey, down from 34% in the first wave conducted at the beginning of 2013 to 26% in the most recent quarter.

The survey, covering the period January - March 2017, is the fourteenth wave in an ongoing quarterly series designed to measure the overall experience of Australian telco customers – particularly in relation to key customer ‘touch points’ covered by the revised Telecommunications Consumer Protections (TCP) Code 2015.

The Wave 14 survey results show that overall satisfaction has remained steady despite complications involved in the nbn network roll out, with 66% of customers reporting they are satisfied or very satisfied about the service they receive, remaining the same from the previous survey, and compared to 65% in the first poll conducted at the beginning of 2013. Other measures which have remained steady include customer satisfaction with the ease of contacting their provider.

There have been continued increases in customers satisfied with ease of understanding their bill. 86% of respondents were satisfied/neutral, up from 84% in the previous quarter and 82% in the quarter before that.

Customers reporting that they were very satisfied with information on telecommunications products increased significantly from 23% to 31%, with overall 88% of customers reporting they were satisfied/neutral compared to 86% in the previous quarter.

However, customer satisfaction with complaint handling has decreased. 61% of customers who made some form of complaint to their telecommunications provider in the last 6 months reported that they were satisfied/neutral with how their complaint was handled, in comparison to 66% satisfied/neutral in the previous survey. Industry is discussing how best to address these concerns and increase customer satisfaction.

The full survey results are available here.