Home phone services slammed

A survey has found that many Brits are unhappy with the company that supplies their home phone service.

And it's BT, the incumbent operator, that comes out worst of the poll run by uSwitch.com, coming last in nine of the 11 categories customers were questioned about.

The price-comparison service found that BT customers were not as happy as those of rivals such as Sky and Tiscali with issues such as value for money, ease of use and set-up.

On the flip side, Sky came out top in seven of the categories, TalkTalk was rated best in three, and Tiscali one. Virgin Media was lowest ranked for billing clarity.

Tim Wolfenden of uSwitch.com said: "The younger phone companies are easily outperforming the traditional incumbents. Sky may have swept the board in the home phone survey but its strong performance in our recent broadband poll demonstrates its commitment to delivering a consistent service across more than one product area."

uSwitch was stinging in its criticism for BT, which it has fought a long battle with over additional charges for people who pay by methods other than Direct Debit and who ask for paper rather than electronic bills.

BT has 10 million home phone customers and uSwitch's figures suggest 30 per cent of them are unhappy with the service.

"Many loyal home phone customers are now finding themselves paying more for a service which, they believe, has declined. On top of the recent hikes to line rental and call charges, 13 million customers are being stung by additional fees of up to £237m a year simply for receiving their bills by paper or paying by methods other than direct debit," said Wolfenden.

BT recently won a court case against a retired solicitor who objected to paying extra fees for not making her payments by Direct Debit.

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www.uswitch.com