is there such a thing as a broadband provider with good customer service?

rachelfrancis23

hello MSE people - I really need your help.

I am disabled with a serious, long-term mental health condition which means I get frustrated easily (amongst other things). I am on enhanced rate PIP as it quite seriously impacts my ability to interact with others.

I recently switched away from Virgin Media because they are the absolute pits in terms of customer service (to put it mildly). I first tried to go with BT but the engineer didn't even bother to turn up. So then I went with OneStream who, and I really didn't think this was possible, are WORSE than VM!!! They force you to sign up for these add ons at sign up, tell you it's free for 2 months, and tell you that you have to get back in contact to cancel. Only they do not answer the phone (literally been on hold for 1 hour one time, 25 mins another, 30 mins another time before giving up), nor do they respond to messages sent through their web, nor do they reply to their complaints email. Literally this is making me really unwell.

Are there any BB suppliers who actually have good customer service? I need to move to someone who just does their job and provides a decent level of customer service. Do any BB do this?

Neil_Jones

Please bear in mind you will read 2/3 more complaints about how useless ISP X is, as opposed to how wonderful they are.

However lot depends on what you "need" for customer service;  For most people you just plug the router in, it works, you get a bill, it gets paid... and there is no need to speak to anybody.

Vincero

To be fair it depends on what services you are after also. I assume as you got onestream, who use a BT/Openreach line, that your property now has both a Virgin and BT line installed allowing you to switch whenever you want.

To be honest, the cheaper providers generally offer worse customer service - there are of course exceptions - as you have seen with BT or VM themselves, they aren't cheap not is the customer service particularly that amazing.
Some of the more professional companies (which generally offer more features as standard) tend to have better customer service.

The following are seen as having better than average customer service:
+ Plusnet (now owned by BT) - generally on the cheaper end - no frills
+ Zen

+ Aquiss

Neither of the last 2 are considered cheap but offer extras such as static IP addresses, etc., which most customers aren't interested in, and as they tend to have more business customers generally have better customer support.

onomatopoeia99

Andrews and Arnold have the best customer support.  They are also contactable by email  or even over IRC, unlike a lot of the big names that compete on price or how good they claim their router is at wifi.  

You won't find any "deals" though, the price on the website is the price you pay and it is not cheap.

TOP_CAT

Plusnet seem to be pretty good now into 2nd contract ( they have a cashback offer on at the moment  £70 I think for 18 months.)
I was with Sky but they never stopped increasing the costs and I couldnt be bovvered playing haggle anymore .

flaneurs_lobster

onomatopoeia99 said:

Andrews and Arnold have the best customer support.  They are also contactable by email  or even over IRC

  I love the idea that a company can be contacted by IRC but it does beg the question, Why?

PennyForThem_2

Zen have consistently over several years come out as outstanding in Which? reports.  But they are not as cheap as TalkTalk etc.

Zen is the goto for techies but have very good reputation for customer service.  https://www.zen.co.uk/

I am with Plusnet who have dropped in recommendation by Which? to around 63% ish