Which? exposes the customer service scoundrels - with Scottish Power, Ovo Energy and British Gas worst energy culprits for slow and unhelpful support

Which? is calling for Scottish Power, Ovo Energy and British Gas to urgently improve their customer service as new analysis from the consumer champion finds they are the worst energy suppliers in the key areas of providing quick and effective responses to customer problems. 

Over the last six months, thousands of consumers have got in touch with Which? to share their experiences of shoddy customer service in sectors including energy, financial services, telecoms and travel since the end of the pandemic.

An overwhelming frustration shared in many of these stories is that companies are not providing prompt responses and resolutions when people get in touch about a problem. All too often, this means customers are being left on hold, stuck in never-ending chatbot loops or passed from department to department with no resolution or helpful answer to their query. 

Energy is currently the worst performing sector for customer service, according to Which?’s 2023 customer service survey. This is particularly unacceptable when sky-high energy bills have been a major driver of the cost of living crisis and led to huge profits for many suppliers. 

In Which?’s 2023 customer service survey, a quarter (25%) said they were unhappy with their most recent customer service experience with their energy provider, the highest score across the energy, financial services, retail and telecoms sectors.

Which? analysed data from its 2023 customer service survey and annual energy customer satisfaction survey to find out how well energy firms are performing for customer service and if they are providing quick and effective solutions to customer problems.

Scottish Power, Ovo Energy and British Gas were the worst performing energy firms for quick responses and effective solutions. 

Scottish Power came bottom, receiving a satisfaction score of -13 out of a possible +100 for how long it took to get in touch with a person that could help and 3 for how long it took to get an answer to an issue or query. One customer said that after being left on hold when trying to phone his supplier about a billing issue and then speaking to an agent who was unable to help, he suffered sleepless nights and anxiety over his unresolved billing problem. Another said lived in fear of a visit from bailiffs after Scottish Power passed him from agent to agent and failed to fix an incorrect bill.

Ovo Energy followed close behind with a satisfaction score of -7 for how long it took to get in touch with a person that could help and 7 for how long it took to get an answer to an issue or query. One customer told how he decided to switch provider after Ovo staff were ‘rude’ and unhelpful after he spent over 20 minutes waiting to speak to them about a billing issue. 

British Gas fared better with a satisfaction score of 16 for how long it took to get in touch with a person that could help and 23 for how long it took to get an answer to an issue or query. 

However, its scores were still far below Octopus Energy, who performed best for quick and effective customer service - with a satisfaction score of 46 for how long it took to get in touch with a person that could help and 55 for how long it took to get an answer to an issue or query. E.ON Next also performed relatively well, scoring 35 for how long it took to get in touch and 25 for how long it took to get a query answered.

One British Gas customer told how she spent 43 hours on the phone and sent 24 emails trying to fix a billing issue for longer than a year. She said staff lacked empathy, causing her distress as she was made to repeatedly explain that her husband had passed away. Another found himself stuck at 830th in the queue for an online chat after struggling to find any phone numbers for British Gas customer service.

British Gas has recently said that they have invested in improving customer service and extended opening hours - but Which? has continued to see a steady stream of complaints about the firm in the last three months.

These findings highlight just how dramatically the quality of customer service can vary between individual firms. It is never OK for firms to provide sub-standard customer service, but in an essential sector providing vital services millions rely on every day such as energy, it is completely unacceptable.

Scottish Power, Ovo Energy and British Gas need to up their game and by providing easy routes to solutions and keeping customers informed when a resolution to their problem will take a longer amount of time. As part of its drive to improve customer service standards, Which? is asking all consumers to help shape its campaigning by sharing their customer service nightmare stories using a simple online tool.

Rocio Concha, Which? Director of Policy and Advocacy, said: 

“Customer service is in a dire state in vital areas and some companies are routinely failing their customers - leaving them frustrated and stuck in endless loops trying to get help. 

“Scottish Power, Ovo Energy and British Gas all fared poorly in Which? research on which firms are best for giving quick and effective solutions when things go wrong. Failings in this area are particularly unacceptable when sky-high energy prices have left families and households struggling to make ends meet.

“While many consumers will rightly consider switching, these firms must urgently make improvements so all customers are getting the standard of service and support they need and deserve.”

ENDS 

Notes to editors 

Research

Since December 2023, Which? has received 2,110 reports of customer service horror stories to its customer service tool describing people’s worst experiences over the last three years. Around a fifth (419) of complaints have been about energy suppliers. 

Customer service survey 2023: On behalf of Which?, Focaldata, conducted an online survey of 3,372 nationally representative UK adults who had contacted a customer service team in the last year. The survey took place in June 2023 and captured experiences from the following sectors: energy, telecoms, travel, in-store and online retail, financial services and home improvements. The data was weighted to be representative of the UK population (aged 18+).

Energy satisfaction survey 2023-24: On behalf of Which?, Prodege conducted an online survey of 9,025 nationally representative UK adults. The survey took place between September and October 2023. The data was weighted to be representative of the UK population (aged 18+). The unweighted data was used for the provider-level analysis. 

NET satisfaction scores: Which? applied a NET Satisfaction score measure to indicate the overall satisfaction level by subtracting the percentage of dissatisfied respondents (NET very dissatisfied and fairly dissatisfied) from the percentage of satisfied respondents (NET very satisfied and fairly satisfied). The scale ranges from -100 to +100. 

Figure 1: Table of NET Satisfaction scores (sat% - disat%) from the customer service survey 2023 - Scottish Power, Ovo energy, British Gas and Octopus Energy.

Figure 2: Charts of NET Satisfaction scores according to Figure 1.

Case studies

April Groen was an OVO customer for over five years. She decided to switch to a new provider (Octopus) in August 2023 after experiencing a multitude of problems with OVO. The problems with OVO included repeatedly being billed for gas despite having an eco-home which ran off a heat pump only using electricity, being denied a smart meter and receiving payment notices when no money was owed. April always responded to the bill notices, in fear that not doing so would ruin her credit rating.

During her time with the provider, April asked the Ombudsman to investigate, wrote to the OVO CEO, and even contacted her MP for support. In June 2023, the Ombudsman concluded that OVO must provide an accurate bill and accurate back billing for April's account up to 1 April 2022, issue a new up to date bill based on smart meter readings, offer £125 as a goodwill gesture, issue an apology and discuss payment plan options with April. In January 2024, April received two letters from OVO about a final bill despite switching to a new provider last summer.

April said: "Customer service is absolutely useless. It takes forever to get through on the phone and then you can spend up to an hour talking to a customer service advisor. I have to deal with it, as I'm worried about my credit rating. Whenever I got in touch, I got a different person each time. It's frustrating to have to start all over again. There's no joined up thinking. They work to a script. If the issue is complicated, it's never going to fit into the script."

Rights of replies 

British Gas said: “We’re investing over £50 million in customer service - this includes hiring 700 more UK based contact centre staff at the end of last year and introducing longer call centre opening times. We’re also helping our most vulnerable customers through our sector leading £140m customer support package.”

An OVO spokesperson said: “The findings are unrepresentative of the typical service levels our teams work very hard to provide. Our customers reach us via phone in just over a minute and our teams respond to emails within two working days.

“Whilst we recognise that we don’t always get it right, our customer data suggests that 7/10 customers are ‘very satisfied’ with the service they receive from us. We recognise that there is always more to be done and we are committed to listening to and learning from feedback.”

A spokesperson for ScottishPower said: “We don’t recognise the results of this small-sample survey. They’re at odds with a larger study by Citizens Advice - based on real operational data, measuring millions of emails and calls - that ranked ScottishPower as the best of the large suppliers for call answering and email turnaround.

“In that more robust study, 98% of customer emails were responded to within 2 days and our average speed of answering phone enquiries is under 110 seconds. On top of this ScottishPower also offers a live chat facility from 7am to 11pm, 7 days a week.

“We’ve worked tirelessly to improve and enhance our services for all of our customers and will continue to do everything we can to help them.”