Tiscali #1, Virgin #2 for customer satisfaction

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/12...cali_jd_power/

Can you say "not statistically significant"?

--
<http://ale.cx/> (AIM:troffasky) ((E-Mail Removed))
17:07:59 up 25 days, 5:47, 2 users, load average: 0.20, 0.12, 0.09
Convergence, n: The act of using separate DSL circuits for voice and data

alexd wrote:
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/12...cali_jd_power/
>
> Can you say "not statistically significant"?
>
I seem to recall the survey only looked at the 8 largest providers.

On 6 Dec, 17:09, alexd <troffa...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/12...cali_jd_power/
>
> Can you say "not statistically significant"?
>
> --
> <http://ale.cx/> (AIM:troffasky) (UnSoEsNpE...@ale.cx)
> 17:07:59 up 25 days, 5:47, 2 users, load average: 0.20, 0.12, 0.09
> Convergence, n: The act of using separate DSL circuits for voice and data

All I can say is dont believe it. The Sample of people that were taken
for this survey were a tiny 1600 out of the possible 11 Million
Households with broadband. And it probally was one of those paid
survey as well. So this poll tells you nothing about what is the real
state of customer service in the broadband sector. From what I hear
Virgin are really quite bad, I am with sky and they are no better, and
tiscali from someone who advised me not to go to them when I was
looking for broadband, are no better either.

In article <6e05af35-19f5-4909-9997-(E-Mail Removed)
..com>, naza <(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>All I can say is dont believe it. The Sample of people that were taken
>for this survey were a tiny 1600 out of the possible 11 Million
>Households with broadband. And it probally was one of those paid survey
>as well. So this poll tells you nothing about what is the real state of
>customer service in the broadband sector. From what I hear Virgin are
>really quite bad, I am with sky and they are no better, and tiscali from
>someone who advised me not to go to them when I was looking for
>broadband, are no better either.

Perhaps it was a typo and they missed out the dis.

I know Virgin get a lot of stick but on the few occasions I've needed to
speak to them I've found them helpful, the real problem is actually
getting to speak to someone in Britain who doesn't read, badly, from a
script.

The last time I was waiting for almost 20 minutes for them to answer but
then I have a Virgin land line so the call was free.

Mike

--
Michael Swift We do not regard Englishmen as foreigners.
Kirkheaton We look on them only as rather mad Norwegians.
Yorkshire Halvard Lange

naza wrote:
> On 6 Dec, 17:09, alexd <troffa...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/12...cali_jd_power/
>>
>> Can you say "not statistically significant"?

> All I can say is dont believe it. The Sample of people that were taken
> for this survey were a tiny 1600 out of the possible 11 Million
> Households with broadband.

Its a large enough sample to do a valid piece of market research if the
questions and sample profile are done correctly.


> And it probally was one of
> those paid
> survey as well.

I've no evidence of this, perhaps you have some ?


> So this poll tells you nothing about what is the
> real
> state of customer service in the broadband sector.

It tells you quite a bit. An awful lot of customers are satisfied by low
prices.

I guess most don't need support desks, and most don't encounter billing
nightmares. I also guess that most customers are not aware of how fast (or
slow) their access is compared to what it might be elsewhere.

Technical newsgroup participants are mostly "expert" level internet users
with an interest in technology, a small niche of less than 10% of the total
customer base (arguably less than 2%).




- Nigel (ex R&D at BT, with access to raw customer market research data when
I was there )



--
Nigel Cliffe,
Webmaster at http://www.2mm.org.uk/

> Technical newsgroup participants are mostly "expert" level internet users
> with an interest in technology, a small niche of less than 10% of the total
> customer base (arguably less than 2%).

True, Most people on newsgroups normally do have a lot of knowledge or
at least above the normal user. They also probally know about stuff
like thier speeds and actually care about what they are paying for.
You are right in saying that broadband is cheap in the UK, compared to
some countries but we are coming close to the limits of ADSL
broadband, by the end of BT's 21CN network all exchanges will be
running ADSL2+ and then it really is the end for Internet over copper
phone lines unless a new technology is developed.
Its quite unblieveable that a 0.0145% sample can reflect a clear image
of what customer service is like. Probally good to hear from one of
the people that did the survey, might be a bit a little hard, 1 in
every 6875 people took the survey, not sure how many view this group
though.

naza wrote:
>> Technical newsgroup participants are mostly "expert" level internet
>> users with an interest in technology, a small niche of less than 10%
>> of the total customer base (arguably less than 2%).
>
> True, Most people on newsgroups normally do have a lot of knowledge or
> at least above the normal user. They also probally know about stuff
> like thier speeds and actually care about what they are paying for.
> You are right in saying that broadband is cheap in the UK, compared to
> some countries but we are coming close to the limits of ADSL
> broadband, by the end of BT's 21CN network all exchanges will be
> running ADSL2+ and then it really is the end for Internet over copper
> phone lines unless a new technology is developed.
> Its quite unblieveable that a 0.0145% sample can reflect a clear image
> of what customer service is like. Probally good to hear from one of
> the people that did the survey, might be a bit a little hard, 1 in
> every 6875 people took the survey, not sure how many view this group
> though.

Statistically, I would expect none of the regulars in this group would have
been sampled.
There are far fewer than 100 regular participants, and many are not on
mass-market ISPs.


Its the same as "were you or your mates rung up by the opinion poll company
which says the Tory's/Labour have a 15 point lead", the answer is almost
always "no", though their sampling is quite accurate provided you take into
account the error bars (which any reputable market researcher would
provide).




- Nigel


--
Nigel Cliffe,
Webmaster at http://www.2mm.org.uk/

If it wasn't such a mockery, it would be laughable! From a different source,
I would think that it was a joke.

Really. I have just changed back to my previous ISP, after leaving them to
go to Virgin. After 2 days with Virgin I was out of there (although I ended
up using Virgin for about a month). Virgins broadband service was
absolutely abysmal, and I noticed it immediately. Dealing with the company
was the same.

I have been back with my old ISP for 24Hrs now and am loving it. I really
am. Believe me, I don't want much from an ISP, but I am so happy to be back
with my old ISP.

JD power survey?!? I think that OFCOM statistics would be more accurate, as
it's obvious that the J D Power survey doesn't mean anything (nothing new
there then).

I have never experienced such crap service I had with Virgin Media, since
Screaming.net. They went under, and I really hope that Virgin Broadband
follows suit, because their service abysmal. For anyone who experienced the
same as I did, you wouldn't buy anything from Virgin again. It has put me
off for life.

Sorry for the depressing post, but I feel better now for getting that off my
chest! ;-)



"alexd" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/12...cali_jd_power/
>
> Can you say "not statistically significant"?
>
> --
> <http://ale.cx/> (AIM:troffasky) ((E-Mail Removed))
> 17:07:59 up 25 days, 5:47, 2 users, load average: 0.20, 0.12, 0.09
> Convergence, n: The act of using separate DSL circuits for voice and data
>

On Thu, 6 Dec 2007 21:06:10 -0000, "Ali" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Sorry for the depressing post, but I feel better now for getting that off my
>chest! ;-)

......and which ISP are you now with?

"Paul" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)
> On Thu, 6 Dec 2007 21:06:10 -0000, "Ali" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>> Sorry for the depressing post, but I feel better now for getting
>> that off my chest! ;-)
>
> .....and which ISP are you now with?

and was it Virgin ADSL or Cable?