Power companies vast difference in waiting times for new and existing customers

Power companies are rushing to answer calls from new customers but leaving bill-payers hanging on the phone for an hour or more.

The UK’s six largest firms already under fire for raising prices and making huge profits are facing criticism for operating a two-tier customer service system.

Our probe found some Big Six customers are having to sit on hold for up to 70 TIMES longer than those looking to open a new account.

It comes only two days after the energy watchdog threatened to ban Scottish Power from making sales unless it resolves complaints, billing problems and call waiting time issues.

Labour’s Shadow Energy Secretary, Tom Greatrex, blasted: “This is yet more evidence that Britain’s energy market is broken. Companies should be competing to retain the services of their best, most loyal customers. Instead, many consumers face frustrating waits whilst their energy company tries to drum up business elsewhere.

“In a week in which Scottish Power was warned it would be banned from taking on new customers unless it cleared its backlog of complaints and cut call waiting times, this is a damning indictment of a market which seems to take its customers for granted.”

To understand how the firms really treat their customers, we carried out test calls as both existing and prospective customers. Each power company was called 12 times six times as a new customer and six as an existing client. The calls were made at different times of the day and evening, to simulate normal caller behaviour and all were monitored and timed.

The findings revealed Scottish Power were by far the worst supplier, keeping existing customers hanging on the phone for an average of 20 minutes, while callers looking to sign up were able to speak to an advisor in under a minute.

In the worst case, on a Friday afternoon, our reporter was kept waiting for 57 minutes. But that was only after being cut off TWICE at the 45 minute mark.

Anecdotal evidence online suggests the problem is even more dire at peak times. One furious customer claimed Scottish Power had kept her holding on the phone for an hour and a half.

Most suppliers use 0800 numbers for landlines and 0345 codes for mobiles, which are free. But if a customer inadvertently phoned Scottish Power on its 0800 number from a mobile, an hour-long call would cost up to £24.

Scottish Power has offered an apology for the “woeful inadequacies” in its customer service. A spokesman said: “We apologise to anyone who has experienced difficulties contacting our customer service team. All our customer accounts have been migrated to a new £200 million customer service IT system, which has resulted in a busy period. The transition has been challenging.”

The Sunday Post previously highlighted how the Big Six have pocketed £9 million in profits a day since 2009, while long-suffering customers endured a 15% increase in energy bills over the same period.

With household costs rocketing, there has been a rise in customers looking to switch suppliers.

Against this, power companies have developed two-tier call centres to entice new clients, and customers are pushed down the pecking order once they sign on the dotted line. Each of the Big Six British Gas, SSE, EDF Energy, Scottish Power, npower and E.ON are guilty of such behaviour.

On each occasion we rang Scottish Power posing as an existing client, it took more than 18 minutes to get through. Our reporter had to endure mind-numbing muzak and hard-sell pitches on Scottish Power services.

By contrast it took an average of just 50 seconds to get through posing as a new customer.

The second worst performer, npower, kept existing customers waiting on average almost 500% longer than potential new clients.

Another probe earlier this year also found dreadful customer service from the German-owned firm, with customers hanging on for an average of 20 minutes, compared to just over two minutes for new customers.

An npower spokeswoman said: “We increased the number of call answering agents in April and in October our average call waiting time was 76 seconds.”

EDF Energy struggled to service calls from existing customers, keeping our team waiting three times as long. The statistics showed little improvement from February when the average time was almost 10 minutes, compared to an average of just one second for new customers.

An EDF spokeswoman said: “We have different teams to handle new and existing customer calls. This is driven by the different skill levels required to do both jobs.

“When we experience high demand from existing customers we can’t just redirect these calls to the team handling enquiries from new customers.”

Perthshire-based SSE insisted they keep an eye on their call centre capabilities.

A spokesman said: “We receive more calls from existing customers than new. We monitor this and work hard to drive waiting times down. At busy times we’ll increase resources to help answer calls as quickly as possible.”

Both British Gas and E.ON no longer operate separate contact telephone lines for new customers. However, British Gas still advertise a number on their website which is disconnected.

A British Gas spokeswoman, said: “Last year we upgraded all our systems and re-trained staff to improve customer service.”

Director of consumer campaigning organisation Which? Richard Lloyd, believes the Big Six aren’t doing enough.

He said: “Energy companies must work harder to make people feel confident customer service is a top priority, and stop putting sales ahead of service. We’d like to see calls to customer service centres being picked up within two minutes.”

Energy regulator Ofgem have demanded action from the Big Six on their handling of complaints. The latest research showed 57% of domestic clients and 52% of small businesses were left unsatisfied by how their concerns were dealt with.

Ofgem Chief Executive, Dermot Nolan, said: “These satisfaction scores are awful. There are real business benefits to good complaints handling schemes, and it shouldn’t need a regulator to tell companies about the importance of this.”

The Sunday Post has launched a survey to find out what you think about gas and electricity bills. Among other things we want to know is if you believe you’re getting value for money, whether you trust your supplier, and if the energy sector’s customer services are up to scratch.

The survey is run in conjunction with DC Thomson’s research panel Your View K. To let us know your views, simply go to completeasurvey.co.uk/yourviewk, sign up and select survey three.

By completing the survey you will be entered into a prize draw to win £150, and you will be under no obligation to take part in any further surveys. Those already signed up will receive the survey by email.