Commerce Commission issues its first rankings for mobile and broadband customer service. Here's how they rated

The telco formerly known as Vodafone, One NZ, is at the bottom of the pack in almost all customer service rankings in mobile and broadband, the Commerce Commission says.

On Thursday the Commerce Commission’s Telecommunications Commissioner Tristan Gilberston released its first telco rankings. They pick out which companies are doing the best across “key customer service indicators”.

One NZ was found to be at the bottom or near the bottom across most of the Commerce Commission’s indicators. 

In Mobile, One NZ was the least likely to be recommended to friends and family, had the highest percentage of customers who had an issue within the past six months and had the lowest ranking for customer satisfaction with resolution of issues.

In broadband the competition watchdog found One NZ was again lowly ranked, only reaching middle of the pack in speed to resolve issues.

One NZ’s Senior Corporate Affairs Lead Matt Flood said while most customers had a great experience with the telco, it recognised it doesn’t always meet expectations. 

“We note the Commission’s results cover a period of change to the end of June this year as we rebranded from Vodafone to One NZ and don’t tell the full story of the improvement we’re driving for customers.”

Flood said One NZ had seen a 25% reduction in people needing to call it at all, and for those that do, the telco was answering their calls faster and getting their issue solved by the first person they connect with, rather than being passed around. 

“Since the Commission’s study, our customer research shows we’ve had a 13% increase in customer network experience, 10% increase in customers who report dealing with a knowledgeable and friendly representative and 10% increase in trust.”

Flood said One NZ’s mobile network had been independently rated best in test by Umlaut, and had led the market for post-paid mobile connection growth over the past two years. 

“Customers tell us things are improving even if we don’t always get it right and we remain committed to continuously improving the experience they have with us.” 

At the other end of the scale, the Commission gave kudos to Skinny.

“Skinny is the current league leader and ranked well across almost all mobile and broadband areas with its customers experiencing the fewest issues,” Gilbertson said.

“We can also see that Skinny customers are more likely to recommend this brand to friends and family. However, it ranked lowest for broadband customer service staff helpfulness and knowledge.”

Gilberston said Contact Energy appeared to be outperforming some of the traditional telcos in broadband, ranking highly for satisfaction and staff helpfulness.

Persistent quality of service issues and ongoing high levels of consumer complaints about the industry saw Parliament amend the Telecommunications Act in 2018, tasking the Commission with improving the quality of service that telecommunications retailers were giving consumers.

Gilbertson said the rankings were part of the Commission’s ongoing work to improve retail service quality for consumers. 

“These rankings focus on how well each provider looks after you when something goes wrong. This really matters to consumers. We know there can be a big gap between what consumers expect and what they actually get from their provider.”

Gilbertson said consumer frustration in this area was reflected by ongoing high levels of complaints about customer service.

“Consumers told us that two things matter most to them when something goes wrong – how quickly providers fix problems and how helpful staff are in making that happen. Our rankings show how well different providers are performing in these areas."

The full rankings can be found here.