ISP support calls in UK fleece customers: survey

A recent survey from the consumer magazine Which? has revealed that a majority of the UK's internet service providers (ISPs) are using higher-cost numbers for offering technical support to the users.

The survey, which included 45 ISPs across the UK, revealed that only six ISPs, including BT, O2, UK Online, and Waitrose, offer their users with free '0800' telephone lines for customers seeking technical support.

The other ISPs, including Roxio, Supanet, and Tesco, use the 090 numbers, which are the most expensive and on which making a simple 10-minute call could nearly cost around £5 to the customers.

Quoting the high-cost from the retailing giants as a major issue, Sarah Kidner, editor of Which? said in a statement, ''It's particularly galling to see a huge company like Tesco broadband using such expensive lines. If other companies can offer a freephone number, so can Tesco''.

However, Tesco has notified that it is planning to roll out cheaper tariffs for its users ''as soon as possible'', and asserted that it will keep on providing quality technical assistance at local calling rates.

Companies using the premium numbers defended themselves by saying that they don't make profits from these high calling charges; instead they use the money to cover the investments in providing technical support service.

"The cost of calls to Tesco broadband technical support is something we've been looking at and listening to customer feedback on," said a spokeswoman for the retail giant. As a result we'll continue to provide a very high quality of technical expertise to all our broadband customers but calls will now be charged at a local rate.

"We'll be contacting all our customers as soon as possible to let them know about the change in price," she said.

The survey also found that nearly a third of broadband users were frustrated by customer support. However, time spent waiting to be connected does seem to have improved. Only 12 per cent were dissatisfied and the survey found that the average waiting time was just 1 minute 33 seconds.

Plusnet customers have the longest average wait - at nearly eight minutes.