A day after Harvey Norman was revealed as the retailer with the poorest customer service rating, Vodafone has been named the worst telco for customer satisfaction.
According to a mobile-lifestyle study released by the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association, less than 50 per cent of Vodafone customers were satisfied with the provider.
The study published by News Limited reports a 42 per cent drop in customer satisfaction for Vodafone – from 88 cent ranking in 2010 to 61 per cent in 2011.
Virgin Mobile came out tops with the best satisfaction ratings for smartphone choice, recording an 80 per cent satisfaction rate.
Optus was a near second, recording a 67 per cent satisfaction rate.
Technical issues, network outages and poor response is being blamed for the slide in Vodafone’s ratings. Both phone calls and text messages were affected by the outages.
The problems were so bad it prompted the company's CEO, Nigel Dews to issue an apology to disappointed customers on Vodafone's blog in December of 2010.