Npower 'worse than Ryanair' - energy company labelled worst for customer service

Power companies Npower and Scottish Power top list of 100 UK companies as worst for customer service. Budget Airline Ryanair comes in at third worst.

Consumer advice experts at Which? have ranked Npower as the worst brand for customer service out of the UK’s 100 biggest brands. Securing the dubious honour of second-worst brand was Scottish Power, which fell from 62nd to 99th place.

The two energy providers have fared so badly after a rash of complaints were sparked by major billing problems that the companies have blamed on switching to new computer systems.

That is of course little comfort to customers with drastically wrong bills, or bills that entirely failed to be sent to them.

Npower told The Daily Telegraph
: ‘We’re determined to improve and we’re already making progress. Since this survey was carried out we’ve reduced the number of late bills by over 75pc, and the number of complaints we received by nearly 30pc. However, we know we still have a long way to go before we can reach the top spot and we’re continuing to focus all of our efforts in this area.”

Scottish Power, meanwhile, said: “This sudden drop in our position reflects the introduction of a new customer service system into our business. Although the transition has been challenging, we have recruited more than 250 additional call handling staff and we now have the longest call centre opening in the industry.

“Beyond this we have also been expanding our online services, and we are confident that customers will now start to see real service improvements coming through.”

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Third worst company was Ryanair, which was faced with a £750k bill for levying unfair charges earlier this year.

Worst five UK companies for customer service

(Click on a link to make a complaint about any one of these companies)