Talk Talk continues to lose more subscribers

This year hasn’t been very hot so far for TalkTalk. Last month, the operator was reprimanded and slapped with a fine from Ofcom over silent calls. Silent calls are defined as “calls that have been generated by the dialer which end up getting dropped because not enough agents are available to handle calls that have been successfully connected.”

Aside from that, the broadband firm topped Ofcom’s complaints list when it came to issues regarding broadband connection and phone lines last September. Customers railed about TalkTalk’s unexpected service charges, billing procedures, and even about the company’s customer service. In response, an official from TalkTalk stated: “We’re committed to providing good service alongside our best value and, while we clearly still have lots to do, we’re confident that our customers are beginning to see the benefits of the changes we continue to make.” The representative added: “It’s encouraging that Ofcom’s data demonstrates that, following the Tiscali integration, the service we offer our customers has significantly improved in the last quarter with the number of complaints as a percentage of customers dropping by over 50%.”

It’s noteworthy that the official mentioned the Tiscali integration. It was recently reported that TalkTalk has lost over 43,000 subscribers in a quarter, partly attributed to the disruption caused after it bought Tiscali’s business. The company added that they expect more losses to come in the next quarter but that the numbers will be picking up in the first half of the next financial year.

TalkTalk’s chief executive Dido Harding said that the firm’s turnaround strategy is “well on track.” Despite the losses, the firm still posted a 20.7% in profits to £146 million. TalkTalk was able to benefit from higher margins since more of its broadband users were now moved to their own network. She stated: “We are pleased that we are delivering a better experience for our customers, demonstrated by the continuing reduction in calls into our contact centres and a significant increase in the number of customers’ queries being resolved first time.”

Harding also added: “This reflects our priority to improve customer experience and make our end to end systems and processes both more effective and more efficient.”

The company’s customer service was bogged down with numerous (and expensive) complaints since it bought out Tiscali’s UK business in 2009. It was revealed that the firm had paid out £2.5 million in compensation to customers who complained of having been billed despite cancelling the service.

Source – The Independent