Posted: 13th Jun, 2006 By: MarkJ
Bulldog's recent exit from the retail ISP market, which has turned the provider into a wholesale operator, may benefit existing users. Surprisingly, analysts believe that customer service might actually improve, but for how long?:
Bulldog, which for the last few years advertised an attractively low cost, high-speed broadband service, quickly became one of the most complained-about ISPs in the UK, with customers highlighting a billing system that frequently went awry, randomly restricted bandwidth and an indifferent and sometimes uncontactable customer services call centre team.
After a year that saw an investigation by Ofcom and the introduction of so-called "free broadband" offers by the likes of Carphone Warehouse and Orange, Bulldog announced last week that it was no longer taking on new customers through its call centres. And that could be the solution to its existing customers' woes.
"They haven't got the strain on their call centres of having new customers come on in response to marketing campaigns," said Jupiter Research's Ian Fogg on Monday. "They may find it easier to provide customer support for the existing customers than they have in the past their customer service may actually improve."The
ZDNet item makes for an interesting take on the situation, albeit not strictly good news, depending on your viewpoint.
Unsurprisingly customers remain uncertain about the future of
Bulldog, although many may choose to stick around until the service begins to fall behind its competition or close.
If history is anything to go by, promises made by an ISP are about as trustworthy as Enron's former boss.