Homebase, Carphone Warehouse and Sports Direct are among the worst performers according to Which? research revealing which online retailers had the best and worst customer service when dealing with customer issues during the pandemic.
During the last 17 months of disruption to all our lives, good customer service has been more important than ever as popular high street stores were forced to shut their doors for months and millions of consumers turned to online shopping.
Which? asked more than 5,000 UK consumers who had issues with their order and contacted a customer service team how the biggest online retailers in tech, lifestyle, fashion, DIY and homeware fared resolving their complaints from March 2020 to March 2021.
JD Sports, The Range, Homebase, Sports Direct, Funky Pigeon, Scan, Appliances Direct, Debenhams and Carphone Warehouse were all bottom of Which?’s rankings – receiving the same one star out of five for overall customer service.
JD Sports and Homebase – as well as Appliances Direct, Sports Direct, Funky Pigeon, Scan, Debenhams and Carphone Warehouse – received a paltry one star for the helpfulness of their customer support staff.
One JD Sports customer said they lost out when they ordered some shoes which never arrived and could not get in touch with anyone in customer service to resolve the issue. The customer said: “I tried a few times but it felt futile, so I just gave up and lost the £60.”
One in five of the Homebase customers Which? surveyed who experienced issues with their order said they are unlikely to shop with the retailer again and one in 10 said their issue was not resolved or they were not offered a solution at all.
Carphone Warehouse also performed poorly – with one in four customers who told Which? that they had an issue with it saying they were incorrectly charged or billed during the pandemic.
Shockingly, three in 10 of Carphone Warehouse customers Which? surveyed who experienced problems with their order said they felt the mobile phone retailer did not believe their issue was genuine when they complained, while one in five said they did not feel fairly treated.
Delivery fails were pain points for The Range and Sports Direct’s customers the consumer champion surveyed.
One The Range customer said: “I had to keep chasing them for my order and they had no interest in helping me.” Another customer told the consumer champion they “seemed slightly annoyed, and would only offer store credit at first.” The Range said it will be reviewing its processes following Which?’s findings.
One in five Sports Direct customers Which? surveyed who had experienced issues also said they would be unlikely to shop there again once lockdown restrictions have lifted. One Sports Direct customer described their service as “unhelpful and unaccommodating,” another complained they had been sent a completely different product to what they had ordered and only been offered a voucher in return.
At the other end of the scale, Marks and Spencer and Screwfix topped Which?’s survey with five stars across the board.
An impressive almost nine in ten (86%) of Marks and Spencer customers claimed they were happy with the solution offered to their problem. This is perhaps unsurprising considering the company has a customer service phone line open 12 hours each day Monday – Sunday.
Screwfix had the highest percentage of customers who said their issue was resolved within just 24 hours, and nine out of 10 said they were likely to continue shopping with Screwfix when restrictions are lifted.
Amazon also performed well, receiving five stars in four of the five categories and four stars for overall customer service.
Delivery dramas proved rife across the board – with three in 10 people who told Which? they experienced an issue with an online retailer during the pandemic complaining of missing or delayed deliveries, and one in five struggling to return unwanted items or faulty products.
Two-thirds of those surveyed managed to come to an agreeable solution with the online retailer in question, but a significant minority said they were not happy with the outcome. Worse still, one in 10 said their issue has not been resolved or they have not been offered a solution at all.
More than half believed some online retailers used Covid-19 as an excuse for poor customer service.
The shift to online shopping looks set to continue past the end of the coronavirus crisis. The consumer champion surveyed over 1,200 Which? members in May – with one in five saying they have continued shopping online for products they previously bought in-store.
Retailers with unhappy customers are going to have a tough time winning them back. In the consumer champion’s survey of over 5,000 members of the public, one in 10 of those surveyed said they were unlikely to return to a retailer they had experienced a problem with, while seven in 10 felt more loyal to a retailer if it had been reliable and accommodating throughout the pandemic.
Which? believes that almost 18 months on from the start of the pandemic and boom in online shopping, there is no excuse for poor customer service – online retailers must up their game to meet customers’ expectations.
Adam French, Which? Consumer Rights Expert, said:
“The pandemic saw some of the best and worst of customer service. But with online shopping now becoming the norm, we should get the same level of customer service when shopping online as when shopping in a store.
“When it comes to spending our hard-earned cash online it is essential we know which retailers we can trust to put right anything that goes wrong.
“With the extraordinary growth in online shopping set to continue as we emerge from the pandemic, retailers who are falling short must up their game to make sure no one is left frustrated and out of pocket because of bad customer service.”
