LIME gets licks from Bajan consumers
Barbados’ utility sector in general scores below international benchmarks.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Wednesday May 02, 2012 – Barbadians’ satisfaction with the service provided by telecoms giant LIME appears to be souring, judging from data obtained by the National Initiative for Service Excellence (NISE).
CEO Kim Tudor recently revealed the outcome of the NISE Customer Satisfaction Index (NCSI) conducted on the utility sector, and she noted that while two utility companies were above the average in ratings for customer satisfaction (Digicel and the Barbados Water Authority), there were four below the average (the Barbados Light & Power Co. Ltd, LIME Telephone, LIME Mobile and LIME Internet services rated separately).
“Perceived value for money had the greatest impact on customer satisfaction. For all of the utilities this is the factor that influenced their performance and their customer satisfaction the most. This is one area that brought the scores down,” Tudor explained.
“If you look at value for money, Digicel had a score of 83 in terms of value for money; Water Authority had a score of 75. LIME, for their fixed line, had a score of 59. LIME again for mobile had a score of 54. Light and Power had a score of 52 and LIME Internet (also) 52. So you can see the perceived value is the component of the satisfaction that brought the scores down,” the CEO explained while delivering the data from the NCSI.
She also revealed that customer complaints in the utility sector ranked at 37% and this measurement had some influence on customer loyalty.
“In terms of customer complaints, the average for the sector was 37% and that ranged from a high of 66% for LIME Internet, which means that 66 of their customers are complaining about Internet service. Then that is followed by LIME’s mobile service where 47% of persons are complaining, and then for LIME’s Fixed Line we had 44% of people complaining. Barbados Water Authority complaints rate was 22%, Light and Power 20%, Digicel 15%,” Tudor said.
She went on to note the scores in terms of customer loyalty and customer retention.
“Digicel had the highest score in terms of loyalty with a score of 71. They were able to meet the expectations of their customers. The highest level of customer loyalty (stood with) Digicel, followed by Barbados Water Authority, then LIME Mobile, Barbados Light & Power, then LIME Fixed Line and LIME Internet,” she indicated.
Tudor also revealed that of those customers who stated that they would retain the service provider if the provider no longer operated as a monopoly and they had a choice, 70% indicated that they would stay with Digicel, 58% with LIME Mobile, 55% would stay with Lime Internet, 53% with LIME Fixed Line and 56% with Barbados Light & Power.
The CEO noted that she is concerned about the overall score for the utility sector, since the scores are not only below those of measurements for the country’s finance and public sectors, but score below international benchmarks for utilities. Click here to receive free news bulletins via email from Caribbean360. (View sample)