CallPlus chief executive Mark Callander has hit back at a Kiwihost survey that slated the customer service record of its Slingshot subsidiary, saying statements made by Kiwihost were very misleading and accusing it of "poor research standards".

Kiwihost, a private firm that provides customer service training to businesses, released a survey earlier this month that accused the country's telcos of providing "shocking customer service" . It rated Slingshot lowest, with a "strongly negative rating" of -23. The lowest possible rating, if all respondents were dissatisfied, would be -100.

Callander said Kiwihost's survey was only completed by 600 respondents. Slingshot had about 10 per cent of the broadband market, so it was likely only about 60 of its customers were surveyed.

Kiwihost asked people to rate providers but didn't ask if those responding were a customer or had any personal experience of each company, he said.

"More concerning is there is no context to the question at all, so responses are entirely open to interpretation."

Callander said Kiwihost's claims were dramatically different to its own research, which involved randomly contacting 5000 of its customers each month. That showed Slingshot's customer satisfaction had been trending upwards, he said. "We have 150 proud contact centre staff based in New Zealand doing an amazing job and providing great service.

"Reports and statements from companies such as Kiwihost which provide minimal information and context are very damaging not only to Slingshot, but the industry in general," he said.

CallPlus has been trying to turn around its image over the past few years. Callander acknowledged to Fairfax Media this month that it had been tarnished by complaints and an aggressive "cold calling" telemarketing campaign using a call centre in India.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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