Consumer magazine Which? have today named the winners of their annual Shoddy Awards 2024, which lists the companies that have done poorly through the year. Suffice to say that broadband provider Virgin Media picked up the award for “Worst Telecoms Company” for the second year running, due to “poor customer service and mid-contract price hikes“.
In order to be nominated for a “Shoddy“, companies had to fall short on one of the following criteria: failing an industry standard, potentially breaking the law, causing consumer detriment or confusion or regularly underperforming in the consumer champion’s customer surveys or lab tests. A judging panel from across Which? then selected this year’s winners based on the findings of past studies and their “in-house experts“.
Given the results of recent surveys (example), it’s perhaps not terribly surprising to find that Virgin Media ended up scooping the not particularly coveted ‘Worst Telecoms Company‘ of the year award.
Which? Statement on Virgin Media
Virgin Media has been awarded a Shoddy for the second year running. It finished at the bottom of the table in Which?’s annual broadband survey – standing out, in particular, for its terrible customer service. Which? has written to Virgin Media’s chief executive urging the firm to improve its customer service.
On top of this, frustrated customers are trapped in a lose-lose situation – where they either accept hefty mid-contract price rises or, in some extreme cases, fork out crippling exit fees of up to almost £700 to leave early.
Which? has also reported Virgin Media to regulator Ofcom last year over concerns it could be breaking the law by giving itself the right to hike broadband bills by unlimited sums whenever it chooses – on top of its annual inflation-based increases. Virgin Media said they are investing in their customer service and refute allegations it could be breaking the law on broadband contracts.
The other winners were as follows.
Shoddy Award Winners for 2024
Most unhelpful energy firm – Scottish Power
Scottish Power has frustrated their energy customers with slow and unhelpful support. Which?’s analysis found that all too often people were left on hold, passed from agent to agent with no resolution to their queries or faced long waits to get a reply to their emails. Which? has written to Scottish Power’s chief executive urging the firm to improve its customer service.
Scottish Power received the lowest satisfaction score in the consumer champion’s recent customer service research for how long it took to get in touch with a person that could help. It also achieved just two stars out of five for overall customer service and one star for value for money in our annual survey.
The energy giant told us it has been working tirelessly to improve its customer service. However, in an essential sector that millions rely on every day, Which? believes that it is completely unacceptable that bill payers are being let down so badly.
Persistent failure on scams – Meta
Malicious content is rife on Facebook and Instagram. Last year, Which? helped one victim recover £3,000 when they paid for a car that was never delivered after clicking on an Instagram ad. The criminals had been impersonating a genuine car leasing company based in Essex after stealing its name, company number and other details from Companies House. Which? reported the issue to Instagram’s parent company Meta immediately, but the profile rebranded itself to imitate another genuine firm.
Meta previously told Which?: “We don’t want anyone to fall victim to fraudulent activity which is why our platforms have processes in place to both protect accounts from being hacked in the first place (including two factor authentication) and to return them to their rightful owners if they do get hacked.”
Which? is calling for Ofcom to set high standards for online safety and take action against those platforms that fail to protect its users from illegal content. The consumer champion also wants to see Meta do more to prevent, identify and remove scam ads from its platforms to stop criminals before reaching consumers and causing financial and emotional harm.
Selling dangerous products – Temu
Which? has found illegal weapons for sale, alongside age-restricted items – such as axes and knives – without age checks taking place.
Temu is also among the online marketplaces the consumer champion found selling unsafe electric heaters that could explode, cause electric shocks or start a fire. Which? welcomes the new government’s commitment to introduce new product safety legislation, and will be pushing for it to place clearer responsibilities on online marketplaces to prevent the sale of unsafe products, putting consumer safety first and prevent dangerous products ending up in people’s homes.
Temu said it “deeply regrets any concern or inconvenience caused by the safety issues we identified”, and stressed that the safety of its customers is its highest priority.
Biggest flight booking letdown – Opodo
In a 2024 survey of Which? members, Opodo achieved an abysmal customer score of 28 per cent – one of the lowest scores Which? Travel has ever seen – and just one star for customer service. Which? investigations have shown it charges over the odds for extras like baggage and seat selection, while customers have reported unwittingly signing up for its subscription service – only to be billed later on. Opodo says its customers clearly value the service it offers and see the benefits OTAs provide, and 90 per cent of the customers it surveys are happy with its service. Opodo also disputes Which?’s research methodology and results.
Grimmest hotel chain – Britannia
Britannia has been at the bottom of the table in Which?’s hotel chain rankings for 11 years running. It received just two stars for cleanliness and one star for the quality of its bedrooms and bathrooms in the consumer champion’s latest survey. Which? also found serious fire safety flaws – including broken fire doors and missing fire extinguishers – when the consumer champion went undercover at Canary Wharf in London and Heathlands Hotel in Bournemouth back in 2022. Britannia said that it had “investigated and addressed” the issues Which? found at both hotels. It also said: “We invest heavily in fire safety at all of our hotels and will continue to do so.”
Dodgiest car company – Goldcar
In 2019, Which? caught Goldcar’s agents misleading and pressuring customers at the rental desk to flog unnecessary extra cover. In response, Goldcar announced ‘a programme of large-scale change’ to ensure a good customer experience.
Which? undercover journalists flew out to Spain again earlier this year, armed with hidden cameras and once again, Goldcar staff used pushy sales tactics to try to panic them into buying extra insurance, even though they had already bought a comprehensive policy online. Goldcar is also regularly rated the worst car hire company by Which? members.
Goldcar said it is “committed to investigating any incidents where a customer believes they have received a service that does not match expectations for a low-cost brand and continue to invest in staff training and best practices.”
Biggest rail rip-off – train ticket machines
Only one in six UK railway stations have a full-time ticket office – and 759 stations do not have one at all. This means consumers are forced to use a ticket machine if they have not bought their fare in advance. Which? mystery shoppers found that most operators have outdated machines that can charge more than twice the price of booking online, with the best-value fares unavailable or hard to find. For example, a one-way fare from Northampton to Cardiff was £107 from a machine, but just £43 from online retailer Trainline – less than half the price.
Most egregious price hike – Norton Antivirus renewal
Norton 360 Deluxe is an excellent product: the Windows version was even awarded a Which? Best Buy. The problem is the renewal price – consumers can sign up for £30, but that price trebles to a whopping £90 for renewal after the first year. It is the largest renewal hike of any of the paid-for antivirus products Which? tests – and the consumer champion believes it is excessively expensive.
Unsafe product – Peg Perego Viaggio Twist
Which? has warned parents against using the Peg Perego Viaggio Twist car seat (£425) after a shocking failure during crash tests. The support leg on the base crumpled and the momentum of the crash hurled the car seat forward – causing it to come loose from the Isofix base and fly through the test vehicle. As a result this car seat – designed for babies and children from six months to four years old – has been rated a 0 per cent Don’t Buy.
Peg Perego has since put distribution of this product on hold and carried out its own testing. It confirmed that the Viaggio Twist needs to be modified, and told Which? that it will soon be providing a new and improved car seat to customers.
Design fail – Nautilus Designs Ascot Mesh office chair
Its sole purpose is comfort, but not only is this Don’t Buy chair incredibly uncomfortable, it is potentially dangerous. Consumers run the risk of tipping backwards if they recline too far and it is not ergonomic – in fact, the lumbar support hurt Which? testing experts’ backs.
Dumbest smart product – Swan Alexa kettle
This kettle is packed with high-tech features but fails to do its basic job well. It is a Don’t Buy because Which?’s tests found it is incredibly slow to boil, overboils for a long time and has a two-cup minimum fill, meaning consumers will waste energy every time they make tea for one. It also has no limescale filter, making it a terrible choice for anyone in a hard-water area.
Useless cleaning product – M&S
M&S Italian Lemon & Ginger Kitchen Surface Cleaner (£2) performed consistently badly in Which?’s tests at removing tough soils, including baked-on grease and starchy spills such as rice water. In fact, Which? would think twice about buying any cleaning products from M&S: Which? testing found its washing-up liquid is a Don’t Buy, and its sensitive non-bio washing powder and laundry liquid are not great either.