The group’s retail arm has long performed badly in industry complaints reports, denting its customer retention and acquisition goals.
In a bid to tackle this managers had previously promised to answer 100% of calls in the UK and Ireland by the end of 2020, but today they revealed this would now be achieved by January.
At a press briefing BT consumer boss Marc Allera said households who’d signed up to the BT Plus scheme, which promises to handle all calls in the UK and Ireland, had become the ISP’s most satisfied customers.
Bringing forward the onshoring of all call centre jobs is hoped to achieve a similar boost among the entire customer base.
Allera also announced that in addition to answering calls in the UK and Ireland, all calls would be handled at the BT call centre closest to the customer to ensure that agents have the best possible understanding of their needs and any local factors.
The previously announced return of the BT brand to the high street is now underway through 600 co-branded EE / BT retail stores which will also be able to support the group’s SME clients.
Customers will also be able to get one to one help in their home through the hiring of 900 staff who can visit and assist customers with getting connected, installing the latest tech and fixing problems.
Also speaking at the event, Group CEO Philip Jansen said BT was aiming to put “fairness” at the heart of its offering, with Allera adding that all existing customers would in future pay the same or less than new sign-ups.
Jansen added that while he and his management team accepted service levels weren’t “perfect” there is a firm commitment to address this in the near term.