Relations between consumers and their telecom operator are improving somewhat. They are 30% less to have alerted the Telecoms Authority, via its platform I'm alerting Arcep. " There has been an awareness on the part of operators, they have made real efforts to improve their customer relationships and their services ", welcomes Sébastien Soriano, the president of Arcep, who also invites operators to " do not not fall asleep on their laurels ”. Bouygues Telecom and Free are the two operators for which the alerts are the least numerous with respectively 13 and 15 alerts per 100,000 customers. SFR has considerably improved its performance, going from 30 to 21 alerts per 100,000 subscribers in one year. Only Orange recorded a slight deterioration with a drop from 18 to 19 per 100,000.
In fact, 67% of consumers said they had encountered a problem with their fixed Internet access provider or their mobile operator, reveals a survey by Arcep. The tension points remain the quality of service, billing and fiber. This last point is relatively new and directly linked to the development of this technology. The "ping-pong" is in the sight of the regulator. This practice consists in referring a customer from one operator to another in the event of a problem. It is based on the fact that the operator who laid the fiber in a building (building operator) is not always the one that the consumer has chosen (contractual operator). When the fiber does not work or no longer, the two operators return the ball (the customer). “ Only the contractual operator is responsible. It is up to him to deliver the service which he charges to his client, ”says Sébastien Soriano, who threatens to initiate sanctions procedures if the operators do not raise the bar quickly. The regulator also encourages them to change their methods, for example, not to arbitrarily disconnect a line when there is no more room in a box, or not to connect anywhere.
An anti-canvassing law
The other big subject concerns telephone canvassing. Faced with the ineffectiveness of Bloctel, the first measure implemented by the State, a new bill was born, brought by Christophe Naegelen, deputy of the Vosges. It aims in particular to allow operators to cut the numbers from which some of these unwanted calls are made. Currently, operators cannot take such measures, on pain of being condemned. Other points will be modified, such as a 25-fold increase in the penalties imposed on companies that do not respect the rules of doorstep selling. Thus, it will be prohibited on Sundays and during meal times (lunches and dinners) during the week. Likewise, when a contract is broken between a client and a company, the latter will no longer have the right to re-launch it, in the name of the "contractual relationship". Finally, certain sectors will not have the right to solicit telephone sales, starting with everything related to energy renovation. This bill is expected to pass second reading in the National Assembly on April 1 or May 27. Until then, you still have to take your patience.
