Consumers not satisfied with comparison websites

The country’s leading price comparison websites used by millions of consumers a week are not giving their customers a good enough service, says a new study by a leading consumer group.

Price comparison websites have rapidly grown in popularity for those shopping around for savings accounts, mortgages and car and home insurance.

But a survey published by Which? on Wednesday found that average customer satisfaction levels for the seven most popular websites were 50 per cent or less according to its own scorecard, lower than any other financial sector it had surveyed.

More than 2,500 respondents taking part in the Which? survey were asked to rate some of the country’s most well known websites on the helpfulness of their information and advice; presentation; how many quotes were returned; and whether they gave users an option of choosing a voluntary excess on their insurance premiums.

Moneysupermarket.com, the country’s leading price comparison website, achieved the highest average customer satisfaction rating of 50 per cent, followed by confused.com and gocompare.com with 47 per cent. Moneyextra.com, a newer entrant to the market, had the lowest ranking of 37 per cent.

Just three in ten respondents said they trusted the websites to find the best price available, said Which?, while two thirds thought they would be presented with products that make the websites the most commission.

A quarter of those surveyed said they did not buy through a comparison site because they found a cheaper quote elsewhere and 12 per cent said they were unhappy with the quotes they were given. Even after searching for products on comparison sites, more than half said they bought the product directly from the provider.

”We found that using financial comparison sites is clearly not a happy experience for many - all the sites in our survey got low customer scores,” said James Daley, editor, of Which? Money.

”If you’re shopping around for a good deal, it makes sense to go to more than one site and be aware that some companies aren’t featured. Watch out for things like voluntary excess, and make sure the policy you’re offered is what you actually want.”

Consumers were also advised to ensure they were clear about the level of voluntary excess on their insurance quotes, with several websites setting “quite high” default voluntary excesses, said Which?

“These voluntary excesses are often then combined with the insurer’s compulsory excess on the results page, making it difficult for customers to make comparisons between sites and find the best policy to suit their needs,” said the consumer group.

”Think about what level of voluntary excess you would be willing to pay.”

Price comparison websites reacted to the report by questioning the credibility of the research.

”Even though we have topped Which?’s survey, we don’t recognise its portrayal of moneysupermarket.com,” said Ian Williams, director of communications at moneysupermarket.com.

”Our own customer satisfaction survey, which runs monthly, shows 83 per cent of our customers are extremely satisfied or satisfied (sample size 20,488 since March 2009). What’s more we are making steady and continual improvements to our satisfaction score.”

Confused.com said the service it offered “delivers fantastic value to consumers”.

”It might be an idea for Which? to compare their reviews!,” said Carlton Hood, chief executive officer, at Confused.com.

“Earlier this year it congratulated Confused.com on our market-leading position. In fact its insurance expert Dan Moore said: ’Confused.com has shown that it is possible to give consumers what they want, a fair quote based on criteria they selected. Other sites should follow their lead.”