Virgin Media O2 doubles down on AI push because it makes an attempt to cut back buyer complaints

Virgin Media O2 has doubled down on its use of AI in its customer services department as it plots a turnaround on its customer service.

The company has struggled to integrate Virgin Media and O2 since the merger in 2021, prompting more customer calls and complaints as it grapples with different billing systems.

The telecoms giant revealed to This Is Money last year it spent £1million on customer service every day but was eyeing the use of AI to reduce complaints.

Last year, it launched its own AI tool – Lumi AI – which analyses customer queries in real time, and a summary tool to help customer service agents, after figures from the second quarter of 2024 showed it had lost more than 100,000 mobile contract customers.

Virgin Media O2 is using AI tools but says there’ll be no reduction in headcount

Virgin Media O2 is now investing even more cash into AI tools, including the use of ‘Natural Language Understanding’ as it attempts to improve customer complaints and reduce call times.

NLU will mean customers can explain the reason for their call and be directed to the appropriate department without needing to press a number on their handset.

Previously, where a customer query didn’t fall within the options presented, they’d be transferred between teams, adding to waiting times.

Its data shows that a transferred call on average takes 18 minutes longer to complete than a non-transferred call.

The telecoms company hopes that the roll out of AI across customer services will improve its fortunes in Ofcom’s quarterly complaints data.

While it has improved its standing by reducing complaints by 50 per cent, it still lags behind other established rivals.

Last year, chief executive Lutz Schuler announced plans to boost customer service employees to 9,000 and double investment in the department.

Virgin claims to have already reduced call transfers by 1.3 million last year, equivalent to 400,000 hours, while the average call waiting time reduced by a quarter in the second half of the year.

Customer service boss Alan Stott said the AI tools were intended to ‘minimise the need to contact us for support… nobody enjoys spending their time on the phone to their service provider, particularly when they’re being transferred between teams.’

He previously told This Is Money that call centres remain the most popular channel through which customers contact Virgin Media O2 and there were no plans to reduce their size or shift customers towards chatbots.