Ofcom’s latest Q1 2017 study of UK consumer complaints about fixed line Broadband, Phone, Pay TV and Mobile services has praised Sky (Sky Broadband) for receiving the fewest gripes. Meanwhile BT, TalkTalk and Vodafone are highlighted for attracting the most complaints.
The regulator has also published a new “interactive Tableau tool” alongside this report (here). The purpose of this tool is simply to make it easier for stakeholders to access and interpret Ofcom’s data. Otherwise the regulator also noted that consumer satisfaction with communications services is broadly strong and sits at around 90%.
Nevertheless Ofcom continues to receive “nearly” 300 complaints per day (calls), although this report only reflects the biggest providers (i.e. those with a market share of at least 1.5%) and complaints that have been made directly to Ofcom (i.e. not those handled internally / privately by an ISP or ombudsman).
The results are also reflected as a proportion of residential subscribers (i.e. the total number of quarterly complaints per 100,000 customers), which makes it easier to compare providers in a market where the big ISPs can vary significantly in size. We note that the regulator does not itself deal with individual complaints but they do monitor them and can take action if enough people highlight a specific problem.
Overall the total volume of complaints across all service sectors has remained fairly stable since Q4 2016.
Lindsey Fussell, Ofcom’s Consumer Group Director, said:
“Our report shows that, for a number of providers, there is still much room for improvement.
Phone and broadband companies must take all possible steps to improve their complaints handling and customer service, and we expect this to be their number one priority.”
We should point out that consumers who are unable to resolve a complaint with their communications provider can (after 8 weeks) raise a case with one of the two ombudsman providers – Ombudsman Services: Communications or CISAS – via the Alternative Dispute Resolution process, which will investigate the issue at no cost to yourself. Further details here.
Broadly speaking there wasn’t much change this quarter, although BT continued to receive the most complaints due to a combination of service faults, provision problems and some issues with complaints handling and billing. Meanwhile Plusnet showed the biggest improvement, although they continue to receive above the industry average level of complaints.
As usual Virgin Media and Sky Broadband are both still managing to attract the fewest complaints.
On the surface TalkTalk appears to attract the most complaints, although they’re only a step higher than Plusnet, the Post Office and BT. Interestingly TalkTalk, Plusnet and BT are all said to “share the same main complaint drivers. They received the most complaints relating to faults, service and provision, followed by issues about billing, pricing and charges, and complaint handling.”
However it’s also noted that some different methodologies were used to compile the subscriber figures, which Ofcom said meant that BT’s performance in Q1 2017 was now comparable to TalkTalk’s, Plusnet’s and Post Office. Sadly we’re not given much detail about this.
Otherwise it’s no surprise to find that Virgin Media and Sky Broadband (Sky Talk) are again praised for attracting the fewest complaints.
Good news for Vodafone this quarter as they’ve shown a clean reduction in their complaint volume, although sadly they remain the most complained about Mobile Network Operator due to issues with billing, pricing and
charges, followed by complaints handling and faults, service and provision problems. Otherwise everybody else seems to hand around the industry average line, either a bit above or below it.
BT’s Pay TV service continues to attract the highest level of complaints and they remain well above everybody else in the naughty table, which is disappointing when you consider that TalkTalk has made quite a bit improvement over the past year. Sadly only Sky manages to remain below the industry average.
Ofcom’s Complaints Report Q1 2017
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/…Complaints-Q1-January-to-March-2017.pdf
UPDATE 1:35pm
Sky has added a comment.
A Sky Spokesperson told ISPreview.co.uk:
“Throughout 2016, Sky offered an unparalleled level of service to our customers in Broadband, Talk and TV, and once again we have started the year maintaining those high standards.
At Sky we are always striving to do even better, constantly looking for ways to make things easier for our customers, and we are focused on delivering a fantastic experience for them throughout 2017 and beyond.”
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