TalkTalk Tops Ofcom’s Broadband Complaints Table for Q1 2023 UPDATE

Ofcom’s latest quarterly (Q1 2023) study of UK consumer complaints has named and shamed TalkTalk for attracting the most consumer gripes about both fixed line broadband and landline phone services (making a change from Shell Energy), while BT did the same for both Pay Monthly Mobile and Pay TV services.

The regulator’s report only covers complaints that Ofcom itself has received and not those sent directly to an ISP, the ISPA or an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) complaints handler (i.e. Ombudsman Services or CISAS). Ofcom does not deal with individual complaints, but they do monitor them and can take action if enough people raise a concern.

Otherwise, the results below reflect a proportion of residential subscribers (i.e. the total number of quarterly complaints per 100,000 customers per provider), which makes it easier to compare providers in a market where ISPs can vary significantly in size. But sadly, the study only covers feedback from the largest ISPs (i.e. those with a market share of at least 1.5%) due to limited data.

Take note that the proportion of people who were satisfied with their communications services in 2023 was 77% (unchanged from last year) for landline services, 82% (down from 83%) for broadband services and 87% (down from 91%) for all mobile services.

Fixed Line Home Broadband Complaints

Sadly, TalkTalk attracted the most broadband complaints in Q1 2023, with related complaints against the ISP mainly being driven by gripes about faults, service and provisioning (33%), complaints handling (29%) and billing, pricing and charges (16%). On the flip side, Sky Broadband continued to attract the fewest complaints of all the listed providers.

Fixed Line Phone Complaints

TalkTalk also attracted the most complaints for fixed line phone services, which was mostly driven by gripes against their faults, service and provisioning (31%), complaints handling (31%) and billing, pricing and charges (19%). By comparison, Sky Broadband once again attracted the fewest complaints.

Mobile Complaints

Mobile operators enjoyed lower complaint levels than fixed line providers, but BT Mobile still attracted the most gripes, with issues around their complaints handling (21%), changing provider (30%), and billing, pricing and charges (18%) driving most of it. By comparison, Sky Mobile and Tesco Mobile jointly attracted the fewest gripes (both are O2 based MVNOs), which seems to be a trend for Sky.

However, it’s worth pointing out that BT no longer sells mobile plans to new customers, and instead they re-direct new customers to EE.

Pay TV Complaints

Finally, BT also attracted the most complaints for Pay TV, with gripes about complaints handling (19%), billing, pricing and charges (23%), and changing provider (20%) being the main drivers. On the flip side, Sky TV attracted the fewest gripes.

Stephen van Rooyen, Sky’s UK Chief Executive Officer, said: “The hallmark of great customer service is consistency and reliability and across pay-TV, broadband, landline and mobile we continue to receive the fewest complaints compared to our competitors. This wouldn’t be possible without the hard work and dedication of our customer service teams who continue to perform to the highest standards.”

Ofcom’s Consumer Complaints Report Q1 2023
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/../telecoms-and-pay-tv-complaints

UPDATE 11:40am

We’ve had a comment from TalkTalk.

A TalkTalk spokesperson said:

“We have seen an ongoing trend of material improvement in customer satisfaction due to a series of major initiatives. Complaints are down 31% over the past five years. A large number of copper to fibre installations resulted in a small uplift this quarter.”