Guernsey Make it Simpler for Consumers to Submit Telecoms Complaints
The States of Guernsey, which is the government for the English Channel Island of Guernsey, have moved to improve and simplify the handling of consumer broadband, phone and mobile complaints by adjusting their rules to make clear that the States of Guernsey’s Trading Standards Service (TSS) will be the main body for handling such things.
Just to recap. The local government gave telecoms consumers new rights last year, which formally recognised TSS as the body responsible for consumer protection (ombudsman). But there was still somewhat of a legacy division of legal responsibility between the TSS and the Guernsey Competition & Regulatory Authority (GCRA), which had been confusing matters.
The government has now made some changes and fostered a co-operation agreement (MOU) between the two organisations, which should avoid the overlapping of statutory functions that might have risked creating uncertainty for consumers and licensees alike.
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Michael Byrne, CEO f the GCRA, said (BBC News):
“While no telecoms provider wants to fall out with its customers, situations do arise that cannot be resolved directly. Having an independent third party to turn to is an asset for consumers and this MOU plugs a gap in the complaints process.”
Time will tell whether the new approach works as intended.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
Just Googled Pop 64,421. So slightly more than I thought. But even so, would thought it would more a case of “Pop round and sort out Mrs Bucket’s phone Jimmy!” Than a major confrontation of non communication!