Ofcom has today published the latest league tables on the complaints we receive about the UK’s major home phone, broadband, mobile and pay-TV firms.
The quarterly report reveals the number of complaints made to Ofcom between July and September last year, about firms that provide home broadband, landline telephone, pay-monthly mobile and pay-TV. We include all providers with a market share over 1.5%.
Vodafone was the most complained-about broadband provider. Half of all complaints about Vodafone were due to faults, service and provisioning issues. Sky attracted the fewest complaints among broadband providers.
Virgin Mobile was the most complained-about mobile provider – the main reasons customers complained to Ofcom being issues with switching and complaints handling. Tesco Mobile was the least complained-about pay-monthly mobile provider.
Virgin Media remained the most complained-about pay-TV provider, with handling of complaints being the primary reason people complained. Sky continued to attract the fewest complaints among pay-TV providers.
Plusnet was the most complained-about landline provider, while Sky attracted the fewest complaints.
Fergal Farragher, Ofcom’s Consumer Protection Director, said: “Millions of people up and down the country are relying on their communications services to be able to work, learn and keep in touch with loved ones.
“So it’s vital companies continue to do everything they can to give customers the support they need – particularly those who may be vulnerable – and tackle any problems customers are experiencing.”
Complaints information helps people to think about quality of service when they are shopping around for a new provider and encourages firms to improve their performance. Our service quality hub offers further information on how people can choose the best provider for them.
Although Ofcom cannot resolve individual complaints, we offer consumers advice, and the information we receive can lead to us launching investigations.
Anyone experiencing problems should complain to their provider first. If they are unhappy with the outcome, people can take the complaint to an independent ombudsman, who will look at the case and make a judgment on it.
Home broadband complaints per 100,000 customers
Landline telephone complaints per 100,000 customers
Where the actual measurable difference between providers’ number of complaints per 100,000 customers is less than 1, we consider their results to be comparable. Here the following landline providers’ number of complaints per 100,000 customers should be considered comparable: 1. the industry average, Post Office and BT; 2. Vodafone and TalkTalk and 3. Virgin Media and Plusnet.
Pay-monthly mobile complaints per 100,000 customers
The actual measurable difference between the following pay-monthly mobile providers’ number of complaints per 100,000 customers was less than one and so their results should be considered comparable: 1. Tesco Mobile, Sky Mobile and EE; 2. Sky Mobile, EE and O2; 3. the industry average, BT Mobile and iD Mobile; 4. iD Mobile and Vodafone.