Ofcom has published its latest set of data concerning customer complaints in the telecoms industry. The report spans landlines, broadband, pay monthly mobile contracts and pay TV service. Looking at the negative side of things the companies with the most complaints in these services were; TalkTalk for landlines, Orange for broadband, T-Mobile for mobile contracts and BT Vision for pay TV services.
The latest report spans the period of Q3 (July to September) 2013. Ofcom receives, on average, 300 complaints per day about telecoms companies. It says this data may be “relevant to those considering a new service or provider”.
Landlines
Of all the landline providers you can choose TalkTalk has the worst record for complaints. Ofcom says that “TalkTalk Group still generates the highest volume of complaints and was almost double the industry average over the quarter. Their complaints continue to relate to billing and customer service issues.” At the other end of the scale Virgin Media and Sky jointly received the fewest complaints during Q3.
Fixed broadband
Orange generated the most complaints during the recent quarter due to contractual issues. Apparently the firm pulled out from a free home broadband offer for mobile customers during the summer, an understandably unpopular move. Sky got the least complaints.
Mobile contracts
Previously Ofcom lumped both contract and PAYG customers together but now it has separated the figures. However due to a very low rate of complaints about PAYG “we are not publishing provider specific data for this service” explained the regulator. Looking at the figures we do have, for pay monthly contract holders, T-Mobile fares the worst, while the least complaints were from O2 customers.
Pay TV services
Ofcom looks at the Sky, BT Vision, and Virgin Media services and complaint levels and found that BT Vision was the most complained about service in Q3. “Complaints about BT Vision were partly driven by problems with service provision” it explains. Virgin Media also got above average complaint levels, leaving Sky at the top of the class.
Does the Ofcom complaints data influence your service purchasing and recommendation decisions?
