BT And Orange Named Ofcom’s Most Complained About Service Providers

Orange and BT have been named the most complained about mobile and broadband providers respecitvely  by Ofcom, which has published its latest UK phone and internet service provider complaint figures for the fourth quarter period between October and December 2013.

The report shows that Orange customers recorded the most complaints regarding their mobile pay monthly services, averaging 0.12 complaints per thousand customers, with issues related to billing and complaints handling the major causes of dissent. Orange was closely followed by stablemate T-Mobile (0.11 per 1,000) and Virgin Mobile (0.07 per 1,000), both of which also generated complaints in excess of the industry average.

O2 (0.029 complaints per thousand customers), retained its position as the most positively-reviewed network, followed closely by Three, which recorded its lowest amount of complaints since Ofcom began publishing complaints data four years ago (0.033 per 1,000 customers).

Complain pain

Concerning broadband services, BT generated the most complaints for broadband for the first time, received 0.32 complaints per 1,000 customers during Q4 2013. Complaints were primarily driven by service faults and issues with how complaints were handled.

EE was the second most complained about broadband provider, generating above industry average complaints at 0.29 per 1,000 subscribers. TalkTalk also generated complaints above the industry average, at 0.21 for every 1,000 customers.

Virgin Media’s service attracted fewest complaints (0.07 per 1,000 customers) followed by Sky (0.08 per 1,000 customers).

The results also looked at the landline telephone market, where TalkTalk gained the unwanted top spot, generating 0.27 complaints per 1,000 customers, with service faults and complaints handling the top issues. This figure actually represents a progressive improvement for the company, which has seen complaints continue to decrease quarter on quarter since Ofcom first began publishing complaints, and are now at their lowest levels.

BT also performed poorly, taking second place behind TalkTalk with 0.20 complaints per 1,000 customers, above the industry average. Virgin Media recorded the fewest number of complaints about its landline service, at 0.06 complaints per 1,000 customers.

Overall, the total volume of complaints directed at telecoms and pay TV complaints actually decreased in Q4 2013, with Ofcom also seeing fewer complaints compared to the previous quarter for the landline telephone, broadband, pay monthly mobile and pay TV services.

“This report acts as a significant incentive to providers to work to address issues driving complaints and deliver an improved quality of service to their customers,” said Claudio Pollack, director of Ofcom’s consumer group.

“Consumer complaints also help us to identify where enforcement action is needed and ensure that providers comply with our rules.”

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