Ofcom has named and shamed the most complained about major telecom providers operating in the United Kingdom.
The Ofcom findings will make uncomfortable reading for the ISP TalkTalk and mobile operator 3UK, each of which headed up their respective list of user complaints.
The findings were based on all consumer complaints received by Ofcom between October 2010 and February 2011.
Ofcom’s findings revealed that there is a lot of disaffection with our service providers, as it receives on average 450 telecom-related complaints per day. Complaints cover a range of subjects including billing errors, lack of service, mis-selling, and customer service.
So who were the main culprits then?
In second place was BSkyB with 0.41 (fixed line) and 0.39 (broadband) complaints for every 1,000 customers). Next was BT Retail with 0.37 (fixed line) and 0.61 (broadband), while Virgin Media attracted the lowest number of complaints with 0.21 (fixed line) and 0.20 (broadband) for every 1,000 customers.
TalkTalk is currently the third largest ISP in the UK after BT and Virgin Media. It seems that it gathered the bulk of the complaints last November as it struggled to absorb Tiscali, following its acquisition back in 2009.
Indeed in late February Ofcom revealed that TalkTalk and Tiscali UK had paid almost £2.5 million in refunds and good will payments to thousands of consumers who were incorrectly billed for cancelled services.
On the mobile side, it seems that Brits complained most about the operator 3UK.
3UK scored 0.15 complaints for every 1,000 customers during the same period. Second was T-Mobile with 0.13; third was Orange with 0.10; Vodafone was fourth with 0.9; and O2 achieved the happiest customer rating with just 0.04 complaints per 1,000.
“Consumers should have access to as much information as possible to allow them to choose between providers and to take full advantage of the competition in the sector,” said Ofcom Chief Executive, Ed Richards. “By publishing complaints data, Ofcom aims to provide useful information to consumers, and also to give telecoms providers an incentive to improve their customer service.”
Meanwhile consumer groups were quick to welcome Ofcom’s decision to name the telecom providers that gathered the most complaints.
“Last year the Panel called on Ofcom to publish data on the numbers of consumer complaints to telecoms providers, so today I am happy to welcome this first step by the regulator towards greater transparency,” said the acting chair of the Communications Consumer Panel, Bob Warner.
“Publishing the numbers of complaints by provider is good news for consumers, who will now be able to make an informed choice about the provider that is best for them – and give telecoms providers an incentive to improve their service,” said Warner. “I would encourage Ofcom to look at ways in which the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) schemes could also publish data that is meaningful to consumers in the future.”
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TalkTalk are the sleaziest dirty coniving scum of all broadband providers!
Just how low or sneaky can TalkTalk get? Well, here is a bit of insight to their tactics if anybody is foolish enough to give them a try! 2 reps came to my door with their usual spiel of, “did I know my phone line had been upgraded”. Upgraded to what I asked? Free broadband! Oh yes and when did this happen I asked? The mouth-piece of the 2 said TalkTalk had upgraded my line for faster broadband. Well that’s news to me as I’ve been with Plusnet for 2 years and never been with TalkTalk. He asked how much I was paying, and I told him £22.85 a month for line rental, 60GB usage and free calls anytime.
We can give you fibre optic was his reply (I will add here that I have A+ network support, A+ hardware/software, MCP and an MCSE). I became a bit flippant at first and said, what are you some sort of magician or something, because this area (ALLOA) does not have fibre and there is no intention of the powers that be ever supplying it to this area, now or in the near future. Now for the bullshit! His reply was that TalkTalk can do it (they just have to flick a switch—Laughable or what eh!), and I sort of lost the rag a bit and told the pair to politely naff off (in Glaswegian terms of course).
What happened next throw me and caused a blistering row with the wife and I, because about 3 weeks or so later they were back, only this time I was out, and yes they got my wife to sign up (damned cheek). I immediately called their cancellation number to get the order cancelled, which they assured me was done.
Now for the juicy part! Last week I received a letter from TalkTalk (along with what has to be the cheapest, tackiest router I have ever clapped eyes on). The letter was a notification of my TalkTalk connection going live on 27th June, and of a direct debit to be deducted from a certain date + a £30 connection fee. We immediately contacted the bank to have this cancelled (STRONG ADVICE: DON’T EVEN LET THESE TALKTALK PEOPLE OVER THE DOOR).
I phoned them up again and warned them if they ever attempt anything like that again, I will be instructing my bank to initiate legal proceedings for attempted fraud.