TalkTalk And 3UK Top Ofcom List Of Shame

TalkTalk has been named and shamed by the communications regulator Ofcom as the most complained-about telecoms company for landline and broadband services between April and June 2011.

While complaints about the company have decreased during the last quarter, they are still far more frequent – 0.8 complaints for every 1,000 customers for landland and 0.58 per 1,000 for broadband – than complaints about BT, BSkyB, Virgin Media or Orange. This was the second quarter running that TalkTalk topped Ofcom’s complaints list for both services.

Ofcom received fewest complaints about Virgin in both the landline and broadband services categories, with 0.15 complaints per 1,000 customers in both cases.

“Information on the level of complaints for a firm is obviously a key factor when people are buying broadband or a telephone/broadband bundle – though based on the growth in numbers of customers it is often outweighed by price for many people,” said Mike Wilson, manager of mobiles and broadband at Moneysupermarket.com, speaking to the Guardian.

Ofcom slaps TalkTalk over bills

The news comes after Ofcom fined TalkTalk and its subsidiary Tiscali £3 millon for incorrectly billing thousands of customers. An investigation by the regulator last year found that between 1 January and 1 November 2010, the Talk Talk group billed around 62,000 consumers for services they had not received.

The ISP was given until 2 December 2010 to clean up its act but still incorrectly charged nearly 3,000 people between then and 4 March 2011.

Meanwhile, 3UK was revealed to be the most complained-about mobile operator, with 0.14 complaints per 1,000 customers. Complaints about 3UK have also been increasing over the last three quarters. According to Ofcom, the increase is driven by complaints relating to disputed charges and customer service issues.

“We are disappointed by these figures and we will work with Ofcom to better understand what is driving them,” said a spokesperson for 3UK. “Although these figures put us on a par with the least complained-about company in fixed and broadband, we are clearly not meeting the expectations of some customers.”

The least complained about mobile provider over the same period was O2 with 0.02 complaints per 1,000 customers.