Ofcom today published research on the volumes of complaints against the major telecoms and pay TV providers between April and June 2013.Overall, levels of complaints made to Ofcom during the second quarter of 2013 fell, primarily due to a decrease in landline and broadband complaints. The decrease in complaints between Q1 and Q2 2013 was the largest quarterly reduction for a year.
This is Ofcom's tenth quarterly report, which aims to help consumers make informed decisions, especially those who are considering changing provider or shopping around for a new service. It also incentivises operators to improve their performance.
Claudio Pollack, Director of Ofcom's Consumer Group said: It's encouraging to see the biggest reduction in complaints for a year and we hope these figures will incentivise providers to further improve their performance.
We're committed to giving consumers valuable information to help them choose a provider that best suits their needs. Consumer complaints also help us to identify where enforcement action is needed and ensure that providers comply with our rules.
Landline telephone services
In the landline telephone market, TalkTalk1 generated the most complaints during the second quarter of 2013, with 0.34 complaints per 1,000 customers.
TalkTalk complaints are at their lowest level since Ofcom first began publishing complaints data, although remain at double the industry average. Customers experienced issues with how their complaints were handled and problems with changing provider.
BT complaints fell quarter on quarter from 0.20 to 0.16 per 1,000 customers in Q2 2013 - level with the industry average.
Both Sky and Virgin Media generated complaints below the industry average. Virgin Media had the fewest number of complaints, at 0.06 complaints per 1,000 customers, while Sky generated 0.13 complaints per 1,000 customers.
Landline telephone complaints per 1,000 customers, April 2011 - June 2013
Broadband services
During the second quarter of 2013, Orange/EE2 generated the most complaints as a proportion of its customer base, at 0.32 per 1,000 customers. Although its complaints continued to decline following a peak in October 2012, they are still almost double the industry average. Complaints were mainly driven by problems with billing and changing provider.
TalkTalk was the second most complained about broadband provider, generating above average complaints at 0.29 per 1,000 subscribers. BT also generated complaints in excess of the industry average, at 0.28 for every 1,000 customers.
Virgin Media's service attracted fewest complaints - 0.06 per 1,000 customers.
Fixed broadband complaints per 1,000 customers, April 2011 - June 2013
Pay-monthly mobile services
Ofcom received the most complaints about pay-monthly mobile from T-Mobile customers during the three months to the end of June 2013.
T-Mobile generated above average complaints at 0.17 per 1,000 customers, largely driven by issues related to billing and complaints handling. Orange and Three also generated complaints in excess of the industry average, at 0.13 and 0.09 per 1,000 customers respectively.
O2 retained its position as the provider generating fewest complaints at 0.03 per 1,000 customers. Complaints about Vodafone and Virgin Mobile were also lower than the industry average.
As Ofcom has not received more than 30 complaints per month about any pay-as-you-go provider, we have not included separate data for these. However, Ofcom continues to closely monitor levels of complaints for pay-as-you-go mobile.
Mobile telephone (pay-monthly) complaints per 1,000 customers, April 2011 - June 2013
Note difference in scale to landline and broadband services
Pay TV services
From April to June 2013, Ofcom received the most complaints about BT Vision at 0.25 complaints per 1,000 customers.
Although falling from 0.29 per 1,000 subscribers in the previous quarter, complaints about BT Vision remain around six times greater than the industry average. These were partly driven by problems with service provision and complaints handling.
The relative positions of Virgin Media and Sky remained the same as for the previous quarter. Virgin Media's complaints were in line with the industry average at 0.04 per 1,000 customers, while Sky had the lowest number of complaints - 0.02 per 1,000 customers.
Pay TV complaints per 1,000 customers, October 2011 - June 2013
Note difference in scale to landline and broadband services
ENDS
NOTES FOR EDITORS
Following discussions with TalkTalk Group, Ofcom has reviewed which of its brands should be reported on as within the Group' and decided to change its reporting processes. Complaints about AOL will no longer be allocated to TalkTalk Group as we consider AOL to be a separate and unique consumer-facing brand. This is consistent with how Ofcom reports on other providers with multiple consumer-facing brands (e.g. Plusnet's complaints separated from BT Retail).To account for this adjustment we have amended TalkTalk Group's complaints results from October 2010 to the present.
Complaints volumes for Orange and EE broadband services now reported as a single combined entity due to brand consolidation
The industry average' refers to the average of providers included in the Ofcom research. Complaints about other smaller providers are not included in this average.
Consumers typically raise a complaint with their provider in the first instance. If the provider is not able to resolve the complaint within eight weeks, the consumer can submit their complaint for consideration by an independent person in accordance with the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) scheme that the provider is obliged to put in place under General Condtion14.5 of the General Conditions. In addition, some consumers contact Ofcom; on average, we receive around
