Ofcom has published the volume of complaints made against mobile phone network operators, fixed-line phone providers, broadband companies and pay TV services between January and March 2014. It’s the regulator’s thirteenth quarterly report of complaint data.
The total volume of telecoms and pay TV complaints made to Ofcom increased slightly in Q1 2014, with complaints about landline, broadband and mobile pay-as-you-go services up slightly from the previous quarter. Mobile ‘pay monthly’ and pay TV complaints remained at the same level as in Q4 2013.
Unlike previous reports, figures from EE’s three brands - EE (4GEE), Orange and T-Mobile - are now being combined. Ofcom says this reflects EE’s consolidation of the brands following the merger of Orange and T-Mobile.
Ofcom received the highest proportion of complaints about ‘pay monthly’ mobile telephone services from EE customers during Q1 2014. There were 0.12 complaints per thousand customers, which is around twice the industry average. Virgin Media was second-highest, with 0.07 complaints per 1,000 customers.
For the first time since Ofcom began publishing complaints data in April 2011, the company generating the fewest ‘pay monthly’ complaints wasn’t O2. Instead, Three UK performed best, generating 0.04 complaints per 1,000 customers).
Claudio Pollack, Director of Ofcom’s Consumer Group said: “Publishing complaints data is a key part of our work to provide useful comparative information for consumers, and drive improvements in quality of service across the communications sector. The report highlights the performance of providers relative to each other. This is valuable information that consumers may wish to consider alongside other factors such as price and availability, for example, when choosing a provider”.
TalkTalk generated the highest proportion of fixed-line complaints during the first quarter of 2014, EE generated the most complaints for fixed-line broadband and BT TV had the highest proportion of pay TV complaints.
[Telecoms and Pay TV Complaints Q1 2014 (pdf)]
Mobile telephone (pay monthly) complaints per 1,000 customers, January 2012 – March 2014