Ofcom has published their latest Q4 2019 consumer complaints data, which reveals that UK ISP Vodafone attracted the most gripes for broadband, while Plusnet were the worst for landline phone and Virgin Media sat on the naughty step for Pay TV. On the flip side Sky (Sky Broadband, Sky TV) attracted the fewest moans from consumers.
The following report only covers complaints that the regulator itself has received and not those sent directly to either an ISP, ISPA, ADR complaints handler (i.e. Ombudsman Services or CISAS) or other agencies. Ofcom does not itself deal with individual complaints but they do monitor them and can take action if enough people raise a concern.
NOTE: In Q4 2019 the relative volume of complaints per sector per 100,000 customers by quarter was 12 for broadband, 9 for fixed line phone and just 4 for pay tv.
Otherwise the results reflect a proportion of residential subscribers (i.e. the total number of quarterly complaints per 100,000 customers per provider), which makes it easier to compare providers in a market where the largest ISPs can vary in size. However the regulator’s study only covers feedback from the largest ISPs – those with a market share of at least 1.5% – due to limited data.
Sadly the regulator hasn’t produced their usual report for Q4 2019, which means that we only get a basic statistical summary (i.e. no context for the complaints themselves). In addition, they’ve excluded mobile operators because of a need to conduct further “quality assurance” work before they can be confident of the results. No doubt COVID-19 has made all of this more difficult than usual.
Despite this we do still get an idea of which providers generated the most gripes at the end of 2019, even though we don’t know exactly why. We recommend readers check out our ISP Complaints and Advice section for more information on how, where and when to submit a complaint.
Fixed Line Home Broadband Complaints
Vodafone’s broadband service generated the most complaints this quarter, while Sky Broadband and EE both jointly generated the fewest.
Fixed Line Phone Complaints
Plusnet’s phone service generated the most complaints this quarter, while Sky Broadband once again generated the fewest.
Pay TV Complaints
Virgin Media’s TV service generated the most complaints this quarter, while Sky TV generated the fewest. The format of this chart is a bit different from the ones above as there are fewer providers, so it worked better to order the bars by quarter instead of provider.
Ofcom’s Consumer Complaints Report Q4 2019
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/../telecoms-pay-tv-complaints-q4-2019.csv
