July 24, 2019 Ofcom has published the latest league tables on the complaints it receives about the UK’s major home phone, broadband, mobile and pay-TV firms. The quarterly report reveals the number of complaints made to the media regulator between January and March this year about firms in the home broadband, landline telephone, mobile and pay-TV markets. All providers with a stable market share over 1.5 per cent are included. The latest complaint figures reveal that: Pay-TV: TalkTalk was the most complained-about pay-TV provider, after its complaints per 100,000 subscribers doubled from seven in the previous quarter to 14 this quarter. A third of TalkTalk pay-TV complaints were about complaints handling (33 per cent). The other main drivers of TalkTalk’s complaints included issues relating to contracts (27 per cent) and issues relating to billing, pricing and charges (18 per cent). Sky generated the lowest volume of pay-TV complaints – just 1 per cent per 100,000 subscribers. BT (10 per cent) and Virgin Media (7 per cent) also generated complaints above the industry average. Broadband and landline: Plusnet was the most complained-about broadband and landline provider, with 31 and 24 complaints per 100,000 customers respectively in the first quarter of 2019. However, this figure was lower than in the previous quarter, reflecting the general trend in volume of complaints for the landline and fixed broadband markets. Vodafone (30 per cent), TalkTalk (24 per cent) and BT (15 per cent) also generated broadband complaint volumes per 100,000 subscribers above the industry average. EE (5 per cent) and Sky (also 5 per cent) generated the lowest volume of broadband complaints per 100,000 subscribers. Mobile: Vodafone and Virgin Mobile were jointly the most complained-about mobile providers, with six complaints per 100,000 customers. The biggest drivers of dissatisfaction were problems with billing, pricing and issues related to changing providers.
Ofcom’s latest league tables of complaints concerning suppliers of landlines and mobile phones, broadband and pay-TV services lists TalkTalk as the most complained about pay-TV provider in Q1 2019. The company was also named by Which? Complaints handling was cited as an issue by 33% of customers, with 27% troubled by contract details, and 18% unhappy about billing, pricing and charges. BT and Virgin Media came second and third in the table, with 10 and seven complaints per 100,000 subscribers respectively.