TalkTalk TalkTalk stays below Ofcom's quarterly tally of complaints watermark
Ofcom's quarterly tally of complaints shows that telecoms providers TalkTalk, Sky and Virgin Media all received less than the watermark 20 complaints, while Plusnet, EE and the Post Office received the most. Although TalkTalk received fewer than Vodafone's 18 complaints about its mobile network, the company received more complaints than Virgin Media. Ofcom launched the quarterly tally to identify where telecoms providers fail to serve their customers and issue fines where appropriate.

BT and Plusnet have once again topped the lists and the most complained about broadband providers in the UK, according to Ofcom’s quarterly tally of complaints.

Ofcom’s figures show that BT received 36 complaints and Plusnet, which is owned by BT, received 30 per 100,000 customers; EE also owned by BT came third with 26 complaints.

The industry average for complaints sits at 20; Sky came in with a mere seven complaints, while Virgin Media and Talk Talk both stayed below the complaints watermark.

Telecom troubles

Plusnet was the wort provider for landline complaints, followed by EE and the Post Office in third position. While on the TV service side, BT was the most complained about company with 19 complaints, Virgin Media followed but by a decent margin with seven complaints.

Vodafone was the most moaned about mobile operator with 18 complaints, with Talk Talk in second place and Virgin Mobile taking the bronze with eight complaints.

Lindsey Fussell, director if the consumer group at Ofcom, said the regulator is not impressed with such figures and will step in to take action if telecoms customer service remains rather dire.

“We won’t stand for complacency when it comes to customer service. We expect providers to make it a top priority and work hard to better serve their customers” she said. “If companies let their customers down, we will step in and investigate, which can lead to significant fines.”

Telecoms providers often make a big song and dance about the service they deliver, with BT championing its rollout of its Infinity fibre broadband, and Virgin Media often blowing its trumpet over the number of homes it has connected to it superfast broadband.

However, despite these halo projects, it would appear that the services the customers end up with are far from satisfactory, and there remains an element of postcode lottery as to whether access to the best broadband can be had on one street while another goes without.

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