UK consumer broadband, pay-TV complaints hit highs

The has just published the latest league tables on the complaints it has received about the UK’s major home phone, broadband, mobile and pay-TV firms. The quarterly report revealed the number of complaints made to us between January and March 2021 about telecoms and pay-TV providers with a market share over 1.5%. That meant the reporting period covers the third UK-wide lockdown, when there was still mass working and schoolchildren had studies moved online.

Overall, Ofcom found complaints about mobile services remained broadly stable. However, broadband and home phone complaints hit a three-year high, while complaints about pay-TV services also increased.

The latter was largely driven by Virgin Media, which said the study was the most complained-about broadband, home phone and pay-TV provider. Ofcom revealed that the main reason customers complained to about Virgin Media was to do with how the company handled their complaints. Sky and EE were also the least complained-about broadband and home phone providers, and Sky attracted the fewest complaints for pay-TV.

“These complaints figures are from the peak of the pandemic, which was a difficult time for everyone, including businesses,” remarked Ofcom consumer protection director Fergal Farragher. “But some providers clearly struggled with customer service more than others, and we understand how frustrating that must have been for their customers at a time when they needed their communications services the most. We have been clear to providers that we expect performance to now return to at least the levels we saw before the pandemic hit – or even better.” Rapid TV News