Ofcom has published their latest quarterly (Q1 2024) study of UK consumer complaints, which saw NOW Broadband (NOW TV) being labelled as the worst provider for attracting the most gripes about broadband and landline phone, while Virgin Media did the same for pay TV services and O2 were the worst for Mobile.
Take note that the regulator’s report only covers complaints that Ofcom itself has received and not those sent directly to an ISP, the ISPA or an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) complaints handler (i.e. Communications Ombudsman or CISAS). Ofcom does not deal with individual complaints, but they do monitor them and can take action if enough people raise a concern.
Otherwise, the results below 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 ISPs can vary significantly in size. But sadly, the study only covers feedback from the largest ISPs (i.e. those with a market share of at least 1.5%) due to limited data.
Take note that the proportion of people who were satisfied with their communications services in 2023 was 77% (unchanged from last year) for landline services, 82% (down from 83%) for broadband and 87% (down from 91%) for all mobile services.
Fixed Line Home Broadband Complaints
NOW Broadband (NOW TV) rather unexpectedly attracted the most broadband complaints in Q1 2024, with customers’ complaints mainly being driven by how their complaints were being handled. On the flip side, Sky Broadband, which is actually the parent of NOW TV, continued to attract some of the fewest complaints of all the listed providers.
Q2 2023
Q3 2023
Q4 2023
Q1 2024
BT
13
11
11
9
EE
7
9
9
14
NOW Broadband
13
18
18
22
Plusnet
11
11
9
8
Shell Energy
13
13
14
6
Sky Broadband
5
5
5
6
TalkTalk
18
15
13
11
Virgin Media
15
32
20
18
Vodafone
24
15
14
16
Industry Average
12
15
12
11
Fixed Line Phone Complaints
NOW Broadband (NOW TV) also attracted the most complaints for fixed line phone services and for the same reason. By comparison, Sky Broadband (Sky Talk) attracted some of the fewest complaints, although the provider attracting the lowest proportion of complaints this time was actually new entrant Utility Warehouse. Well done UW.
Q2 2023
Q3 2023
Q4 2023
Q1 2024
BT
7
7
7
5
EE
6
5
3
11
NOW Broadband
7
11
10
12
Plusnet
7
7
6
5
Shell Energy
10
8
12
4
Sky Talk
2
2
2
2
TalkTalk
10
10
9
8
Utility Warehouse
1
Virgin Media
10
19
13
11
Vodafone
8
5
4
5
Industry Average
7
8
7
6
Mobile Complaints
Mobile operators generally enjoy lower complaint levels than fixed line providers, but O2 still attracted the most gripes during the quarter, with issues around how customers’ complaints were being handled driving most of it. By comparison, Tesco Mobile attracted the fewest gripes. The table list’s BT Mobile too, but they’ve long stopped selling mobile plans to new customers and will be removed in the next update.
Q2 2023
Q3 2023
Q4 2023
Q1 2024
BT Mobile
8
5
3
O2
5
6
7
8
iD Mobile
4
4
3
4
Sky Mobile
2
2
2
2
Tesco Mobile
3
3
2
1
Three UK
4
4
4
4
Virgin Mobile
8
Vodafone
3
3
2
2
EE
2
2
2
2
Industry Average
3
3
3
4
Pay TV Complaints
Finally, Virgin Media attracted the most complaints for Pay TV and the key driver for most of those gripes stemmed from issues with how customer complaints were being handled. Meanwhile, Sky TV and EE jointly received the fewest pay-TV complaints.
Q2 2023
Q3 2023
Q4 2023
Q1 2024
EE (prev. BT)
10
7
7
2
Sky TV
2
2
2
2
TalkTalk
4
1
2
3
Virgin Media
10
20
13
11
Industry Average
5
7
5
4
Ofcom’s Consumer Complaints Report Q1 2024
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/../telecoms-and-pay-tv-complaints