Ofcom has published their latest study of UK consumer complaints for Q4 2023, which once again names Virgin Media as the worst for attracting the most gripes about fixed broadband, landline phone and pay TV services. Meanwhile, O2, which is part of the same company, attracted the most complaints for Pay Monthly Mobile services.
The regulator’s new 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 services and 87% (down from 91%) for all mobile services.
Fixed Line Home Broadband Complaints
For the second quarter running, Virgin Media attracted the most broadband complaints in Q4 2023, with related gripes against the ISP mainly being driven by issues related to complaints handling (44%). On the flip side, Sky Broadband continued to attract the fewest complaints of all the listed providers.
Q1 2023
Q2 2023
Q3 2023
Q4 2023
BT
12
13
11
11
EE
7
7
9
9
NOW Broadband (NOW TV)
9
13
18
18
Plusnet
12
11
11
9
Shell Energy
16
13
13
14
Sky Broadband
5
5
5
5
TalkTalk
20
18
15
13
Virgin Media
15
15
32
20
Vodafone
17
24
15
14
Industry Average
12
12
15
12
Fixed Line Phone Complaints
Virgin Media also attracted the most complaints for fixed line phone services, where the top gripe once again related to issues of complaints handling (43%). By comparison, Sky Broadband (Sky Talk) attracted the fewest complaints.
Q1 2023
Q2 2023
Q3 2023
Q4 2023
BT
8
7
7
7
EE
5
6
5
3
NOW Broadband (NOW TV)
6
7
11
10
Plusnet
7
7
7
6
Shell Energy
10
10
8
12
Sky Broadband
3
2
2
2
TalkTalk
13
10
10
9
Virgin Media
9
10
19
13
Vodafone
7
8
5
4
Industry Average
7
7
8
7
Mobile Complaints
Mobile operators still enjoy lower complaint levels than fixed line providers, but O2 managed to attract the most gripes during the quarter, with issues around complaints handling (34%) driving most of it – we’re starting to see a bit of a trend. By comparison, EE, Tesco Mobile, Vodafone and Sky Mobile all tied by attracting the fewest gripes.
NOTE: The table list’s BT too, but it’s worth pointing out that they no longer sell mobile plans to new customers.
Q1 2023
Q2 2023
Q3 2023
Q4 2023
BT Mobile
7
8
5
3
O2
4
5
6
7
iD Mobile
4
4
4
3
Sky Mobile
2
2
2
2
Tesco Mobile
2
3
3
2
Three UK
3
4
4
4
Virgin Mobile
4
8
Vodafone
3
3
3
2
EE
3
2
2
2
Industry Average
3
3
3
3
Pay TV Complaints
Finally, Virgin Media attracted the most complaints for Pay TV and the key driver for most of those gripes was, yes you guessed it, issues with complaints handling (48%). Meanwhile, Sky TV and TalkTalk jointly received the fewest pay-TV complaints.
Q1 2023
Q2 2023
Q3 2023
Q4 2023
BT
11
10
7
7
Sky TV
2
2
2
2
TalkTalk
4
4
1
2
Virgin Media
9
10
20
13
Industry Average
5
5
7
5
Ofcom’s Consumer Complaints Report Q4 2023
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/../telecoms-and-pay-tv-complaints