Latest telecoms and pay-TV complaints revealed

• Sky ranks best for all services, after entering mobile league table for first time
• Plusnet complaints more than double, after launching a new billing system

Ofcom has today published the latest league tables on the complaints we receive about the UK’s major home phone, broadband, mobile and pay TV firms.

The quarterly report reveals the number of complaints made to Ofcom between October and December last year, about firms in the home broadband, landline telephone, pay-monthly mobile and pay TV markets. All providers with a market share over 1.5% are included.

For the first time, Sky was included in the mobile market and entered the league table with the fewest complaints. This means Sky is the least-complained-about provider across all four services.^[1]

Complaints from Plusnet's broadband customers more than doubled in the last quarter of 2018. In that period, the company experienced issues with a new billing system it launched.

BT has replaced Virgin Media as the most complained-about pay TV provider, while both companies drew the highest complaints figures for mobile, along with Vodafone. The main reasons for complaints about all three providers were issues around billing, pricing and complaints handling.

Complaints information helps people to think about quality of service when they are shopping around for a new provider, and encourages firms to improve their performance. Our service quality hub offers further information on choosing the best provider.

Fergal Farragher, Ofcom’s Director of Consumer Policy, said: "There's never been more choice in phone and broadband services. We’re glad to see this fierce competition is driving some companies to push themselves to deliver better customer service.

"Unfortunately, some firms are lagging behind or struggling with consistency. It’s important they remember customers who aren’t happy can shop around and vote with their feet.”

Although Ofcom cannot resolve individual complaints, we offer consumers advice, and the information we receive can lead to us launching investigations.

Anyone experiencing problems should complain to their provider first. If they are unhappy with the outcome, people can take the complaint to an independent ombudsman, who will look at the case and make a judgment on it.

Home broadband complaints per 100,000 customers

The actual measurable difference between certain broadband complaints figures per 100,000 subscribers is less than one, so the following results should be considered comparable: 1) Virgin Media and the industry average; 2) EE and Post Office.

Landline telephone complaints per 100,000 customers

The actual measurable difference between certain landline complaints figures per 100,000 subscribers is less than one, so the following results should be considered comparable: 1) BT, Virgin Media and the industry average; 2) EE and Sky.

Pay-monthly mobile complaints per 100,000 customers

The actual measurable difference between certain pay-monthly mobile complaints figures per 100,000 subscribers is less than one, so the following results should be considered comparable: 1) BT, Vodafone and Virgin Mobile; 2) Three, the industry average and O2; 3) iD Mobile and EE; 4) EE and Tesco Mobile; 5) Tesco Mobile and Sky Mobile.

Pay TV complaints per 100,000 customers

Relative scale of average complaints per 100,000 customers, by sector (quarterly)

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. The actual measurable difference between some complaints figures per 100,000 subscribers is less than one, so EE’s landline result should be considered comparable to Sky’s, as should Tesco Mobile’s and Sky’s results in the pay-monthly mobile sector.