Broadband News

How does your broadband provider fare when it comes to complaints?

Wednesday 21 December, 2011

By Kelvin Goodson

TalkTalk is again the most moaned about broadband provider, while Sky rivals Virgin Media as the least criticised company

TalkTalk received more complaints than any other major broadband provider between July and September, Ofcom has said.

The telecoms authority received 0.55 complaints about TalkTalk per 1,000 customers over the three months, which it said were “largely driven by line faults and other service issues”.

In comparison, Sky and Virgin Media were neck and neck as the least complained about major broadband providers in the country, with Ofcom receiving just 0.19 complaints per 1,000 customers for both companies.

Despite its apparently lowly status in the broadband complaints stakes, TalkTalk’s performance has actually improved over the course of the year.

Between October last year and February this year, Ofcom received 1.27 complaints per 1,000 customers about TalkTalk. This dropped to 0.58 per 1,000 customers between April and June.

TalkTalk has in the past blamed its poor complaints record on moving its customers to a new billing system, as well as moving Tiscali customers to its network after buying out the Italian telecoms company in 2009.

TalkTalk said: “It’s encouraging that complaints continue to come down. They account for 0.05% of our broadband customer base and, in November, Ofcom reported that ‘there has been improvement in many areas of TalkTalk’s customer service since February 2011’.”

Despite being joint top of the “least complaints” table, Virgin Media saw its fine record slightly blemished over the last three months - between April and June it received just 0.15 complaints per 1,000 customers about its broadband service.

A Virgin Media spokesperson said: “We’re working hard to deliver the best services around and are pleased to see Ofcom’s results, but we want to deliver a fantastic customer experience every time and continue to invest in our network, content, products and services.”

Commenting on becoming the joint best performing broadband provider when it comes to complaints - or lack of them - Sky said: "We’re delighted that our investment in our network, products and customer service has once again been recognised through this research by Ofcom. Even so, we’ll continue to work hard on getting even better.”