Broadband News

Slamming tops telecoms complaints list

Wednesday, 25 March 2009

By Garnet Roach garnet@consumerchoices.co.uk

The problem of landline and broadband mis-selling was the most complained about telecoms issues over the last year, according to regulator Ofcom.

Although the number of overall complaints to Ofcom fell over the past year, issues such as mis-selling - where consumers receive false or misleading information by a phone company to convince them to switch telephone supplier - are still a problem.

“Additionally if a consumer receives a bill from a company they haven’t signed up to, it’s possible they’ve been “slammed’,” said the telecoms regulator. In other words, the new company has switched their account without first obtaining the customer’s permission.

Complaints about MAC codes and broadband “line tags” which can prevent a customer installing broadband in their home, were the fourth and fifth most common issues and Ofcom said that “a MAC should be given to a consumer by their current provider within five working days of a request,” and that it was working hard to ensure that rules were being met.

Ofcom has recently begun a review of additional charges, and will begin an enforcement programme from 1 April to make sure that any additional charges - such as levies for paying by cheque or a fee for an itemised bill - are fair, and that consumers are aware of them before signing a contract.

However, additional charges still account for the third highest number of complaints.

The second most common complaint was about silent calls, the vast majority of which are “simply the work of a machine, called a predictive dialler, used by call centres to phone large numbers of people in one go,” said Ofcom.

Ofcom said that it had tightened the rules on silent calls and also fined companies such as the Abbey National, Carphone Warehouse - owner of AOL Broadband (www.AOL.co.uk) and TalkTalk Broadband (www.TalkTalk.co.uk) - and fined Barclaycard the maximum possible amount.

Michael Phillips, BroadbandChoices.co.uk product director, said: “Although the overall number of complaints seems to have declined over the past year, it is issues such as mis-selling, not issuing MAC codes within the specified time and additional charges tucked away in the small print that have given the broadband industry a bad name.

“Providers need to take on board all of Ofcom’s recommendations, comply with all of its rules and even take things a step further by always making customer satisfaction a top priority,” he said.

Compare broadband deals

Save up to £363* when you include TV and calls with your broadband

CLOSE [X]

*Enter your postcode to find the best broadband deals in your area. We value your privacy, please see our privacy policy.

Why we need your postcode

Comments