Ofcom reviews telecoms complaints procedures

The UK's telecommunications regulator has announced it wants to make it easier and speedier for consumers and small businesses to complain about their voice or broadband services.

Ofcom said on Thursday that it was launching a consultation on the matter. The regulator's preferred proposals, it said, would force communications providers (CPs) to make their customers aware of so-called 'alternative dispute resolution ' (ADR) schemes, and would reduce the length of time that needs to pass before a complaint can be referred to such schemes.

At the moment, anyone complaining to their CP must wait 12 weeks before shifting that complaint to an ADR scheme such as Cisas or Otelo. As its research has shown that complaints are unlikely to be resolved at all if they are not resolved within eight weeks, Ofcom now wants to reduce the 12-week waiting period to eight weeks.

Ofcom's research also showed that only 15 percent of UK adults were aware that such dispute-resolution schemes even exist, so it wants providers to make information on the ADR schemes available in jargon-free terms as soon as a customer complains.

Another element of the review concerns service providers' complaints code. Each provider currently has its own Code of Practice for Complaints, which needs to be approved by Ofcom, but the regulator now wants to formulate a single Ofcom Approved Complaints Code of Practice that will apply to all providers.

Ofcom's consultation will run until 4 October, and a formal review of the ADR schemes themselves will take place in the second half of 2009.