TalkTalk retains top spot in Ofcom complaints table
TalkTalk is still the most complained-about communications provider in the UK, Ofcom has said in its latest dissatisfaction report, although BT looks set to take top spot in next quarter's complaints league.
The regulator puts these reports out on a quarterly basis, and it said on Tuesday that TalkTalk had managed to top the list every quarter in the last year, both for its fixed-line broadband and landline services. As usual, Virgin Media is the least complained-about provider.
The first of Ofcom's Telecoms Complaints reports came out in April. That report, which covered October 2010 to February 2011, showed that 1.78 out of every 1,000 TalkTalk customers complained to Ofcom during the quarter over their landline services. The ISP's per-thousand figure for fixed broadband services was 1.27, also top — or bottom, depending on the way one views it — of its league.
TalkTalk said at the time that its troubles were related to the integration of former Tiscali customers into its systems.
The latest report, published on Tuesday, shows TalkTalk is still the most complained-about ISP, but it appears to be less unpopular among its customers than before.
In the fourth quarter of 2010, TalkTalk attracted about five times as many complaints over landline services as the next provider down the list, Sky. In the latest quarter TalkTalk attracted around 0.77 landline complaints per thousand customers, making it only two and a half times more complained about than BT Retail, which has now pipped Sky to second place.
Similarly, complaints over TalkTalk's fixed broadband services have also gone down by about a third, while BT Retail's complaints have gone up by around a quarter — at this rate, BT will be more complained-about in Ofcom's next report.
As in the previous reports, more people complain about Three than any other mobile provider. The complaint levels here are much smaller than those for fixed services, but it does appear that 3 customers' complaints have increased by about half over the three quarters. That said, complaints for Orange, Virgin Mobile and Vodafone also rose over the same period.