Best and worst broadband, and TV firms for customer complaints revealed – the winner’s not BT, Talk Talk or Virgin

THE BEST and worst broadband, phone and TV firms have been revealed based on the number of complaints they receive.

Ofcom has recently published its latest figures on the number of complaints it revives on the country's biggest providers.

The data is published quarterly and the findings covered the period of January to March this year.

NOW Broadband was the most complained-about broadband and landline provider, with complaints mainly driven by how their complaints were being handled.

EE and Virgin Media came in second as the most complained about landline providers.

Virgin’s complaints were mainly driven by how complaints were dealt with, while EE’s complaints were mainly about faults, service and getting services connected.

Virgin Media was also the most complained-about pay-TV provider.

Meanwhile, Sky and EE were the pay-TV providers who received the fewest complaints.

Utility Warehouse generated the fewest complaints for landline services, while Sky and Shell Energy were the least complained-about broadband providers.

O2 has retained its title as the most about complained about mobile operator for the second quarter running.

Here is what customers complained about most over the quarter

• Complaints handling: 36%
• Faults, services and provisioning: 18%
• Billing, pricing and charges: 20%

Meanwhile, Tesco Mobile, Sky Mobile, EE and Vodafone were the mobile providers who received the fewest complaints.

Overall complaints fell compared to the previous quarter.

Complaints about landline, fixed broadband and pay-TV all fell while complaints about mobile services increased slightly. 

Fergal Farragher, policy director at Ofcom, said: "We’re pleased to see a fall in complaints based on the previous quarter – and we’re especially heartened by an improvement among some providers we have engaged with following previous poor performance."

"However, there is still room for improvement across many services. It’s notable that a major issue for customers is how providers deal with their complaints – this drives many of the complaints we receive, so is clearly an area where providers must raise their game."

Below we outline how each provider for each category ranked and the number of complaints they received.

Broadband

For the second month in a row Sky was the least complained about provider for broadband.

The British communications provider received just six complaints for every 100,000 made to Ofcom.

Sky was in a tie with Shell Energy who also received just six complaints.

The pair were followed by Plus Net who received eight complaints per 100,000.

In the middle ranks, were BT, Talk Talk and EE, who received nine, 11 and 14 complaints respectively.

They were then followed by Vodafone, which received 16 complaints.

In the bottom ranks were NOW TV and Virgin Media, with the pair receiving 22 and 18 complaints respectively.

A NOW TV spokesperson, said: "We’re absolutely committed to ensuring our customers have the best broadband experience - although this represents a small proportion of our customers, we’re still disappointed by this number.

"We’re making improvements to ensure that our customers are fully supported throughout their journey with us."

A Virgin Media O2 spokesperson said: “We know we don’t always get it right when it comes to customer service and we have a comprehensive strategy in place to improve.

"We have boosted the number of agents, including in specialist teams that handle the most complex issues, we’re investing more money in customer-facing areas of the business, multi-skilling our teams, transforming our IT systems and improving our digital tools."

They added: "We know that change takes time and this can’t be fully fixed overnight, but we have a clear plan that has already led to a reduction in complaints, improved customer satisfaction scores and lower call waiting times.

"While there’s more work to do, this gives us confidence we have the right strategy in place to remove persistent pain points and deliver the best possible service to our customers.”

Landline

Utility Warehouse proved to be a winner with customers in the first leg of the year, getting just one complaint per 100,000 complaints.

In tow was Sky which received just two complaints and Shell Energy which received four.

Here is how the other providers performed:

• Plus Net - 5
• BT - 5
• Vodafone -5
• Talk Talk - 8
• Virgin Media: 11
• NOW TV: 12

Mobile

Tesco was the best performer for mobile services over the first quarter.

The supermarket had just one complaint per 100,000.

Tesco's technology arm is known for its competitive pricing and affordable deals.

In second, was Sky, Vodafone and EE who all received two complaints.

Meanwhile, ID Moblie and Three were both moaned about four times each.

02 was bottom of the table with eight complaints.

How to complain about your provider or to switch

Any complaints about your mobile or broadband should be taken to the Communications Ombudsman if eight weeks have passed since you complained to your provider directly.

It's a free service and handles issues between customers and suppliers.

If they help take your complaint on, they can only help back bill you for 12 months.

That means you won't be able to get help getting money back before this.

If you straight up want to leave your current provider, the first thing to do is check whether you are out of contract.

If you are, you should be fine to switch without any extra costs.

If you're not, you might have to pay some hefty early exit fees - so make sure you find this out.

The next thing to do is find the best deal - comparison sites are usually the best bet to help you with this.

Websites like USwitch, MoneySupermarket and MoneySavingExpert.com are worth using.