Advanced Television

Ofcom: BT broadband and TV still earn most complaints

September 28, 2017

BT has continued its run as the UK’s most complained about ISP, according to Ofcom data. The company attracted 28 complaints per 100,000 customers for the service during Q2 (April to June 2017).

BT has now been ranked the worst out of the UK’s six major broadband providers for the fifth quarter in a row, despite the figure being lower than for the previous period.

Sky and Virgin Media received the fewest complaints amongst ISPs for the quarter. Sky earned just seven complaints per 100,000 customers whilst Virgin Media was ranked in second place, with 13 complaints per 100,000 customers. EE also performed well, with 15 complaints per 100,000 customers.

BT’s pay-TV service also struggled. BT TV attracted 13 complaints per 100,000 subscribers over the three months. The service has now had more complaints than its rivals in every Ofcom report since mid-2015. Sky had just one complaint per 100,000 for its TV offering, whilst TalkTalk and Virgin Media were at six and eight complaints per 100,000 respectively.

Speaking to BBC News, a BT spokesperson said: “We apologise to customers we’ve let down. We care about service and we’ve invested heavily to make improvements, including hiring 2,200 extra people, which is helping us answer calls more quickly than ever before – over eight out of ten are now being answered in the UK and Ireland.”

Jane Rumble, Ofcom’s Director of Consumer Policy, said: “Complaints about telecoms and pay-TV may be falling this year, but some providers are falling a long way short on customer service. There can be no room for complacency. We expect providers, particularly those who have been consistently under-performing, to make service quality and complaints handling their number one priority.”

Categories: Articles, Broadband, Broadcast, ISP, Markets, Pay TV, Research, Telco