The UK’s broadband is under the spotlight and these are the best and worst suppliers when it comes to complaints.
The UK’s biggest Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have been put through their paces once again by Ofcom to see how they are performing when it comes to dealing with the moans and groans of consumers. Britain’s communications regulator releases these starts throughout the year and confirms how companies such as Sky, Virgin Media and BT are performing. The latest figure are now available and there are some clear winners and losers.
Overall it’s pretty good news with Ofcom saying that the general trend when it comes to complaints is falling. “In the quarter from January to March 2024 (Q1 2024), complaints to Ofcom have fallen from the previous quarter,” Ofcom confirmed.
However, some ISPs are clearly doing a better job than others. So who comes out on top and who needs to up their game?
Coming bottom of the pile in the latest Ofcom stats is NOW broadband with 22 complaints per 100,000. Ofcom says that NOW users were most annoyed by how their complaints were being handled. Next in line was Virgin Media (17 complaints per 100,000) followed by Vodafone (16 complaints per 100,000).
At the top of the table was Sky with just 6 complaints per 100,000 – that’s a surprising statistic considering NOW is actually onwned by Sky. Coming second was Shell Energy followed by Plusnet and the BT.
HERE ARE THE FULL BROADBAND RESULTS
SKY • 6 complaints per 100,000
SHELL• 6 complaints per 100,000
PLUSNET • 8 complaints per 100,000
BT • 9 complaints per 100,000
TALKTALK • 12 complaints per 100,000
EE • 14 complaints per 100,000
VODAFONE • 16 complaints per 100,000
VIRGIN MEDIA • 18 complaints per 100,000
NOW • 22 complaints per 100,000
Along with checking out broadband complaints, Ofcom has also released figures about Landline, Mobile and Pay-TV gripes as well.
NOW also came bottom of the pile for landline moans with Virgin taking the wooden spoon for and Pay-TV complaints. At the other end of the league was Ultility Warehouse for Landlines and Sky for TV with both scoring the least complaints in these categories.
HERE ARE THE FULL PAY TV RESULTS
SKY • 2 complaints per 100,000
EE (WAS BT) • 2 complaints per 100,000
TALTALK • 3 complaints per 100,000
VIRGIN MEDIA • 11 complaints per 100,000
“Virgin Media was the most complained about pay-TV provider, with customers’ complaints mainly driven by how their complaints were being handled,” Ofcom confirmed.
“Sky and EE received the fewest complaints per 100,000 subscribers.”
Commenting on the latest figures Rocio Concha, Which? Director of Policy and Advocacy, said: “While it’s positive that the overall number of broadband complaints has fallen, Ofcom’s figures show there is still plenty of room for improvement in the sector.
And Ernest Doku, telecoms expert at Uswitch.com, added: “It’s good to see that complaints to Ofcom about landline, fixed broadband and pay-TV have fallen in the first quarter of this year compared to Q4 of 2023.
“It’s disappointing that NOW Broadband is the most complained-about broadband provider, driven by how customer complaints are handled. NOW Broadband received almost four times as many complaints as least complained-about broadband providers Sky and Shell Energy Broadband.
“Although one fifth of complaints were driven by billing, pricing and charges, consumers will hopefully see this start to change in a positive way following Ofcom’s recent decision to end unpredictable inflation-linked mid-contract price rises.
“This change will mean, while price increases will still happen, the total cost of the contract will be clear from the start. This will only apply to new contracts taken from 17th January 2025, meaning there is still a wait until consumers may start to see an impact.”
