Virgin ‘ most complained about broadband’

VIRGIN Media has once again topped the rankings of the most complained- about broadband, landline and pay- TV providers, Ofcom figures show.

The regulator said Virgin Media received the most complaints between October and December last year, driven by how customer issues were being handled, although it did see a sizeable fall in all of these areas from the previous quarter.

Ofcom publishes complaints data every three months to help people compare providers when they look to shop around, as well as push providers into improving their services.

Virgin Media received 20 complaints per 100,000 broadband customers between October and December, an improvement on the 32 per 100,000 recorded in the previous quarter.

It was slightly ahead of Now Broadband which received 18 complaints, but lagged behind the industry average of 12.

Sky came in with the fewest complaints at five per 100,000 customers, while Plusnet and EE both received nine.

Complaints handling was the cause of 43% of customer complaints against Virgin Media, compared with an industry average of 32%.

Some 22% of its complaints were about faults, service and provisioning, well below the industry average of 37%. Its complaints for landlines came in at 13 per 100,000, just ahead of Shell Energy and Now Broadband which had 12 and 10 respectively. It marks a reduction from the previous quarter, which saw 19 complaints per 100,000.

Virgin Media also received 13 complaints per 100,000 for payTV, almost double that of BT, which received seven and Sky and TalkTalk which both received two.

Fergal Farragher, Ofcom’s policy director, said: “We can see from these latest figures that customer dissatisfaction remains at a similar level to the previous quarter.

“While there has been an improvement in Virgin Media’s performance, its position at the bottom of our tables shows there is further room for improvement.”

Rocio Concha, Which? director of policy and advocacy, said: “At a time when many telecoms firms have implemented mid- contract price hikes of almost 9%, it’s unacceptable that poor customer service from some of the biggest telecoms firms has led thousands of their customers to complain to the regulator.

“While many consumers will rightly consider switching, firms that are falling short must urgently make improvements so all customers are getting the standard of service and support they need and deserve.”