Sky gets pat on the back in latest Ofcom complaints stats

As children's entertainment behemoth Disney and Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox tussle for control of Sky, Ofcom has revealed the broadcaster and telecoms utility was the least complained about provider in the latest complaints league table.

The regulator publishes tables on the complaints it receives about the UK’s major providers of telecoms and pay television services once per quarter, with the latest data being collected between January and March of this year.

It said overall complaints about broadband and landline services decreased, while there was no change in the total number of complaints received about mobile and pay television.

It said Sky received the fewest complaints for broadband, landline and pay television services, with Tesco Mobile the best performing for pay-monthly mobile.

For several years, Ofcom said both companies had performed consistently well compared to the industry averages for those services.

For the first time, Dixons Carphone own-brand mobile operator iD Mobile featured in the complaints table, having achieved a stable market share in the pay-monthly mobile sector above 1.5% - the threshold for being included in the report.

“It’s frustrating enough when things go wrong, without having to put up with poor customer service as well,” said Ofcom director of consumer policy Jane Rumble.

“So it’s encouraging to see complaint numbers falling in some areas, and we want to see this continue.

“Anyone fed up with their provider can easily shop around and see if there’s a better service out there for them.”

Ofcom said it receives nearly 300 complaints each day from consumers, explaining that although it could not resolve individual complaints, it did offer consumers advice, with the information received sometimes leading to the launch of investigations.

The regulator said anyone experiencing problems should complain to their provider first, and could escalate the issue to an independent ombudsman, who would look at the case and make a judgment on the issue.

Home broadband complaints per 100,000 customers:

• TalkTalk 29
• BT 23
• Plusnet 20
• Industry average 16
• EE 13
• Virgin Media 12
• Sky 5

Landline telephone complaints per 100,000 customers

• TalkTalk 20
• Plusnet 15
• BT 14
• Post Office 12
• Industry average 12
• Virgin Media 11
• EE 9
• Sky 5

Pay monthly mobile complaints per 100,000 customers

• Virgin Mobile 11
• iD Mobile 10
• Vodafone 9
• BT 8
• TalkTalk 5
• Industry average 5
• Three 3
• EE 3
• O2 3
• Tesco Mobile 1

Pay television complaints per 100,000 customers

• BT 16
• Virgin Media 9
• TalkTalk 8
• Industry average 5
• Sky 2