TalkTalk tops Ofcom complaints league

Complaints

TalkTalk has been named the most complained about UK telecoms provider, according to findings released today by Ofcom.

The ISP topped the complaints list from the telecoms watchdog for both landline and broadband services, with 1.78 customers per 1,000 complaining about the former service and 1.27 customers per 1,000 criticising the latter.

Rival ISP Virgin Media took the more positive prize of least complained about, with just 0.21 customers per 1,000 taking issue with its landline services and 0.2 customers per 1,000 disapproving of its broadband.

The award for mobile provider with the most criticisms went to 3, with 0.15 customers per 1,000 lodging a complaint. However, it was very closely followed by T-Mobile with 0.13.

The least moaned about honour fell to O2, with just 0.04 customers per 1,000 making a negative noise about the service.

The figures came from complaints sent to Ofcom between October last year and February 2011 and only included providers with more than five per cent market share.

The watchdog said it received an average of 450 complaints a day, on issues ranging from bills and customer service problems to mis-selling.

"Consumers should have access to as much information as possible to allow them to choose between providers and to take full advantage of the competition in the sector," said Ofcom's chief executive (CEO) Ed Richards.

"By publishing complaints data, Ofcom aims to provide useful information to consumers, and also to give telecoms providers an incentive to improve their customer service."

Jennifer Scott

Jennifer Scott is a former freelance journalist and currently political reporter for Sky News. She has a varied writing history, having started her career at Dennis Publishing, working in various roles across its business technology titles, including ITPro. Jennifer has specialised in a number of areas over the years and has produced a wealth of content for ITPro, focusing largely on data storage, networking, cloud computing, and telecommunications.

Most recently Jennifer has turned her skills to the political sphere and broadcast journalism, where she has worked for the BBC as a political reporter, before moving to Sky News.