Ofcom has just published the latest league tables on the complaints we receive about the UK’s major home phone, broadband, mobile and pay-tv firms. Complaints about the telecoms industry fell to levels seen before the start of the pandemic, according to latest figures from Ofcom.
The regulator publishes data every three months to help consumers make informed decisions and to encourage operators to improve their service and how they handle complaints. The volume of grievances increased during lockdown, as many people became increasingly reliant on their home and broadband connections for work, education, communication, and entertainment. The quarterly report reveals the number of complaints made to Ofcom between April and June this year, when the UK’s lockdown restrictions began to ease. Complaints in this quarter fell across the board to levels seen before the Covid-19 pandemic. Virgin Mobile was the most complained-about mobile operator, along with Three and Vodafone; while Tesco Mobile, BT Mobile, Sky Mobile, EE and O2 were all tied as least complained-about operators.
Fergal Farragher, Ofcom’s Consumer Protection Director, commented, “It’s encouraging to see complaints figures falling across the board to pre-pandemic levels, but providers cannot be complacent about their customer service. Those with a consistently high number of complaints still have a lot of work to do to ensure they meet the expectations of their customers.”
In the mobile segment, the industry average was just 3. Tesco Mobile continues to lead the way with just 1 complaint per 100,000 – the same as Sky and EE. O2 (2) and BT (3) also fared well, with Vodafone recording 4 complaints, iD Mobile 5 and Virgin Media also 5. Three received the most complaints with 6.
“These complaints figures are from the peak of the pandemic, which was a difficult time for everyone, including businesses,” said Fergal Farragher, Ofcom’s Consumer Protection Director. “But some providers clearly struggled with customer service more than others, and we understand how frustrating that must have been for their customers at a time when they needed their communications services the most. We have been clear to providers that we expect performance to now return to at least the levels we saw before the pandemic hit – or even better.”
When the Covid-19 pandemic first hit the United Kingdom, most companies had no idea what to do with their customer service operations. As they scrambled for new ways to help their customers, little did they know that many of the temporary changes they implemented would actually become long-term. Businesses had to adapt and work harder to understand the challenges and difficulties their customers were facing, and many of them responded to a national event with empathy for their customers.
In telecommunications, we’ve seen a huge increase in downloading content as consumers forced to stay indoors look for entertainment. Satellite and cable providers have experienced surges in demand for streaming content. Much of that customer service can be automated via business messaging and intelligent chatbots, leaving humans to handle the more complex tasks or those requiring empathy.
Congratulations to all the organisations who have worked so hard to keep customers connected and manage their service needs throughout the last nineteen months since the first lockdown. Customers have needed their suppliers more than ever and for those who have continued to provide an exceptional level of customer experience should be applauded. Brands have learned an important lesson about empathy during this pandemic. Why not keep this empathy going? If there’s one big lesson we’ve learned, it’s that caring for your customers is good for business.
Find out more on the Active Digital, award winning customer experience by chatting to a member of our expert team or live chat with us on the website.
