The most complained about firms for broadband, landline, mobile and pay-TV revealed

TalkTalk has generated the most complaints for broadband and landline, primarily due to faults and service issues, new research has revealed.

Meanwhile, Virgin Mobile customers were the least satisfied for their mobile contracts, along with Three and Vodafone, according to data from Ofcom.

Its sister company, Virgin Media, was also the most complained about pay-TV provider.

The regulator today published the latest league tables on the complaints it receives about the UK’s major home phone, broadband, mobile and pay-TV firms.

TalkTalk and Virgin customers complained the most about their providers earlier this year

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.

It found complaints in this time fell across the board to levels seen before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Virgin Media in particular saw its complaint volumes reduce significantly across all four sectors, after Ofcom raised concerns with the provider about its customer service in the previous quarter.

Pay-TV 

Despite complaints going down, Virgin Media was still the most complained-about pay-TV provider with customers citing how the company handled their complaints the most common reason for raising concerns to Ofcom.

It received an average of nine complaints out of 100,000 whilst the industry average is just four. 

Sky had the least complaints at just one in 100,000 whilst TalkTalk and BT came next with an average of five and six, respectively.  

The graph shows the number of complaints to Ofcom per service over the past ten years

Broadband 

Meanwhile, TalkTalk generated the most complaints for broadband, primarily due to faults and service issues.

It received 19 complaints per 100,000 whereas the industry average is 12. 

Virgin Media had 17, Plusnet had 15 whilst Shell Energy and Vodafone both had 13 out of 100,000.

On the other hand, EE was named as the best with just four out of 100,000 complaints, followed by Sky and BT with five and 10, respectively. 

Mobile 

Virgin Mobile was the most complained-about mobile operator with an average of four complaints in every 100,000 along with Three and Vodafone with an average of three each.

Tesco Mobile, BT Mobile, Sky Mobile and EE were all tied as least complained-about operators with just one complaint, on average 

The industry average was recorded as just two in every 100,000.

TalkTalk found itself being the most complained about firm for broadband and landline

Landline 

For landlines, TalkTalk was also the most complained about with an average of 13 out of 100,000 complaints.

This was followed by Shell Energy and Virgin Media at 10 where the industry average was at seven. 

By comparison, EE and Sky received the least complaints at two and three, respectively.  

Fergal Farragher, Ofcom’s consumer protection director, said: ‘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.’

Ofcom said it hopes the information it publishes about complaints will help people compare firms when shopping around for a new provider and encourages firms to improve their performance. 

Although it cannot resolve individual complaints, it can offer consumers advice, and the information it receives can lead to it launching investigations.

Anyone experiencing problems should complain to their provider first. 

If they are unhappy with the outcome, people can take the complaint to an independent ombudsman, who will look at the case and make a judgment on it.

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk