EE was the most complained about service provider i n the U.K.’s fixed-line and broadband sectors in the last three quarters of 2014, according to new data from Ofcom, while its parent company-to-be BT attracted the most complaints in the pay TV market.
EE also fared badly in the postpaid mobile market, drawing the most customer complaints in the second and third quarters of last year, but in Q4 rival player Vodafone overtook it, generating 0.15 complaints per 1,000 customers to EE’s 0.12.
On the fixed broadband side EE racked up 0.42 complaints per 1,000, while BT, Plusnet and TalkTalk also came in above the Q4 industry average of 0.16, Ofcom said.
EE featured in the U.K. regulator’s fixed-line telephony table for the first time, the threshold for inclusion being a market share of 1.5%. It was an inauspicious entry for EE, which generated 0.33 complaints per 1,000 in Q4, ahead of Plusnet with 0.25, TalkTalk with 0.24, and the Post Office HomePhone with 0.23.
"Complaints about EE’s landline service mainly related to problems with changing provider; fault, service and provision problems; and customer bills," Ofcom said.
Virgin and Sky both bettered the industry average in the fixed-line and broadband tables, while Tesco Mobile – another new entrant – fared best in mobile. Tesco generated between 0.01 and 0.02 complaints per 1,000 in each of the three quarters, coming in just ahead of 3UK and O2, which averaged 0.03 and 0.04 respectively.
BT has consistently been the most complained about provider in the pay TV space over the past couple of years, but its complaint levels are dropping. It recorded 0.15 complaints per 1,000 in Q4, compared with 0.10 for TalkTalk and 0.04 for Virgin Media.
Ofcom said the complaints it received in the April-December period decreased slightly compared with previous years, continuing a long-term downward trend.
"While operators still have room to improve their performance, it’s encouraging to see a continuing decline in the total vol ume of complaints," said Claudio Pollack, director of Ofcom’s content and consumer group.
