facebook rss twitter

Ofcom: complaints falling but telcos still a problem

by Scott Bicheno on 7 December 2010, 15:24

Tags: Ofcom

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qa3he

Add to My Vault: x

Steady progress

The communications watchdog Ofcom has published its fifth annual Consumer Experience Report, which claims to offer a snapshot of how the UK communications market has evolved in the past five years.

Some of the changes highlighted are:

  • The (presumably average) cost of calling from a mobile phone has fallen from 15.1p per minute to 8.8p
  • The number of unbundled fixed broadband lines has increased from 123,000 to 7.23 million

The report reveals that complaints are falling, but slowly, having dropped by 20 percent in four years. Of course the fall could just as easily be due to people not believing Ofcom will act on them as any indication that things are getting better. Additionally the report concludes competition is improving, but given Ofcom's remit it was unlikely to conclude otherwise.

Here are the main sources of complaints to Ofcom:

  • Switching processes - Despite it being, in theory, easier than ever to switch communications suppliers, we're doing so less often
  • Broadband speeds - This is a rapidly growing source of complaints, primarily around misleading advertising
  • Customer service - Bad complaints handling
  • Silent calls - Complaints about automated marketing calls and/or auto-diallers are rapidly increasing. Ofcom's answer is to rule that from February 2011 "...companies will no longer be able to call consumers without the guaranteed presence of a live operator more than once a day."
  • Landline mis-selling - Slamming (your phone account being charged without your consent) is still a big issue, but Ofcom reckons innocent mistakes are a major factor.

You can access the full, very long, report here.

 



HEXUS Forums :: 9 Comments

Login with Forum Account

Don't have an account? Register today!
Silent calls - Complaints about automated marketing calls and/or auto-diallers are rapidly increasing. Ofcom's answer is to rule that from February 2011 “…companies will no longer be able to call consumers without the guaranteed presence of a live operator more than once a day.”


Just… lol.
miniyazz
Just… lol.

Why?
razer121
Why?
Because it's a pathetic half-hearted ‘solution’ to autodialers and other similar telemarketing annoyances.
razer121
Why?

Would you be happy to be called once per day by a machine trying to sell you stuff? And it's not even that - different companies can call you. And it's not even that - they can have machines call you as many tines per day as they want, as long as they have a guy in India there to speak to you in the unlikely event you don't hang up. I mean, seriously?
I get 5 plus calls a day from them anyway, silent “machines” plus the anoying indian chap/women trying to sell me something, then there is the debt collectors for a mr “carter” who died 5 odd years ago….so this would be good for me lol