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My home phone provider hasn’t resolved my complaint - what next?

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Research from Ofcom, the telecoms regulator, shows that frustration with the customer services of a home phone provider is not uncommon.

Home phone and broadband customers were found to be the least satisfied with the customer care provided by their suppliers, revealed the study in July 2011.

The research also found that we are most likely to contact our landline operator to change the type of package we are on or because of poor call quality.

Being unable to get through to the right person, the speed at which the phones are answered and general unhappiness with customer care advisors were the main problems surrounding poor customer service.

New rules

Thankfully, Ofcom has introduced new rules to help landline users resolve their complaints, which are based on making the process easier and highlighting the options available in the event that an operator cannot or will not come to a decision.

These rules were introduced after Ofcom found that, in 2009, around three million consumers were faced with complaints about their phone or broadband service that remained unresolved after 12 weeks.

Resolving complaints

Under Ofcom’s new rules, home phone providers must include information about the relevant dispute resolution service you should contact on all paper bills.

Suppliers are also now required to contact you and let you know you have the right to take your complaint to a dispute resolution service if it has not been resolved within eight weeks.

Three-quarters of the same consumers Ofcom interviewed in 2009 were unaware that resolution services existed, which is why Ofcom wants to improve awareness.

Dispute resolution services

Do you empathise with those consumers? Well, a dispute resolution service is an independent service for consumers whose complaints cannot be resolved by their provider.

All communications companies must belong to an Ofcom-approved dispute resolution service and offer their customers free access to it.

A complaint is deemed unresolved and should be taken to a dispute resolution service if it remains up in the air eight weeks after it was first made, or sooner if the provider says that it cannot or will not solve the problem.

The decisions made by dispute resolution services are legally binding and you could find yourself awarded up to £5,000 compensation for financial loss and inconvenience caused if your complaint is upheld.

The two free, independent, Ofcom-approved resolution services available to you are CISAS (Communications and Internet Services Adjudication Scheme) and Ombudsman Services: Communications, previously known as Otelo.

Getting a result

While no one could blame you for becoming disheartened by problems with your home phone provider or for considering dropping your complaint after being passed around a seemingly endless number of uncaring customer care advisors, Ofcom’s 2009 research shows that using a dispute resolution service makes a real difference.

According to its research, dispute resolution services improve the outcome of complaints. For example, over 90% of complaints made to mobile networks that were not resolved within 12 weeks were sorted out when taken to a dispute resolution service.

In comparison, only around half of the complaints which were not taken to a dispute resolution service were resolved.

Before and after

However, as outlined above, your complaint can only be taken to a dispute resolution service after eight weeks, it cannot be made to a dispute resolution service.

Complaints should always be made to your home phone supplier initially, and you can find out how to complain about your home phone provider in our guide.

If and when your complaint is resolved using a dispute resolution service, you can contact Ofcom to let them know how you found the process. While the regulator doesn’t handle individual complaints, it uses consumers’ experiences to keep tabs on providers and address broader communications issues.

You can submit information to Ofcom simply by filling out a monitoring form.

Cutting your losses

Of course, if all that sounds like way to much hassle for you, you can simply show your home phone provider who’s boss by switching to another service.

Ofcom is currently looking at making it quicker and easier to switch providers in order to improve consumers’ experience and promote competition. An update to this review is expected later this year.

In the meantime, read the Homephonechoices.co.uk guide on how to switch phone provider.

Ask us a question

If you have a general switching or provider query please email us at ourexpert@homephonechoices.co.uk