Ask our Expert

How do I complain about my home phone provider?

Our expert says...

There are around 450 complaints about telecoms providers made to Ofcom every day, so you’re not alone in wanting to take your home phone problems to a higher authority, Lorraine.

Looking at big providers with at least a 5% market share, Ofcom’s research between October 2010 and February 2011 found that TalkTalk (www.talktalk.co.uk) was the most complained about home phone supplier.

It averaged 1.78 complaints per 1,000 customers, compared to 0.41 for Sky (www.sky.com), 0.37 for BT (www.bt.com) and just 0.21 for Virgin Media (www.virginmedia.com).

TalkTalk says the heavy volume of complaints was caused by “the complex task of moving [customers] to our network and a new billing platform”. It said that the number of complaints had tailed off towards the end of the period but it was continuing to “work tirelessly to improve”.

Contact your provider

The first thing anyone needs to do if they're having problems with their home phone service, is get in touch with their supplier.

Calmly explain the problem you're having to the customer service department, preferably by phone, or by email, fax or letter if you can’t get in touch with them any other way.

Ofcom says: “It is in a provider’s own interests to treat its customers fairly and well, and in most cases they will resolve the issue satisfactorily.”

Make a complaint

If your home phone provider fails to deal with your problems, either because it refuses to address the issue or because it says there is nothing it can do, then you should make an official complaint.

Ofcom advises consumers to ask that their complaint “be reviewed in accordance with [the provider’s] own complaints procedure which is contained within their Complaints Code of Practice.”

All telecoms providers must publish this code of practice, which you can usually find on your supplier’s website.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

If this still doesn’t get your complaint resolved, you should try an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) service.

Your home phone provider will either be a member of:

Cisas

Ombudsman Services: Communications, formerly Otelo.

Because ADR schemes are designed to supplement, rather than replace, your provider’s own procedures, you must wait eight weeks before you can make a complaint.

However, if you receive a “deadlock letter” from your provider saying that it will not be taking your complaint further, you can contact your ADR - even if it hasn’t been eight weeks yet.

You won’t have to pay to take your complaint to an ADR scheme - and it is an Ofcom requirement that all telecoms providers are signed up to one of the two independent bodies.

If the ADR agrees with your complaint, it can order your home phone provider to fix the problem and can even award financial compensation.

Contacting Ofcom

Ofcom doesn’t handle complaints from individuals, but the regulator still advises consumers to get in touch and voice their problems. This way Ofcom can keep track of any repeat offenders or industry-wide issues that need to be addressed.

Simply fill out a monitoring form online to let Ofcom know what you think of your provider.

Ask us a question

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