Home phone News

TalkTalk the most complained about home phone provider. Again.

Thursday 22 September, 2011

By Kelvin Goodson

TalkTalk’s landline service gets the most moans again, but it’s improving, finds Ofcom.

Customers can once again sign-up to Plusnet’s Talk International 300 package, which was ditched by the cheap broadband and calls provider last year.

Data from the telecoms regulator showed that it received 0.8 complaints per 1,000 customers about TalkTalk between April and June, compared to 0.15 for Virgin Media, the least complained about landline provider.

However, Ofcom’s report also revealed that TalkTalk has significantly improved customer satisfaction since the end of last year, when 1.16 complaints per 1,000 customers were made about the company.

Ofcom said: “While TalkTalk Group generated the most complaints, we note that there has been an improvement in their performance, quarter-on-quarter.”

TalkTalk has in the past attributed its poor customer service performance on moving to a new billing system and switching Tiscali customers to its network after buying out the telecoms company in 2009.

A TalkTalk spokesperson said: “It’s encouraging that Ofcom’s data demonstrates that, following the Tiscali integration, the service we offer our customers has significantly improved in the last quarter with the number of complaints as a percentage of customers dropping by over 50%.”

The company is simplifying its business to make things easier for its customers and calls to its customer service teams have fallen 40% on this time last year, the spokesperson added.

“We’re committed to providing good service alongside our best value and, while we clearly still have lots to do, we’re confident that our customers are beginning to see the benefits of the changes we continue to make.”

TalkTalk has endured a difficult year, being accused of “misleading” sales tactics by Ofcom in May and then fined £3million by the regulator last month for wrongly billing thousands of customers.

Ofcom’s complaints data only covers providers with a 4% share of the telecoms market that it receives at least 30 complaints about a month, so smaller suppliers are not included.