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Introduction

Chapter 1

1.1 Oftel’s Consumer Representation Section (CRS) is responsible for answering and where possible dealing with or referring business and residential consumer complaints or enquiries. On average CRS receive around 8,000 contacts per month however, during this 6 month period this rose to almost 11,000. Around 85% of these are from residential consumers and 15% from businesses. Most contacts are complaints (80%) and 20% are enquiries. Approximately three-quarters of Oftel’s contacts are received by phone and a quarter in writing.

1.2 This is the final wave of research prior to Ofcom. The survey was designed to assess how satisfied customers are with the way in which Oftel handled their complaint or enquiry, and how Oftel’s performance compares with other companies and organisations. This report makes comparisons to data from the previous waves.

1.3 This report is based on the key findings from the forth wave of research of business and residential consumers’ perceptions of Oftel’s complaints handling procedure. The survey was conducted over a six-month period between May and October 2003, amongst 513 consumers.

1.4 The sample was drawn at random from Oftel’s database of consumers who had contacted Oftel and comprised customers who made that contact during the preceding month.

1.5 To ensure a representative sample was achieved, quotas were applied to the type of customer (business/residential), method of contact (phone/letter/email/fax) and type of contact (complaint/enquiry). In order to achieve a larger and more robust sample of business contacts, business consumers were also over-sampled and then re-weighted to their natural proportion. Please see footnote for further sample details .

1.6 The survey was conducted on behalf of Oftel by Continental Research during May ’03 – October ‘03. This report has been prepared by Oftel based on the results provided by Continental Research.

1.7 The report covers:

• Method and type of contact
• Time taken to respond
• Satisfaction with complaint handling
• Benchmarking results and comparisons with other companies
• Suggestions for improvement to procedure

1.8 A copy of the questions is attached in Annex A.

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