Oftel has started to publish its Consumer complaints made to Oftel in a new, easy-to-use format which sets out the number of consumer complaints about different fixed line and mobile operators against an industry average. The first edition in the new format was published in December.

In 2001, over 98 000 consumers contacted Oftel to make a complaint or enquiry about telecoms services.

The complaints data published by Oftel provides useful information for consumers and acts as an important incentive to telecoms companies to improve service standards and handle complaints more efficiently.

At present this information is published every six months, but in the long term Oftel aims to publish on a quarterly basis.

Top three complaints made to Oftel
1 telecoms company's failure to repair a fault / time taken to repair a fault.
2 consumer's complaint ignored by telecoms company
3 consumer experienced difficulties contacting a telecoms company.

The publication, covering the period 1 April to 30 September 2001, can be found here.

For further information contact Alistair Cox (tel: 020 7634 8733 / e-mail: alistair.cox@oftel.gov.uk).