A Review of Consumer Complaints Procedures

The majority of consumers have a positive experience with communications services and do not have cause to complain to their provider.

For those that encounter a problem, most who contact their provider are likely to have the matter promptly resolved to their satisfaction. The competitive nature of the UK telecommunications markets means that communications providers (CPs) are likely to be receptive to the needs of their consumers and have strong commercial pressures to ensure that consumers are satisfied with the service they receive.

However, we have concerns with the experience of a minority of consumers who may have a very negative experience from being unable to lodge or effectively pursue a complaint with their provider. In this Statement we are not concerned with the substance or validity of consumer complaints (be they mis-selling, migration problems, or billing disputes), but rather whether the complaints processes of CPs may be preventing consumers from having their complaint dealt with in a reasonable manner.

When considering the nature and scale of any problems with industry complaints handling as well as any possible remedies, we have been very careful about not being overly prescriptive in how CPs should be expected to engage with their customers. We strongly support providers marketing their customer service standards as a competitive differentiator and the ability of consumers to use their purchasing power to leave those providers who do not treat them appropriately. However, we consider that when something goes wrong, consumers should be able to expect some basic standards of complaints handling from their provider.

We are satisfied that the regulatory requirements contained in this Statement are targeted and are an appropriate response to the problems we have identified. The obligations on providers also meet the requirements under section 3(3) of the Act that regulatory activities should be transparent, accountable, proportionate, consistent and targeted only at cases in which action is needed. This is not a step Ofcom has taken lightly, but we consider it is a necessary one.