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TalkTalk tops Ofcom broadband complaints list - again

John Fitzsimons
by Lovemoney Staff John Fitzsimons on 27 June 2012  |  Comments 36 comments

For the sixth straight quarter TalkTalk has received more complaints about its broadband services than anyone else.

TalkTalk tops Ofcom broadband complaints list - again

Ofcom has published its latest complaints data, revealing that TalkTalk is once again the most complained about broadband provider.

TalkTalk generated 0.56 complaints for every 1,000 customers, far outstripping its rivals. This is not the first time it’s topped this particular hall of shame – Ofcom publishes its complaints data on a quarterly basis, and each quarter since October 2010 has seen TalkTalk as the most complained about broadband provider.

If there is a silver lining for TalkTalk, it's that it isn’t quite as bad as it used to be. Back in the final quarter of last year it generated 0.61 complaints per 1,000 customers, while at the start of 2001 it managed 0.81 complaints, a record high.

The next most complained about provider was BT with 0.38 complaints per 1,000 customers. Sky attracted the fewest complaints, at just 0.15 per 1,000 customers.

If you have an issue with your broadband provider, be sure to check out our Complain and get your own way guide. And if they don’t respond satisfactorily, switch to a different provider. You can compare deals in your area over at BroadbandChoices.

The most complained about mobile, landline and pay-TV providers

The data doesn’t just cover broadband though. Ofcom has also released complaints figures for mobile phone, landline and pay-TV providers.

With landline, it was very much a one-horse race, with TalkTalk again outstripping its rivals, generating 0.72 complaints for every 1,000 customers. As with broadband, it’s the sixth straight quarter it has come out top for complaints.

The next most complained about was BT with 0.24 complaints, while Virgin was the provider least likely to irritate us, with 0.16 complaints.

With mobile phones, the most complained about provider was 3, which received 0.14 complaints per 1,000 customers. Next was both T-Mobile and Vodafone with 0.08 complaints. O2 was the least complained about – for the sixth straight quarter – generating just 0.02 complaints for every 1,000 customers.

Finally, pay-TV. This is the first time paid-for TV services have been included in the round-up, with BT by a distance the least popular provider. It attracted 0.27 complaints for every 1,000 customers, a figure Ofcom put down to issues with the BT Vision sales processes and problems with billing. In contract, Virgin attracted just 0.07 complaints and Sky just 0.03.

What do you think of the results? Have you complained about one of these firms before? How did they respond? Let us know in the comment box below.

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Comments (36)

  • rbgos
    Love rating 81
    rbgos said

    Strange - I had no problems at all when I was with TalkTalk. But I just switched to Tesco Broadband. and it's driving me crazy - half my devices now won't connect to the internet via WiFi, and the internet connection itself disappears sporadically, this never happened before the switch. I'd switch back to TalkTalk tomorrow if I wasn't tied in to a contract...

    Report on 28 June 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • FireBlade
    Love rating 25
    FireBlade said

    I'm with talk talk, and for 2 years whenever i make or receive calls on my land line, i lose my broadband wireless connection. I've rang TT twice, getting through to their Indian call centre, and neither resulted in the problem being rectified.

    Cost wise they're good, but it comes at the price of dreading the phone ringing.

    Ironic.

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  • Farab
    Love rating 24
    Farab said

    Have a look at your broadband contract's T&C under section "Service Level Agreement" or "Level of Service". If the service you're receiving does not meet what's specified in this section (and you have reported it numerous times without change), then that's grounds to cancel your contract.

    Report on 28 June 2012  |  Love thisLove  1 love
  • JohnW
    Love rating 26
    JohnW said

    I am not sure a straight forward statistic like this fully explains the situation. For example some operators only provide service in limited areas, mainly urban ones, so may have more reliable networks. What do you mean by complaints, was the complaint that the service was not working or was the complaint about the way the problem was handled? As usual you can get a statistic to tell you what you want it to tell you and in my view this statistic is meaningless unless you know the full details behind it. I would certainly not choose my operator on this statistic.

    Report on 28 June 2012  |  Love thisLove  1 love
  • markj9035
    Love rating 19
    markj9035 said

    I used to be with Talk Talk. They took an age to connect us but once connected we had absolutely trouble with service what so ever. The problems started when we moved house and tried to cancel our service (we were out of the contract period so it shouldn't have been a problem at all).

    They kept charging us, also kept sending threatening contract letters, we kept phoning "Kevin" in India to try and resolve the issues. It took lietrally months to get them to a/ realise we had moved and not taken thier service with us b/ Stop them trying to take money from our bank c/ stop them trying to convince us that we should be with them in our new house as we still (not) under contract and d/ stop sending us threatening letters saying we owed them money.

    Then once we had finally got all that settled they randomly sent us a cheque about 6 months later for about £100 that they "owed" us. I didn't argue, I just cashed it. But as said, on a positive note, when we were with them the actual TV, broadband and phone service was great and cheap. Just hassle though trying to talk to them.

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  • sippag
    Love rating 7
    sippag said

    What is never mentioned in these knocking articles is price. Talktalk is great on price.this makes them attractive and many move over. This causes service overload equals complaints.Now the higher levels of management have to be at fault as this has been going on for years. They think that if you can speak to someone you can hardly make out or have no authority to do anything for you . This should keep you happy.I now have great service, miles cheaper than I used to pay, even on my landline. They need a big technical and manpower rethink. If I had to get up at 4.00am to fix my connection then thats what I would do..

    If I was offered my MRI slot at 2.00am I would be there. Whit 24hr NHS no chance

    Report on 28 June 2012  |  Love thisLove  1 love
  • culluding-fool
    Love rating 49
    culluding-fool said

    What about Tiscali and AOL? For me, they were the worse customer service by far, followed closely by Utility Warehouse. All broadband companies I have used have been ok until something goes wrong. That's when the trouble starts. I'm now with Plusnet for their amazing technical support, as a technical person myself it relieves a lot of frustration to be able to talk to people who know what they are talking about and are not just working to a script.

    Report on 28 June 2012  |  Love thisLove  1 love
  • mayfly
    Love rating 4
    mayfly said

    My advice to FireBlade is to use your own router; this makes it much easier to switch between providers. To use an analogy, you don't expect your electricity supplier to give you a consumer unit, so why expect a router from a broadband provider?

    As a matter of interest, I had a long-standing issue with TalkTalk this year which took over 50 calls, nearly 10 engineer visits and 2 months to resolve. The fault actually lay with BT (that's altogether another story), but TalkTalk's handling of it from a customer service point of view was very poor and I received a substantial payment in compensation from them.

    They have this faintly ridiculous company name TalkTalk - but no-one in it seems able to talk to any else.

    Report on 28 June 2012  |  Love thisLove  2 loves
  • JOHN MAXWELL
    Love rating 56
    JOHN MAXWELL said

    i was with Talk Talk and my problems started with financial issues. i was promised a £30 start up credit and settlement of my cancellation penalty with BT for my land line. it took several months and many e mails and phone calls before these issues were cleared. the service problem was the need to continually reboot the router and slow speeds. by the time my contract came to an end i was reasonably satisfied but moved to Plusnet on principle. so far so good with Plusnet although as with all suppliers my broadband speed is ok but nowhere near that ''promised''.

    Report on 28 June 2012  |  Love thisLove  1 love
  • JohnW
    Love rating 26
    JohnW said

    @FireBlade if you still have that problem try changing the filter this is the main cause, I find the cheap filters need replacing every couple of years. It can be caused by other things though.

    Report on 28 June 2012  |  Love thisLove  2 loves
  • adamtaylor1969
    Love rating 2
    adamtaylor1969 said

    In my experience Sky broadband has provided an appalling service. I have had complaints and problems ignored over a number of years. In the end I gave up and joined the mobile broadband network of 3. The reason I didn't pursue Sky to sort my problem? They give me a free broadband service that is included in my TV and phone package...when it failed to deliver I took the view that as I wasn't paying for it I would let it go (that and the fact that all providers seemed to struggle to provide a decent service in my area). Is that why they don't appear at the top of poor providers?

    Report on 28 June 2012  |  Love thisLove  1 love
  • Alan Gallon
    Love rating 5
    Alan Gallon said

    Generally nothing wrong with the product and the price BUT they have a wonderfully effective Customer Annoyance Department. The main instruction to TalkTalk staff is to treat all customers as criminals who are either trying to raise spurious problems or somehow attempting to defraud the company. Try to report a fault and you are subjected to an interrogation worthy of the Gestapo on the ridiculous grounds that it is to do with data protection (even when you use your own TalkTalk landline - haven't they heard of caller id?). I've tried writing to them instead (on headed notepaper quoting my account number) and they have written back saying that they cannot deal with my letter because I haven't quoted my actual telephone number in the body of the letter. It is brilliant, whoever designed their customer "service" procedures should be awarded the Jobs-Worth equivalent of the O.B.E.

    Report on 28 June 2012  |  Love thisLove  2 loves
  • rsharp
    Love rating 8
    rsharp said

    It would be more interesting to know how many complaints each provider received direct, rather than complaints received by Ofcom.

    Some providers may receive more complaints but resolve them before the customer goes to Ofcom.

    The data for Talktalk (0.56 complaints per 1,000 customers) would suggest that 99.944% of Talktalk customers are satisfied with the service (satisfied enough not to go to Ofcom, at least). That doesn't seem to be that bad and I agree with JohnW that you shouldn't choose a supplier on the basis of complaint statistics alone.

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  • pdg1066
    Love rating 0
    pdg1066 said

    Some years ago, having received terrible service on more than one occasion. I left TalkTalk and moved phone & Broadband to Sky. Whilst there have been the odd niggles, they have been resolved quickly.

    It doesn't suprise me at all to see Sky leading the tables!

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  • iaanhampton
    Love rating 3
    iaanhampton said

    I was with Talk Talk in the early days weeks after they started it was without doubt the most disorganised and frustrating company I have ever dealt with IN MY LIFE and I am of advanced years to say the least! they lost me my land line for 6 weeks and had no idea how to get it back on.I ended up going in to carphone warehouse shop (carphone warehouse owned it at the time) and making a nuisance of my self with staff and customers which finally got them out of my life.To think they have not learnt any lessons is a disgrace but we are British we put up with all the C*** from companies citizens in other countries would not put up with it

    Report on 28 June 2012  |  Love thisLove  3 loves
  • mayfly
    Love rating 4
    mayfly said

    FireBlade - Apologies, I meant rbgos! As JohnW commented to FireBlade, cheap filters can be the cause of connection problems, but don't get fixated on them: BT changed our main filter 8 times before I could get them to stop and investigate the line properly. It turned out that a tree branch had at some point rubbed through the insulation on the old incoming telephone wire. There are freely available BT test numbers to use, but a simple one is just to lift your handset when your router is reasonably busy and see if you can hear crackling or modem tones; if so, then there is a problem somewhere and you need to keep standing on the head of you broadband provider until they fix it properly.

    Report on 28 June 2012  |  Love thisLove  2 loves
  • Dunsailing
    Love rating 5
    Dunsailing said

    My brother has talk-talk broadband and he can`t wait to get rid. I`m with BT and I must say I`ve never had any really problems with them. Any problems I have had, had been rectified within two days. I`ve been with BT for many, many years and I do know that other customers are not so lucky and have had terrible service from their BT.

    Report on 28 June 2012  |  Love thisLove  1 love
  • Duncan Westerman
    Love rating 0
    Duncan Westerman said

    I have been with Talktalk since its start-up. They certainly struggled at the beginning. This was because they were surprised and overwhelmed by demand. Why? Because their rates were and are so cheap. I have always been completely satisfied with their service. There will always be some complainers. It's a true saying in business that if there are no complaints you probably have no customers. Finally, its worth remarking that on the two occasions when I have had a broadband problem it has turned out to be BT the back of it. Tallktalk are at their mercy when it comes to technical matters.

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  • wigglylines
    Love rating 4
    wigglylines said

    There seems to be a number of people here saying that Plusnet are very good, especially their support team. Be aware though that Plusnet is now owned by BT and the level of reliability has fallen and that you will be 'prioritised' as to connectivity. I currently get a transfer rate of about 5MB/s whereas the line is capable of 8MB/s. My PING times have gone from 26ms to 41 ms to the same server. I have been 'prioritised'. Also the support team does all it can to convince you it is the customers end that is the problem and to let the Line Management give you the highest rate. TWADDLE. I have been in the IT/Comms industry for over 40 years and it is my belief that their script is to put you off. However they are less worse than the majority of ISPs.

    Report on 28 June 2012  |  Love thisLove  1 love
  • oldlowie
    Love rating 9
    oldlowie said

    TalkTalk get a complaint from 1 in 2000 customers?

    That's not bad, is it?

    Report on 28 June 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • tonygogo
    Love rating 13
    tonygogo said

    No mention of Virgin media on this - where did they appear on the table? I'm with them, have been for years, and I've had few issues they didn't deal with quickly. Possibly a bit more expensive than others, but IMHO, definitely worth it.

    Report on 28 June 2012  |  Love thisLove  2 loves
  • JohnW
    Love rating 26
    JohnW said

    @mayfly as I said there can be other problems, but I was referring specifically to the problem where the modem disconnects when either the phone rings or when you lift the handset to make a call. If you have other problems with random disconnection it can indeed be a poor quality line. It is doubtful you will hear the modem tones unless you have the ears of a dog, but you may hear a slight hiss if the filter is bad. You can check for noise on a quiet line, dial 17070 on a BT line (may work on other lines) and follow the prompts.

    Remember the more extension phones you have plugged in, including your Sky box, will reduce your broadband speed and possibly cause occasional disconnections.

    Report on 28 June 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • jonbey
    Love rating 1
    jonbey said

    This does not surprise me. I was with Talk Talk Business for 2 years (a 2 year contract with a hefty release fee). I was without Internet and telephone so many times, and not once was I given a proper explanation. On the final occasion I had no telephone for 6 hours. A long time for a business to be without a phone! I raised a ticket, got nothing back apart from the "we have not heard from you so assume all is OK now".

    Now back with BT for my phone and Entanet for my Internet, and so far all is OK. I still get problems with Internet from time to time but I get through to someone on the phone straight away and they resolve problems.

    Report on 28 June 2012  |  Love thisLove  1 love
  • MK22
    Love rating 142
    MK22 said

    I've been with Talktalk for donkeys years and yes, there were problems to start with. But as several have pointed out they are incredibly cheap and as I'm getting 20Mb down load speed on copper overhead wire virtually for free, I'm going nowhere!

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  • AnturCynhyrfus
    Love rating 2
    AnturCynhyrfus said

    It's easy to look at the numbers and say TalkTalk are the worst, but if you turn the numbers on their head, 99.944% of TalkTalk customers haven't complained. This compares with 99.985 for Sky, suddenly the numbers don't look quite so bad do they!

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  • quarrybanksurfer
    Love rating 5
    quarrybanksurfer said

    Talk talk has cold called us frequently, phone calls often nobody there when answering, calling at our front door stating that they are taking over our exchange and wanting us to change, quite happy with present provider. Since then have had periods of phone going off, slow broadband. BT is another company with poor customer service when we moved to this address we informed them weeks in advance and a date was given to connect to broadband after four weeks and a huge mobile phone bill was informed that they had no record of this, it then took another seven weeks to connect us, no compensation and my sons business failed as he relied on the internet.

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  • sippag
    Love rating 7
    sippag said

    One thing to keep in mind is that most suppliers have to use a BT line.If these other suppliers do not have their own equipment in the exchange then BT can turn down the speed which makes many of the WI Fi services unworkable. These suppliers can also turn down the speed to create a chargeable call out. If there's a loose connection BT can charge these suppliers to tighten a screw. We do live in Rip Off Britain after all.

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  • bobmattfran
    Love rating 58
    bobmattfran said

    I agree with most of the comments regarding Talk Talk and BT, however by far the main problem is the lack of knowledge by people complaining about download speeds. I have been with BT for over 3 years and I have had 2 problems attributed to BT and fixed within 24 hours. One was a cable fault between the exchange and the distribution cabinet, the other was a fault in the cabinet caused by flooding.

    Most people seem to blame their service provider for their cluttered and overloaded PC. They gaily download pictures, music, files, junk of all sorts, and hardly ever consider regular housekeeping on their PC. I have repaired and restored PCs and Laptops where the screens are covered with Apps and Icons all contributing to the slow response of the disk, processor and memory. I have many times removed upwards of 5,000 junk files from seriously fragmented disks. These customers all blamed their broadband provider, when in fact it was down to both ignorance and laziness.

    PC manufacturers are happy to sell machines promising enhanced performance, which from day one deteriorates as users download and save more and more junk.

    You wouldn't fill your living room up to the ceiling with waste paper to such an extent you could hardly get in the door, yet people quite happily pour rubbish into an expensive piece of electronic equipment and don't even ask for advice on how to remove it.

    If your PC is slow, and the internet screen takes for ever to load, try defragging your disk first. Once that is done use the disk clean up tool to remove unwanted junk files. The difference to the overall speed of the PC will be an eye opener.

    Report on 28 June 2012  |  Love thisLove  1 love
  • Per Andersson
    Love rating 0
    Per Andersson said

    If BT are 2nd most complained about broadband provider how can they be allowed to state in their TV adverts that they are 'Britain's most popular broadband provider'? That's just blatant lying!

    As for speed - I have been with Virgin Media since 1998 and they have been excellent - and with genuine high speeds - I am on 30meg and 100% of the time get 30meg, which they will be upgrading to 60meg soon, for free.

    How can BT make the claims they are making, unless they are counting all the other ISPs who are tied to using BT lines for their internet and not just those BT internet customers.

    Report on 28 June 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • leah AKA global leah
    Love rating 21
    leah AKA global leah said

    Majority of the people I know are with TalkTalk, and even though they haven't really complain about them, they haven't exactly praised them either, except for their prices. My sister was with TalkTalk, but had nothing but problems with them, my mother was also with them at the same time, and they kept charging her for phone calls abroad a lot more than the contract that she'd signed, and threatened to take her to court because she refused to pay until they got it sort out.

    I, on the other hand, am with supanet, although once in a while I do have glitches here and there, but they're always resolved within 24hrs. TalkTalk rang one day while I was at work, and my partner told them that if they wish to talk to me, ring me later, forgot to mention it to me, then the next thing I know, I got a letter from my ISP AND BT wanting my authorisation to finish their contract, because apparently TalkTalk told them that I'm changing my contracts to them.

    Took me 3 days to sort both my landline and ISP because TalkTalk refused to give them the PAC code and totally blocked all my lines until I rang them and told them that if they don't release my line, I will take it further!

    Although BT is a lot more expensive than other phone lines, I do like them because they are very helpful to me, when I ran into financial problem, they kept my line, even if it was just emergency calls, so I didn't have to pay the hefty price to get it reconnect. When I moved to my current home, because the house didn't have a phone line, so BT had to install everything, which cost quite a bit, but because I've been with them forever, they were very happy to continue to take the monthly direct debit until it's clear, so on that part, I can't say anything bad about BT. But I do believe it really depends on where you live and it will affect both lines one way or the other.

    Report on 29 June 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • yocoxy
    Love rating 132
    yocoxy said

    @Per, BT have the most customers. By most definitions that makes them the most popular.

    For those saying 99,944% are happy you may wish to note that this is not a happiness survey but a record of the number of people who not only complained to their provider but took their complaint all the way to Ofcom.

    I'd guess that a much larger number are unhappy but give up or are satisfied after complaining to the provider and even more haven't complained at all but wouldn't describe themselves as 'happy'.

    Report on 05 July 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • bonesytrev
    Love rating 0
    bonesytrev said

    I was mis-sold a mobile phone contract by "Three" I received a call on my mobile asking me to upgrade, with better terms minutes etc, plus a new phone (which turned out to be utter rubbish!) but 6 months later when querying my bill I discovered that I actually had an ADDITIONAL account that I knew nothing about and of course had never used or even activated! Never did the guy on the phone from "Three" ever mention that I was opening up a new account, as certainly dont need another account!!! It took me hours on the phone to Three and 3 months to get this contract cancelled and my payments back!

    Slowly but surely I am getting rid of all my Three accounts, my broadband dongal has finished, and roll on january when I can get rid of my mobile account!

    Report on 05 July 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • electricblue
    Love rating 643
    electricblue said

    THREE have two levels of call centre staff and some of the Indian ones are appalling and I certainly had issues with them in the past over the way you had to 'convert' your credit to a broadband package when you topped up. Now they make it plain with pop-ups and recorded message, but when they first started the whole 'dongle' thing they were a bunch of amateurs. They did adopt everything I suggested to them in my complaint emails, but it took them a year. Phones4U stopped promoting THREE over the terrible customer service.

    Not as many issues with THREE these days, but they did manage to mess up last week by not applying a credit to a new phone which I had to buy a new credit for to activate it, the Indian call centre operative was patronising and instead of apologising for their screw up just had the attitude that I had credit for the next month, so why was there a problem? I was told that the second credit is 'queued'. Carphone Warehouse guy said never had this happened before. Why do I not believe that? I've had bad experiences with Talk Talk and Carphone warehouse in the past, they are certainly consistent.

    Report on 05 July 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • oldgold
    Love rating 4
    oldgold said

    If you lived in Hull, you would have no doubts about which company is Britain's worst broadband and phone service provider. KC is awful, and grossly overpriced too!

    Report on 05 July 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • Mike10613
    Love rating 600
    Mike10613 said

    TalkTalk is bad on service, mostly because of the call centre in Banglalore and it's incredibly slow computer system. They do tend to treat customers like they are stupid, but I suspect many probably are. When told one that I was a BT engineer before he was even born, he was much more helpful. I have a dispute over finance now with them and talking Bangalore isn't fun. I might have to talk to my bank too; that's not fun either these days.

    Report on 05 July 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • orangecat
    Love rating 4
    orangecat said

    I found that what ever they offer you, or have a dispute with TalkTalk you can't believe a thing they say, neither do they anwer any correspondence you send them, but there we go! This has been my experience and I dare not risk changing ISP or I will have problems with them taking direct debits from my bank account that they are not entitled to, as I have experienced in the past. It is better the devil you know?

    orangecat.

    Report on 07 July 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves

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