9.1.1 Broadband customers are the most likely to say they have had reason to complain to their provider
The analysis below shows the proportion of customers using each service who said they had reason to complain about the provider of their broadband, landline and/or mobile in the 12 months prior to interview80. However, not all consumers will make a complaint, and further details on the proportions making a complaint are set out below.
Figure 169 illustrates that across the services, broadband customers are the most likely to say they had reason to complain to their provider (14%), followed by mobile (9%) and landline customers (7%).
78 Migration authorisation code (MAC) is a unique code that a customer must give to his or her new broadband service provider, to allow the service to be transferred smoothly from the existing service provider.
79 Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) schemes act as an independent middleman between the service provider and the customer. If the ADR scheme agrees with your complaint, it can order the service provider to fix the problem and could potentially make a financial award. It is a requirement that all service providers are members of an ADR scheme.
80 Fieldwork was conducted between August and September 2013, therefore complaints date back to August 2012
Figure 169 Reason to complain about service or supplier in the past 12 months:
2009 to 2013
Source: Ofcom research, telephone omnibus survey, fieldwork carried out by Saville Rossiter-Base in August and September 2013
Base: All UK households using each type of provider (In 2013 – 2652 broadband, 3007 landline, 2670 mobile phone)
Q9. Have you personally had a reason to complain about any of these services or suppliers in the last 12 months, whether or not you went on to make a complaint? (prompted responses, multi coded) Note: due to methodology changes in 2013, prior data are not directly comparable
9.1.2 Broadband customers are most likely to cite internet speeds as a reason to complain
Among broadband customers with reason to complain (Figure 170), the two reasons that were stated most frequently by participants were the speed of internet connection (34%) and disruption of service (29%). Just under a quarter (23%) said they felt they had cause to complain about the quality of the service, and 5% said they felt the service differed to that advertised/promised. In total 23% gave various other reasons, each of these mentioned by less than 5% of consumers. In the fixed broadband market these included charging and billing issues, dissatisfactory customer service and inappropriate content.
6 5 6
12 14
4 4 4 7 7
3 2 2 5 9
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Landline
Broadband Mobile
Q2 2009 2013
Q2 2010 Q2 2011 Q2 2012 Q2 2009 2013
Q2 2010 Q2 2011 Q2 2012 Q2 2009 2013
Q2 2010 Q2 2011 Q2 2012
Figure 170 Main reason to complain about broadband service or supplier
Source: Ofcom research, telephone omnibus survey, fieldwork carried out by Saville Rossiter-Base in August and September 2013.
Base: All UK households with reason to complain about each service in the last 12 months (359 Fixed broadband)
Note: ‘any other reason' includes reasons given by less than 5% of those with reason to complain.
9.1.3 Landline customers are most likely to cite disruption of service as a reason to complain
Among landline customers with reason to complain (Figure 171), the two reasons that were most likely to be mentioned were disruption of service (31%) and poor quality of service (26%). Just over in one in ten (11%) said they had cause to complain about overcharging, while 8% complained that the service was not as promised/ advertised and 6% complained either that their bill was incorrect, or that charges were not made clear, or there were unexpected charges.
Various other reasons were each mentioned by less than 5% of consumers. In the fixed landline market these included: inappropriate content, nuisance calls and unsolicited calls81, phone line not working, staff attitude/ problem with staff, bill not received, ‘moved home and it took a long time to connect up our household’, ‘missed an installation appointment’, ‘issue with installation’, ‘advertised tariffs not available to me’ and ‘terms of contract were unfair’.
81 It is worth noting the relatively low level of landline customers citing nuisance calls as a cause to complain, compared to the incidence of nuisance calls. Respondents may not have considered this an issue specific to their landline service, as opposed to this not being a problem at all.
23 5
23 29
34
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Any other reason Service not as promised/ advertised Poor quality of service Disruption of service Speed of internet connection
Figure 171 Main reason to complain about landline service or supplier
Source: Ofcom research, telephone omnibus survey, fieldwork carried out by Saville Rossiter-Base in August and September 2013.
Base: All UK households with reason to complain about each service in the last 12 months (209 landline)
Note: ‘any other reason' includes reasons given by less than 5% of those with reason to complain.
9.1.4 Mobile customers are most likely to cite poor coverage as a reason to complain
Among mobile customers with reason to complain (Figure 172); poor coverage (23%) is the most likely reason to be given, with similar proportions of customers citing poor quality of service (15%), disruption of service (14%), incorrect bill (13%) and unclear or unexpected charges (13%), speed of internet connection (8%) and service not as promised / advertised (6%).
Various other reasons were each mentioned by less than 5% of consumers. In the mobile market these included: ‘issues with my handset’, ’handset keeps breaking’, ’mobile phone not working’, ‘terms of contract were unfair’, overcharged, ‘issues with hacking/fraud/
cloning/ security’, ’theft of mobile’, ‘cancellation/ change of contract’, ‘advertised tariffs not available to me’, ‘bill not received’, and inappropriate content.
28 6
6 8
11
26 31
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Any other reason Charges not made clear/ unexpected
charges
Bill incorrect Service not as promised/ advertised Overcharged Poor quality of service Disruption of service
Figure 172 Main reason to complain about mobile service or supplier
Source: Ofcom research, telephone omnibus survey, fieldwork carried out by Saville Rossiter-Base in August and September 2013.
Base: All UK households with reason to complain about each service in the last 12 months (219 Mobile phone)
Note: ‘any other reason' includes reasons given by less than 5% of those with reason to complain.
9.1.5 Landline customers with a reason to complain were the most likely to proceed with a complaint.
Consumers with a complaint may choose to contact their provider, Ofcom or other advisory bodies such as Citizens Advice. Most customers with reason to complain said they did make a complaint. The proportion of customers going on to make a complaint was highest among those with landline services (73%), followed by mobile (68%) and broadband (64%).
If we calculate the proportion of all customers for each of the three services who claimed they had a reason to complain and then went on to make complaint in the past 12 months, the proportion of all broadband customers making a complaint was 9% (this equates to 73%
of broadband customers with a cause to complain). For mobile and landline, the proportions making a complaint was 6% and 5% respectively.
25 6
8 13 13 14
15 23
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Any other reason Service not as promised/ advertised Speed of internet connection Charges not made clear/ unexpected
charges
Bill incorrect Disruption of service Poor quality of service Poor coverage
Figure 173 Whether consumers with reason to complain made a complaint in the past 12 months
Source: Ofcom research, telephone omnibus survey, fieldwork carried out by Saville Rossiter-Base in August and September 2013.
Base: All UK households with reason to complain about each service in the last 12 months (359 Broadband, 209 Landline, 219 Mobile phone)
Q11/Q14/Q17. And did you go ahead and make a complaint about your broadband/ landline/ mobile phone service or supplier? (prompted responses, single coded)
Note: due to methodology changes in 2013 prior data are not directly comparable
It is worth noting that the there is no correlation between the likelihood to complain and the type of issue a consumer has with their provider in each of the broadband, landline and mobile markets.
The Communications Consumer Panel conducted research in 2013 that highlighted the need for communications providers to support better those consumers who experience problems with their communications service.
The Panel wanted to understand why some people in the UK who had cause to contact their suppliers about an issue did not do so, as well as to explore the experiences of those who had contacted their supplier to try and resolve an issue. The key findings from the qualitative research Going Round in Circles? and a review of quantitative data are set out below. The full report and the Panel’s recommendations can be found on the Panel’s website.82
Key findings:
• For a variety of reasons, some people who don’t contact their provider are suffering in silence and ‘getting by’ on a sub-standard service.
• For some who did contact their provider, their initial frustration was exacerbated by a negative contact experience.
• The loss of time and money by consumers trying to get a problem addressed and the emotional perseverance required are rarely acknowledged by communications providers.
• Some older consumers and some consumers with a disability seemed to be at a particular disadvantage in their dealings with providers.
82 http://www.communicationsconsumerpanel.org.uk/going-round-in-circles/going-round-in-circles
64 73 68
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Landline
Broadband Mobile
• Escalation of problems frequently appears to be ineffective, and communications providers seem to be poor at telling customers about alternative dispute resolution (ADR).
Comments from consumers also highlighted the difficulties they faced:
“Every single phone call that you placed you were speaking to maybe three or four different people and you were having to explain the problem each and every time.” Male 35 – 64 years, Northern Ireland
“They use terms I don’t understand [...] you know, they’ll say ‘have you sorted the router’ or something and I’ll say ‘what router?’. You know, that sort of thing.” Female 65 years+, Wales
9.1.6 Almost four in ten have experienced a problem with the postal system, with mis-delivered post being the most common issue
In total, 36% of the survey participants claimed to have experienced at least one problem with the postal service in the past 12 months (Figure 174). By far the biggest issue cited by those who had experienced a problem was mis-delivered post (60% of those with a problem) followed by delayed mail (45%), lost mail (35%) and damaged mail (29%).
Figure 174 Problems experienced with Royal Mail’s postal services in the past 12 months
Source: Ofcom post tracking survey
Base: All adults 16+ (4844), Those with a problem in the last 12 months (973)
QG1A-1E: In the last 12 months, have you experienced problems with Royal Mail’s service in terms of…
15 35 29
45 60
Mail has been tampered with Lost mail Damaged mail Delayed mail Mis-delivered mail
36%
62%
2%
Yes- experienced problems No - has not experienced problems Don't know
Type of problem
% of respondents
Figure 175 shows that those over 75 years old were the least likely age group to have reported having a problem (18%); while those aged 45 -54 were the most likely (42%).
Figure 175 Problems experienced with Royal Mail’s postal services in the past 12 months, by age and gender
Source: Ofcom post tracking survey Base: All adults 16+ (4844)
About one in ten (9%) adults reported that they had had a cause to complain, and 6%
claimed to have made a complaint.
Cause to complain was highest among 25-34 year olds (12%) while the claimed level of making a complaint was highest among 35-44 year olds (8%). Over-75s had the lowest level of reason to complain (4%) and of actually making a complaint (2%).
36
33
40 41 42
38
28
18
34
39
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Total 16-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75+ Male Female
% experiencing problem
Figure 176 People who claimed they had a reason to complain about Royal Mail’s postal services, and then made a complaint, by age and gender
Source: Ofcom post tracking survey Base: All adults 16+ (4844)
QG2. In the last 12 months, have you had cause to complain to Royal Mail about its services?