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Ofcom customer complaints | Your call is important to us, please hold
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jabbamk1
13-12-2013
Ofcom have released their quarterly customer complaints report for all 5 of the big mobile operators. This report is for Quarter three in 2013. This is Ofcom’s eleventh quarterly report, which aims to provide useful information for consumers and incentivise operators to improve their performance.

Ofcom received the most complaints about pay-monthly mobile telephone services from T-Mobile customers during Q3 2013.T-Mobile generated above average complaints at 0.13 per 1,000 customers, largely driven by issues related to billing and complaints handling. An EE spokesperson said: 'We are of course disappointed by these latest results and will take on board the findings of the Ofcom report as we strive to offer our customers the best service at all times. We have an ongoing programme to improve service performance and we’re pleased to see that the number of complaints about our mobile services continues to drop.'

Orange and (for the first time in two years) Virgin Mobile also generated complaints in excess of the industry average, at 0.12 and 0.09 per 1,000 customers respectively. O2 retained its position as the provider generating fewest complaints at 0.03 per 1,000 customers, followed by Vodafone (0.05) and then Three (0.06).

Number of complaints per 1000 customers for each network in Q3 2013

T-Mobile- 0.13
Orange- 0.12
Virgin- 0.09
Three- 0.06
Vodafone- 0.05
O2- 0.03
(Higher is worse)

Q3 2012 results
T-Mobile- 0.17
Orange- 0.16
Virgin- 0.10
Three- 0.16
Vodafone- 0.14
O2- 0.05
http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/2013/1...-tv-providers/
The Lord Lucan
13-12-2013
Originally Posted by jabbamk1:
“Ofcom have released their quarterly customer complaints report for all 5 of the big mobile operators. This report is for Quarter three in 2013. This is Ofcom’s eleventh quarterly report, which aims to provide useful information for consumers and incentivise operators to improve their performance.

Ofcom received the most complaints about pay-monthly mobile telephone services from T-Mobile customers during Q3 2013.T-Mobile generated above average complaints at 0.13 per 1,000 customers, largely driven by issues related to billing and complaints handling. An EE spokesperson said: 'We are of course disappointed by these latest results and will take on board the findings of the Ofcom report as we strive to offer our customers the best service at all times. We have an ongoing programme to improve service performance and we’re pleased to see that the number of complaints about our mobile services continues to drop.'

Orange and (for the first time in two years) Virgin Mobile also generated complaints in excess of the industry average, at 0.12 and 0.09 per 1,000 customers respectively. O2 retained its position as the provider generating fewest complaints at 0.03 per 1,000 customers, followed by Vodafone (0.05) and then Three (0.06).

T-Mobile- 0.13
Orange- 0.12
Virgin- 0.09
Three- 0.06
Vodafone- 0.05
O2- 0.03
(Higher is worse)

http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/2013/1...-tv-providers/”

So not coverage, not dropped calls, not silent calls, not killed masts... but billing and customer service just being crap.
jabbamk1
13-12-2013
Originally Posted by The Lord Lucan:
“So not coverage, not dropped calls, not silent calls, not killed masts... but billing and customer service just being crap.”

Yup, complaints handling as well. And I can agree with those mentioned in the article.

The good news is that every network has considerably improved compared to this time last year. Especially Vodafone and Three.
The Lord Lucan
13-12-2013
Originally Posted by jabbamk1:
“Yup, complaints handling as well. And I can agree with those mentioned in the article.

The good news is that every network has considerably improved compared to this time last year. Especially Vodafone and Three.”

I wish EE would get on top of how complaints are handled..
enapace
13-12-2013
EE once again showing they have no idea what customer service is. It really is a shame they are letting themselves down so much with one of the major key points. They are leading in terms of network development and reliability now and advertising as well but can't see figure out customer service is another key pillar.

I still think it terrible that my nan got told in an EE retail shop that if she switched to a T-Mobile sim only contract from Orange pay as you go she would lose her number. That is just awful and pure laziness on EE part not only lying to an old woman but refusing to do there job as well.

I'm sorry to say this but I don't like recommending people to EE at moment they deliver a good network experience but as this clearly shows the worst CS in the business. I know CS to some people is considered unimportant but to me I think it is a solid part of any company. I will recommend them if someone is after good network speeds and call quality no network is perfect obviously I just think they need improve on this a lot.
Thine Wonk
13-12-2013
O2 has done well again, congratulations to them!
The Lord Lucan
13-12-2013
I'm not sure what happened in the last 5 years as the Orange shops used to be some of the best. 'Customer magic' is what they practiced.. Under promise & over deliver. Now I find them purely shocking and it's not because of the merge of shops with T-mobile as many still have the same staff and area managers! In fact the ex-T-mobile seem slightly better. It must be training or managers just not being kept to task.. Vodafone & to some extent O2 have managed to improve customer instore experience (granted not everywhere) I know Voda still mystery shop, I can't imagine EE fairing well in some of their shops!

Saying that Carphone warehouse used to have the same mantra as Orange and they are largely useless twits. Let's not even go there with P4U!

EE (orange) took a step back when they culled the Irish call centres.. Everything seemed less of an issue when you spoke to a cheery Irish person!
qasdfdsaq
13-12-2013
See the main thing with these figures is they indicate how well networks handle complaints, not the underlying level of complaints themselves

These are figures for complaints that have eventually reached OFCOM because the networks' themselves have not handled them to the customer's satisfaction.

I'm curious where EE come into things. They list Orange and T-Mobile but not EE - though for fixed broadband "Orange/EE" are counted as one on mobile, they don't say where EE's figures go, if they're there at all.
jabbamk1
13-12-2013
Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq:
“I'm curious where EE come into things. They list Orange and T-Mobile but not EE - though for fixed broadband "Orange/EE" are counted as one on mobile, they don't say where EE's figures go, if they're there at all.”

Hmmm, i'd expect you to know this.

Orange broadband became EE broadband.
Orange and T-Mobile are the biggest brands with the most customers.
EE do not have enough customers to register in this report. (Hence why you don't see others like Tesco but do see Virgin). Last i read (earlier this year) EE were around 0.81 complaints per 1000 customers.
The Lord Lucan
13-12-2013
EE is not included due to not having a large enough customer base. Hence no Tesco etc. It skews the results having so few

JABBS got there first.
qasdfdsaq
13-12-2013
Guess I'm an still a rare specimen then.

I'm used to them publishing a full 50+ page PDF with detailed methodology and results like they do for fixed and mobile broadband performance tbh, which explicitly lists which companies weren't included for which reason.
qasdfdsaq
13-12-2013
Ah, found it:

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/mar...eptember-2013/

Shame on them not directly linking it from the press release! Urgh.
jabbamk1
13-12-2013
Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq:
“Guess I'm an still a rare specimen then.

I'm used to them publishing a full 50+ page PDF with detailed methodology and results like they do for fixed and mobile broadband performance tbh, which explicitly lists which companies weren't included for which reason.”

They still do that.

Here is one for Q1- http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/bin...jan-mar-13.pdf

Q2
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/bin...apr-aug-13.pdf

Q3
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/bin...jul-sep-13.pdf
japaul
13-12-2013
EE's market share is too low. To be included in the report you need to have a share of 4% or more (and generate at least 30 complaints per month). However although it doesn't appear in the headline report the figures for EE are around 0.19 for the quarter.
qasdfdsaq
13-12-2013
Originally Posted by jabbamk1:
“They still do that.

Here is one for Q1- http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/bin...jan-mar-13.pdf”

I know. Scroll up
jabbamk1
13-12-2013
Originally Posted by japaul:
“However although it doesn't appear in the headline report the figures for EE are around 0.19 for the quarter.”

Source please?

That's amazing then! I remember it being 0.81 or something like that for Q1 2013.
japaul
13-12-2013
Originally Posted by jabbamk1:
“Source please? ”

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/bin...complaints.csv

You'll need to add the monthly figures together and because of rounding it might not be the exact quarterly figure could be +/- a little bit which is why I said 'around 0.19.' Ofcom do use the same customer total across the quarter though so no inaccuracy from that.
jabbamk1
13-12-2013
Originally Posted by japaul:
“http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/bin...complaints.csv

You'll need to add the monthly figures together and because of rounding it might not be the exact quarterly figure could be +/- a little bit which is why I said 'around 0.19.' Ofcom do use the same customer total across the quarter though so no inaccuracy from that.”

Thanks for that.

EE
Q1- 0.71
Q2- 0.12
Q3- 0.19

Not bad for EE then, especially compared to Q1!!!!!
qasdfdsaq
13-12-2013
Almost down to T-Mobile's complaint levels...

However given EE doubled customer numbers between Q2 and Q3, the increased complaints per customer masks the fact actual total complaints have tripled over the same period, but similar to what they were originally in Q1.

I wonder if it's just all the same 180 customers complaining over and over again who just happened to go away on summer holiday during Q2
japaul
13-12-2013
Also note the T-Mobile / Orange rates are not as accurate as the others as Ofcom doesn't know the customer total split between them. It has to estimate it. They might as well just put them all together under EE now.
japaul
13-12-2013
Originally Posted by jabbamk1:
“Source please?

That's amazing then! I remember it being 0.81 or something like that for Q1 2013.”

'Twas about 0.81 at the time - you might have got the number from me

Original numbers are here but Ofcom have restated them in the latest version (probably changed their customer total estimate) http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/bin...complaints.csv
jabbamk1
13-12-2013
Originally Posted by japaul:
“'Twas about 0.81 at the time - you might have got the number from me

Original numbers are here but Ofcom have restated them in the latest version (probably changed their customer total estimate) http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/bin...complaints.csv”

Yup, must have been you that told me.

But still, i'm impressed how EE have kind of turned things around on the 4G front. Sure it's crap compared to everyone else but I remember when every other post i used to read online was about how EE CS was terrible or something.

Sure they're still pretty crap compared to everyone else but i echo lucans comments where he says EE need to focus on getting customer service right. They're doing loads on the network side but their customer service has really slipped. Hopefully they are running initiatives and introducing new policies and procedures to improve the customer experience.
japaul
14-12-2013
Originally Posted by jabbamk1:
“Yup, must have been you that told me.

But still, i'm impressed how EE have kind of turned things around on the 4G front. Sure it's crap compared to everyone else but I remember when every other post i used to read online was about how EE CS was terrible or something.

Sure they're still pretty crap compared to everyone else but i echo lucans comments where he says EE need to focus on getting customer service right. They're doing loads on the network side but their customer service has really slipped. Hopefully they are running initiatives and introducing new policies and procedures to improve the customer experience.”

They probably will improve just with better systems that are coming. The thing is when they all talk of investing in the network they really mean total capex. However this doesn't just include the RAN and backhaul (which probably over time only accounts for around 50% of total network spend). What is referred to as just "IT" can be around a third of the total. Given EE, Vodafone, O2 have all spent roughly the same on capex over a number of years you might wonder why EE should be ahead in the RAN? Obviously some of it is down to network sharing but also different parts of the spend are done in cycles and now is the time that EE are spending massive amounts on huge IT transformation projects which will continue over the next few years. You would expect this to yield big CRM improvements. Meanwhile Voda/O2's cycle will be more focussed on RAN / backhaul.
The Lord Lucan
14-12-2013
Originally Posted by jabbamk1:
“Hopefully they are running initiatives and introducing new policies and procedures to improve the customer experience.”

They are.. Only just started mind. After they got kicked in the bits.. but they had different priorities to the other networks. I echo Japauls comments plus the nightmare of the monster that is EETMOBAORAGGON was a pain in the ass for customers & front line staff. Confusion causes complaints. It's only just starting to make sense now everyone + everything has calmed down and they have smelt the baconz.
japaul
14-12-2013
The sad part for me when I look at EE is the memory of how brilliant the pre FT Orange was. Contact certain Exec Office numbers and your problem was almost always sorted. Also it was not unknown for Hans Snook to pick up the phone...
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