Wireless

Ofcom: Vodafone UK was most-complained about MNO in Q2

By Anne Morris Sep 30, 2016 5:33am

Vodafone UK remained the most complained about mobile operator in the UK during the second quarter of 2016, according to latest figures from Ofcom.

In a regular review of consumer complaints, Ofcom said it received 23 complaints about Vodafone UK per 100,000 customers. That compares to second-placed Talk Mobile, which received eight complaints per 100,000. EE and Virgin Mobile each had four complaints, while Three UK had three and O2 UK only two.

Tesco Mobile -- which is an MVNO on the O2 network -- received the fewest complaints with just one per 100,000 customers.

Ofcom said the complaints received about Vodafone mainly related to issues about billing, pricing and charges; complaints handling; and fault, service and provision issues.

One of the bright spots in the second quarter was that the total volume of complaints fell compared to the first quarter, except for the pay-TV sector where complaint levels remained stable.

Vodafone UK seized on this aspect of the report, noting that the number of complaints made to Ofcom had fallen by 20 per cent since the beginning of the year. Indeed, complaints to the regulator about the operator reached 32 in the final quarter of 2015 and 29 in the first quarter of 2016.

“Our own data shows that trend accelerating since the end of June, due to the huge investment we have made in additional UK call centre resources, better training and implementing numerous specific improvements to our systems: all with the objective of improving our customers’ experience overall,” said a Vodafone UK spokesperson.

The company said its own figures show a fall in customer complaints by over 35 per cent since the end of June, and that it plans to maintain investment levels in order to drive further improvements. It also pointed to a recently introduced network satisfaction guarantee, which allows new users to trial the network for 30 days before making a commitment.

“We have invested more than £2 billion (€2.3 billion/$2.6 billion) on extending our network and services since 2014 and expect to spend another £2 billion on them over the next three years. Our millions of mobile customers across the country are now getting more consistent download speeds, more reliable voice calling and far fewer dropped calls as well as the benefits of high-speed 4G at no extra cost,” the Vodafone UK spokesperson added.

Ofcom said it receives on average almost 300 calls a day from consumers, with some also contacting it by post or the regulator’s web site. It emphasised that the complaints only refer to those that customers have chosen to report to Ofcom and do not include complaints made directly to the providers or elsewhere.

For more:
- see the Ofcom report for Q2 2016

customer service Ofcom Vodafone UK