According to the UK's telecoms regulator, NTL is at the top of the complaints list, with 0.8 complaints per 1,000 customers. Telewest and NPower follow with 0.5 complaints per 1,000 users, whilst BT and Eurocall are next with 0.4. The industry average is, according to Oftel, 0.3 complaints per 1,000 customers.
Oftel also said that 11% of complaints received so far this year have been about ISPs. Such complaints were included as a separate section in the publication of the statistics for the first time.
According to these data, BT Openworld is by far the most complained about ISP in the UK, with 1.6 complaints per 1.000 customers. Pipex follows with 0.6, just over the 0.4 industry average. AOL is last on the list with less than 0.1 complaints per 1,000 users.
In the mobile market, Genesis and Cellular Operations are the most complained about, with 1.4 and 1.2 complaints per 1,000 customers respectively. 4U is just at the industry average with 0.5, whilst all other operators are below this average.
The most frequently reported complaints in the fixed-line market, Oftel said, were a failure or time taken to repair faults. In the area of ISPs, the top three customer complaints were difficulty to contact the company, being ignored, and complaints related to contract terms. Finally, most mobile users complaint about their provider "not keeping them informed."
The statistics were released by Oftel's Consumer Representation Service, which receives around 100,000 complaints and enquiries per year, and refer to the period between 1st April and 30th September 2002.
More details about the Oftel statistics are available from:
www.oftel.gov.uk/publications/consumer/comp1202.htm