EE has been named and shamed by Ofcom as the service provider that has received the most complaints from British consumers over the first quarter of the year.
In the watchdog’s latest quarterly report monitoring consumer complaints against both mobile and fixed-line network providers, EE’s broadband service was revealed as having caused the most stress, generating 0.42 complaints per 1,000 customers largely driven by what Ofcom described as "issues related to complaints handling, billing and issues with changing provider".
The report was the first to combine complaints against EE, with those aimed at parent companies Orange and T-Mobile, covering the period of January to March 2014.
In response, EE said it was actively looking at ways to improve its customer service.
"We are committed to improving service levels and have plans to return over 1,000 customer service roles to the UK from overseas call centres, the first phase of which will see two new UK call centres open in the next few weeks," an EE spokesperson told CBR.
"We are of course disappointed but will take on board the findings of this latest Ofcom report as we strive to offer our customers the best possible service."
BT and TalkTalk also recorded a higher-than-average volume of complaints concerning their broadband services, with 0.33 and 0.24 per 1,000 customers, respectively.
Virgin Media received the fewest complaints, with just 0.07 per 1,000 customers, with Sky in second place with 0.09.
Tom Mockridge, Virgin Media’s chief executive officer, who recently labelled Sky’s broadband service "lousy", hailed the positive news for the company, but said it would not rest on its laurels.
"Whilst it is great to see customers have told Ofcom we are better than BT, Sky and TalkTalk, there is always room for improvement," he said in a statement. "We believe we can do even more and are working hard to deliver the best customer experience every time."
EE’s mobile network also fared poorly, taking top spot in the most-complained rankings with 0.12 complaints per 1,000 customers – twice the industry average, with Virgin Media also recording an "above average" number of complaints – 0.07 per 1,000 customers. Three ranked highest for the first time in the report’s history, registering 0.04 complaints per 1,000 customers, replacing O2, which had held top position for the past thirteen consecutive quarters.
Claudio Pollack, director of Ofcom’s consumer group said: "Publishing complaints data is a key part of our work to provide useful comparative information for consumers, and drive improvements in quality of service across the communications sector.
"The report highlights the performance of providers relative to each other. This is valuable information that consumers may wish to consider alongside other factors such as price and availability, for example, when choosing a provider".
