The Post Office has become the UK’s most complained-about landline provider after buckling under the weight of a record number of new arrivals following a promotional campaign.
Meanwhile EE is still the most criticised home broadband company, according to official figures.
The telecoms regulator Ofcom, which publishes its data every three months, said the Post Office’s HomePhone service had overtaken TalkTalk to become the most complained about landline operator.
During the period 1 January to 31 March, complaints about the Post Office’s service were running at 29 per 100,000 customers, which was double the industry average of 15 per 100,000, and almost five times higher than rivals Virgin Media and Sky. The figure for TalkTalk was 28 complaints per 100,000 customers.
A spokesman for the Post Office said: “We had a promotion towards the end of last year that resulted in a record number of connections, and we were not as prepared as we should have been to deal with the increase in demand.”
He added: “We are very sorry this has led to us not meeting the expectations of some customers, but we have addressed this and expect this to be reflected in a significantly improved position in the next Ofcom report.”
EE remains the most complained-about fixed-line broadband provider, at 34 complaints per 100,000 customers. The broadband companies experiencing the fewest reported customer problems again included Virgin Media and Sky, which both came in well below the industry average of 19 complaints per 100,000 customers.
Vodafone has continued to be the most complained-about mobile phone provider after the introduction of a new billing system sent customer grievances soaring. Complaints made about the company’s service were running at 29 per 100,000 pay-monthly customers during the first three months of this year, which was a slight improvement on the end of 2015, but still way above the industry average of nine per 100,000. Tesco Mobile had the fewest complaints, according to the data – one per 100,000 – while O2 and Three were at three per 100,000.
Meanwhile, BT held on to its spot as the most complained-about pay-TV provider.
Ofcom publishes the complaints data in part to give people looking for a new provider useful information on performance. The quarterly reports also “offer an incentive to providers to improve their performance”.