BT was the most complained about ISP in the final three months of 2013

[Gary]

The one-time national telco raked up the most gripes from broadband subscribers, according to the regulator's latest quarterly report on complaint figures.

Ofcom said:

    For the first time, BT generated the most complaints for broadband as a proportion of its customer base - 0.32 per 1,000 customers during Q4 2013. Complaints were primarily driven by service faults and issues with how complaints were handled.

BT was also berated for pulling in the most complaints about its pay-TV service, mostly relating to faults and billing problems.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/03/26/bt_tops_ofcom_list_of_most_complained_about_isp/

[john]

It's not really surprising that the larger ISP's have a larger number of complaints even taking into account any adjustment for the number of customers. To put it into perspective though 32 complaints per 100,000 is just 0.032% or putting it another way 99.968% of its customers did not complain. I'm quite surprised that the figure is not significantly higher for any ISP.

[Gary]

It beat Talk Talk for the first time ever with the number of complaints it received, now that's worth an award. This post is about its complaint rating, not how to be a spin doctor 

[Technical Ben]

It's not really surprising that the larger ISP's have a larger number of complaints even taking into account any adjustment for the number of customers. To put it into perspective though 32 complaints per 100,000 is just 0.032% or putting it another way 99.968% of its customers did not complain. I'm quite surprised that the figure is not significantly higher for any ISP.

I thought it was based on percentages? TalkTalk were up at over 3% IIRC at some point. That is, it's "per 1000", so a fair score for any ISP with more than 1000 customers (even then you can adjust). In fact, I'd expect larger companies to have less complaints, as 1 blip with a small company can have 1 or 2 people complain, and it would hit more than the BT %. 

[Lance]

You need to remember this relates to complaints about the conduct of the company rather than complaints such as "my broadband isn't working". Therefore, a lot of this will be driven by culture and resource availability which is more likely to effect bigger companies who are trying to drive out efficiencies and make bare minimum resource available in order to maximise profit.

[Technical Ben]

Hmmm. Company conduct is not the best metric from a group. You need some form of arbiter.

[pctech]

A combination of price, advertising and name recognition are what make BT the default choice for many and BT knows this so I doubt its board will have any sleepless nights over this.

Smaller companies have to work harder to win and retain custom so usually provide better service although my own recent experience shows that isn't always true.

[Technical Ben]

Just look at any supermarket. Some companies might charge 3 times the price for the same product. Others you wonder how they sell anything at all with the "service" they [don't] offer.

[pctech]

BT Group really ought to be broken up now so that it gets exposed to market pressure as even if sales at Retail hit the deck it could fall back on income at Openreach and wholesale.

For the record, all of the OR engineers I have met have been nice people and did seem to know what they were doing but I think its a hiding place for lots that really don't have a clue or have a slapdash attitude and don't come into contact with end user customers which probably explains the complaints about faults.

[Technical Ben]

That and cost cutting is a thing of management, not workers. 

[Den]

When I left Idnet I was very concerned that I would not get a good level of support from BT and that the service would not be up to the standard I had got used to. I must admit I was pleasantly surprised and so far can not fault them and my speed has been very reliable indeed.

[pctech]

Did you join as a business or consumer customer Den as there seems to be a wide gulf between how consumer and business customers are treated by large communications providers whether that be ISPs or mobile operators.

Business customers tend to get better service as their account is worth more to the company due to the higher revenue potential.

[endpoint101]

When I left Idnet I was very concerned that I would not get a good level of support from BT and that the service would not be up to the standard I had got used to. I must admit I was pleasantly surprised and so far can not fault them and my speed has been very reliable indeed.

I left IDnet this month to move to BT Infinity.. the transition was super-smooth (constant email+txt updates), the equipment turned up on time and is really good quality (Home Hub 5 seems really decent), and the actual switch-over only took about 20 minutes. Fibre speeds are excellent, and I'm paying less than I did with IDnet, plus I no longer have to worry about data caps. I was with IDnet for years, and was sorry to leave, but it's too expensive in comparison.. especially for FTTC. So far I've been really impressed by BT & can't fault them.

[Den]

I joined as a domestic customer and a couple of months later lifted it to unlimited download. At every stage I have been impressed with the service and although I did not want to leave Idnet after so long with them BT as turned out to be great. As for the most complained about supplier, the figures are complaints per 100,00 of which the complaints are a very tiny proportion indeed compared to some of the smaller suppliers.

[Gary]

I joined as a domestic customer and a couple of months later lifted it to unlimited download. At every stage I have been impressed with the service and although I did not want to leave Idnet after so long with them BT as turned out to be great. As for the most complained about supplier, the figures are complaints per 100,00 of which the complaints are a very tiny proportion indeed compared to some of the smaller suppliers.

While I'm glad you have had a good time, my Mother has not. The whole thing is a mess and call help is not good with the language barrier. The deals are great, the customer service not so much, and no matter how much you polish a turd off shore call centres are a nightmare with accent issues and scripted help. I really have looked again at my usage and now I'm on my own 100Gb is more than enough for me, IDNet at this time have great service, they know me by name, they have great peering points and my anytime call package costs £17 inc VAT all in, thats loads cheaper than BT. Also the bliss of short contracts is great. I will say though that £35 is a tad pricey for 100GB in this day and age but I dont mind paying more for really good CS. When things get complicated BT get confused, I have found. IDNet dont at this time. Everyone's mileage will vary though.

As far as Cost BT do BB at £26 18 mths for the 76Mb package plus line rental at £15.99 IDNet do a 12 month contract at £35 + £12 line rental as a basic. Also I believe BT renew the contract each time for the phone at least. So apart from the unlimited bit which I don't really care about right now, as with Justina gone things are slowing down so price wise there is not much in it, Plusnet would be far cheaper but who wants to wait 40mins to get though to their CS at the moment.

[pctech]

You only really know how good or bad a service provider is when something goes wrong and my own recent experience with one that was cheap and happy to waste my time by repeatedly sending Openreach who found nothing has proved to me that it really is worth paying a little more.