TalkTalk customers complain most about broadband service

Ofcom received more complaints from broadband customers of TalkTalk in the second quarter of 2011 than any other ISP, according to new data released by the regulator.

Ofcom recevied 0.58 complaints per 1,000 TalkTalk customers between April and June, although this was a marked improvement on the previous quarter which went as high as 0.81 complaints per 1,000 customers.

Virgin Media received the fewest complaints at just 0.15 per 1,000, while Sky also performed well with 0.20. BT fared worse with a score of 0.43, and Orange notched up 0.37.

Fixed line service complaints also made unhappy reading for TalkTalk, reaching 0.80 per 1,000, although this was down from 1.12 in the previous quarter. BT (0.25), Virgin (0.15) and Sky (0.25) all scored well.

In response to the figures, TalkTalk admitted that there is room for improvement, but claimed that the reduction in complaints shows that the company is making progress.

"It's encouraging that Ofcom's data demonstrates that, following the Tiscali integration, the service we offer has significantly improved in the last quarter," TalkTalk said.

"While we clearly still have lots to do, we're confident that our customers are beginning to see the benefits of the changes we continue to make."

TalkTalk was fined £3m by Ofcom in August after an investigation into complaints from more than 1,000 customers who were billed for services they had not received.

Mobile customers seem much more content with the services they receive, according to the Ofcom report. Three fared worst with 0.14 complaints per 1,000 customers, while O2 performed best with a figure of 0.02.

The other mobile operators also fared well. Orange scored 0.07, T-Mobile 0.06, Vodafone 0.06 and Virgin 0.05.

However, while some operators performed a lot better than others, the level of complaints to Ofcom, averaging 350 per day in 2010, shows that customers are often frustrated and still turn to the watchdog to escalate their complaints.