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BT Sport’s turbulent launch was such a shambles it resulted in twice the usual level of complaints against the telecom company’s pay-TV division, Ofcom has said. The ambitious Internet broadcaster apologised to customers.
“BT apologises to BT TV customers who suffered poor service during the summer. While these complaints represent a fraction of 1 per cent of those customers, we are disappointed with the result, and we accept that we failed to reach the high standards that customers expect,” a BT spokesperson told me in a statement.
The figures, released today, show BT TV received 0.56 complaints per 1,000 subscribers between July and September, more than doubling from 0.26 per 1,000 in the previous quarter. With more than a million subscribers, that amounts to over 500 complaints.
BT Sport kicked off ahead the new Premier League season, and was initially free for BT customers, before instituting a pay wall. That change was one of the most complained-about aspects of the service. The company recently bagged next season’s Champions League rights for an eye-watering £900m.
Broadband and phone moans
Meanwhile, TalkTalk and EE were in the dwang from punters unhappy with their landline, broadband and mobile services.
TalkTalk was the most complained-about landline provider, with 0.31 complaints per 1,000 customers, mainly around service faults and problems changing provider. It’s TalkTalk’s lowest level of complaints, however, since Ofcom began measuring them.
EE (including Orange) was the worst broadband ISP, with 0.45 customers per 1,000 taking the company to task for faults and billing cock-ups. BT didn’t do well in this category either, with 0.41 per 1,000, the second highest average.
EE’s other subsidiary T-Mobile was the most complained-about pay-monthly mobile company, with 0.13 per 1,000 customers taking the time to fill out a form on Ofcom’s website.
“We are of course disappointed by these latest results and will take on board the findings of the Ofcom report as we strive to offer our customers the best service at all times,” an EE spokesperson told me. “We have an ongoing programme to improve service performance and we’re pleased to see that the number of complaints about our mobile services continues to drop.”
TalkTalk had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.
Goodie two-shoes
Virgin attracted the least complaints for broadband with 0.08 per 1,000 customers, while Sky took the prize for pay TV with just 0.02 complaints per 1,000 customers. Both were in the top two for these services.
In mobile, O2 retained its crown as the least complained about operator, with a minuscule 0.03 per 1,000 complaints — or 30 per million customers. Vodafone and Three were close behind, with 0.05 and 0.06 respectively.
What’s your experience with broadband, pay-TV and mobile services? Who have you received the best service from? Give me your tips in the comments below, or over on our consumer-friendly Facebook page.
