Talk Talk worst for phone and broadband complaints

Telecoms watchdog Ofcom today revealed the firm receives over four times as many official gripes per customer than the next worst company, Sky, on home phones. It receives twice as many per customer as BT on broadband (see Cheap Broadband for all broadband packages).

Three was the most complained about mobile provider, though this category was less clear cut with T-Mobile a close second in the wooden spoon race.

The Ofcom data is based on all consumer telecoms complaints it received between October 2010 and February 2011.

Ofcom receives 450 telecoms complaints per day about a range of issues including mis-selling, billing errors, lack of service and customer service problems.

Landlines – TalkTalk worst

• Talk Talk received 1.78 complaints per 1,000 customers

• Sky, 0.41

• BT, 0.37

• Virgin, 0.21

Broadband – TalkTalk worst

• Talk Talk received 1.27 complaints per 1,000 customers

• BT, 0.61

• Sky, 0.39

• Virgin, 0.20

Mobiles – Three worst

• Three received 0.15 complaints per 1,000 customers

• T-Mobile, 0.13

• Orange, 0.1

• Vodafone, 0.09

• O2, 0.04

Part of the spike in complaints against TalkTalk is because of Ofcom's announcement on 2 November that it had instructed the firm to stop breaching regulations by issuing bills to consumers for services that had not been provided.

Archna Luthra, MoneySavingExpert.com consumer products analyst, says: "TalkTalk may often win on price but it's losing on customer service big time.

"This isn't the first time TalkTalk has been highlighted for poor service and it needs to seriously pull its socks up or risk hemorrhaging customers.

"As one of the providers with consistently cheap prices this kind of poor service makes it even harder for consumers to choose the right deal."