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BT tops complaints league for broadband and pay-TV users

BT logo on an Infinity router
BT received 34 complaints per 100,000 subscribers about its broadband service in the first quarter. Photograph: Chris Radburn/PA

BT was the most complained-about broadband provider in the first three months of the year as customers took the company to task over faults and service issues.

Telecoms regulator Ofcom, which publishes complaints data every three months, also found BT to be the most criticised pay-TV company, with almost four times the industry average complaint level.

BT received 34 complaints per 100,000 subscribers about its broadband service in the first quarter, well ahead of the UK industry average of 21. Its broadband service has topped the regulator’s complaints table since the first quarter of 2016.

“BT’s main complaint drivers related to faults, service and provision issues, followed by issues around complaints handling and issues with billing, pricing, and charges,” said Ofcom.

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In March, Ofcom fined BT £42m and is forcing it to pay £300m in compensation to rivals over delays in subsidiary Openreach, which controls the UK broadband infrastructure network, installing high-speed internet connections to their customers.

BT’s subsidiaries Plusnet and EE were the third and fourth most-complained about broadband suppliers, with 25 and 24 complaints per 100,000 subscribers respectively.

Ofcom found that Sky had the fewest disgruntled broadband customers, with just eight complaints per 100,000 subscribers, followed by Virgin Media with 13.

In a bad quarter for consumer dissatisfaction, BT also once again topped the pay-TV complaints list with 19 per 100,000 – almost four times the industry average of just five complaints per 100,000 subscribers.

Virgin Media ranked second with nine complaints per 100,000 subscribers and arch-rival Sky notched up just two.

BT’s service is getting worse, with the 19 average complaints lodged in the first quarter up on the 17 per 100,000 that made the company the most criticised pay-TV company in the last quarter of 2016.

Ofcom’s report also found Vodafone was once again the most complained-about mobile company, clocking up 17 complaints per 100,000 subscribers, although this was down on the average of 24 the company received in the fourth quarter last year. The industry average is just six complaints per 100,000 subscribers.

Earlier this month, the advertising watchdog banned BT’s campaign featuring Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds after receiving more than 60 complaints from the public and rivals including Virgin Media, TalkTalk and Sky.

The Advertising Standards Authority ruled BT’s claim it provided the UK’s most powerful Wi-Fi signal was misleading.