BT has apologised to customers after Ofcom reported a surge in the number of complaints about its TV service.
The regulator’s latest complaints bulletin showed that in the three-month period covering July to September 2015, BT was the most complained about of all UK pay-TV operators with 25 complaints per 100,000 customers.
That number was more than double the previous quarter’s figure of 11 per 100,000 and almost twice TalkTalk’s 14 per 100,000.
Rivals Virgin Media and Sky saw 5 and 2 complaints per 100,000 customers respectively, with Sky remaining significantly below the industry average of 5 complaints per 100,000 customers.
According to Ofcom, the main reasons for complaints against BT were fault, service and provision issues (31%); complaints handling (25%); and issues relating to billing, pricing and charges (22%).
Earlier this year BT announced plans to bring hundreds of call centre and customer service jobs back to the UK in a bid to improve service levels.
Today a spokesperson apologised for the poor service customers have received, telling SEENIT: “We want to apologise to any customers we have let down this year. BT cares about the service it gives to customers and we know we need to do better, and results have been improving since this quarter ended in September.
“BT Consumer was hit by some particular issues this summer, which we are confident will not reoccur.
“Generally, we have been investing heavily in improvements to customer service, including dedicated advisors to help individual customers with complex problems. We have introduced new software and systems so customers can serve themselves online and so we keep our promises to call customers when we say we will.
“Customers are beginning to benefit from these changes and should continue to see an improvement as our investment continues to take effect over the coming year.”
