Complaints to the main mobile and broadband providers decreased by 29% year-on-year, with Eir finally showing signs of improvement in its customer service.
The number of complaints about telecommunications companies fell by 29% in the first quarter of 2022 when compared to the same period last year.
That's according to the latest Consumer Line Statistics Report from the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg), which it publishes every quarter and which details how mobile and broadband providers are faring when it comes to customer service.
So how exactly have all the main providers done in the latest quarterly report from the telecommunications watchdog?
Read on to find out!
Mobile providers: the good and bad
ComReg reported that the total number of 'issues' (queries and complaints) recorded for Mobile Service Providers in Q1 2022 increased by 9% compared to Q4 2021 (1,089 v 1,001 issues).
Eir had the highest number of mobile service issues at 295, while Vodafone had 286 and Three had 278.
However, when looking at just complaints, Eir had the fewest number, coming in at 29. This compares to 55 for Three and 60 for Vodafone.
Nevertheless, when adjusted per 100,000 customers, Eir didn't do so well. It had the most complaints on average with 2.4, while Vodafone had 2.1 and Three had 1.7.
When it comes to the types of complaints consumers had, the issue of billing remained the main reason why ComReg was contacted about a mobile provider. This is despite the number of billing complaints falling for Eir and Three when compared to Q4 2022.
Meanwhile, the median resolution time for complaints was eight working days. However Three took much longer than this to resolve complaints - it had a median time of 15 days.
|
Provider |
No. Complaints |
Complaints per 100,000 customers |
Median no. days to resolve a complaint |
|||
|
Q1 2022 |
Q4 2021 |
Q1 2022 |
Q4 2021 |
Q1 2022 |
Q4 2021 |
|
|
Eir |
29 |
38 |
2.4 |
3.2 |
7 |
5 |
|
Three |
55 |
51 |
1.7 |
1.7 |
15 |
14 |
|
Vodafone |
60 |
50 |
2.1 |
1.8 |
5 |
4 |
|
Other |
33 |
25 |
- | - |
11 |
4 |
Table 1: Mobile provider complaints, complaints per 100,000, and avg. no. days to resolve a complaint.
Fixed Service Providers: the good and bad
Next up is all the key information on Fixed Service Providers - or the providers of broadband, TV and home phone services in Ireland. (We’ll refer to them as broadband providers from here to make things easier).
The total number of issues recorded for broadband providers decreased by 2% in Q1 2022 compared to Q4 2021 (2,210 v 2,266 issues).
In terms of complaints, Virgin Media came out on top with just 38 complaints this quarter, while Sky (40), Vodafone (69) and Eir (114) trailed behind.
However, complaints against Sky increased by almost half in Q1 (22 v 40), despite it having a lower number of complaints than most other providers. And while Eir had the highest number of complaints this quarter, its numbers represent a 37% reduction on the number of complaints versus Q4 2021.
Complaints per 100,000 customers
The average number of complaints per 100,000 subscribers in Q1 2022 was 21.6. This is compared to an average of 25.7 complaints in Q4 2022.
Virgin Media is still on top in this category with just 13.7 complaints compared to 20.5 last quarter.
The next best provider, interestingly, is Eir, with 22.3 complaints per 100,000 customers. It beat both Sky and Vodafone when figures were adjusted to take account of market share.
Eir also now has the lowest resolution time in the industry according to the latest report, with it taking a median time of six working days to resolve a complaint from a customer. (See how the other broadband providers fared in the table below).
|
Provider |
No. Complaints |
Complaints per 100,000 customers |
Median no. days to resolve a complaint |
|||
|
Q1 2022 |
Q4 2021 |
Q1 2022 |
Q4 2021 |
Q1 2022 |
Q4 2021 |
|
|
Eir |
114 |
156 |
22.3 |
30.1 |
6 |
4 |
|
Sky |
40 |
22 |
24.7 |
13.3 |
8 |
7.5 |
|
Virgin Media |
38 |
58 |
13.7 |
20.5 |
9 |
8 |
|
Vodafone |
69 |
85 |
36.4 |
44.7 |
10 |
6 |
|
Other |
18 |
16 |
16 |
7.5 |
||
Table 2: Fixed provider complaints, complaints per 100,000, and avg. no. days to resolve a complaint.
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