Sky remain least complained about provider for broadband, TV and mobile

Sky received just 4 complaints per 100,000 broadband customers, 3 complaints for landline, 1 complaint for mobile, and 1 complaint for pay TV in the third quarter of 2022, making them the least complained about provider overall.

On the flipside, Ofcom's reports found Shell Energy was continuing to perform poorly in the broadband market, with 27 complaints per 100,000 customers, 16 more than the average.

Virgin Media also picked up the most complaints in the pay TV sector, with 9 complaints per 100,000 customers compared to an industry average of 4.

Source: Ofcom

Broadband complaints

Sky had the fewest complaints to Ofcom in the Q3 2022 report, with EE and NOW Broadband also performing well with just 6 and 7 complaints per 100,000 customers respectively.

Both Sky and EE had the fewest landline complaints with just 3 per 100,000 customers. This trend follows on from their performance in Q2 2022, Q1 2022, and over the longer-term.

The most broadband complaints went to Shell Energy Broadband with 27 complaints per 100,000 customers and 20 landline complaints.

Ofcom noted Shell Energy's complaints were primarily driven by faults, service and provision for broadband and complaints handling for landline customers.

While this does demonstrate some improvement over Shell Energy's Q2 2022 figures of 31 complaints, their complaints levels are still very high overall. The number of customers complaining about Shell Energy Broadband had been steadily growing from 13 in Q2 2021, 17 in Q3 2021, 22 in Q1 2022, and reaching a peak of 31 in Q2 2022.

However, it should come as some relief for the provider to see their complaints figures starting to reduce. When we spoke to them after the last quarter report was published they said they were "not where [they] wanted to be", and that they were "investing heavily in our customer service and complaint processes".

The industry average for broadband for Q3 2022 was 11 complaints, and BT, NOW Broadband, EE and Sky all performed better than the average.

While Shell Energy Broadband had the most complaints, they were also joined by TalkTalk, Virgin Media, Plusnet, and Vodafone for having above average complaint levels. This trend was also matched for landline customers.

Pay TV complaints

Virgin Media was the most complained about pay TV provider in Ofcom's report, with 9 complaints per 100,000 customers compared to an industry average of 4.

The way Virgin Media handled complaints was given as the main driver for the provider's high complaints record this quarter.

Both Sky and TalkTalk performed better than average with 1 and 3 complaints respectively, and BT had more complaints with 7 per 100,000 customers for its TV service.

Mobile complaints

In the mobile sector performance was similar amongst providers, with Sky Mobile and EE receiving the fewest complaints alongside Tesco Mobile at just 1 complaint per 100,000 customers.

At the other end of the scale both BT Mobile and Virgin Mobile had the most complaints with 4 per 100,000 customers, 2 above the industry average.

Complaints handling was again given as the main reason for the higher number of complaints in the mobile industry.