TIO Annual Report 2004/05

Introduction

Established in 1993, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman Limited (TIO) is a free and independent dispute resolution service for residential and small business consumers who have been unable to resolve a complaint with their telephone or internet service provider.

The TIO is wholly funded by telephone and internet service providers, who are required by law to be part of, and pay for, the TIO scheme.

The TIO’s Annual Report includes a comprehensive review of complaint statistics for the 2004/05 financial year. These statistics are published for the information of consumers, and to help service providers identify areas where they can improve their performance.

This is an abridged version of the Annual Report. A complete version is available in PDF format or you can order a hard copy from the TIO.

Year at a Glance

The TIO handled 97,798 contacts in 2004/05 – a 28.8% increase on last year’s total of 75,904.

Total contacts included 18,883 out-of-jurisdiction enquiries and 78,915 complaints.

The 78,915 complaints investigated in 2004/05 were 31.9% more than the 59,850 complaints investigated last year.

A single complaint may contain more than one complaint issue. In 2004/05 the TIO recorded 100,825 complaint issues, up from 68,020 last year.

44.2% of complaint issues handled by the TIO were about landline services, 39.9% were about mobile services and 15.9% were about internet services.

90.2% of complaints were resolved at level 1, compared with 89.7% last year.

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