TIO annual report 2007/08

Issues analysis

Complaints and complaint issues

The TIO handles complaints about landline, mobile and internet services under the TIO scheme. Mobile premium services are handled under the Mobile Premium Services Industry scheme, which was established in December 2006

This report analyses each scheme separately. Commentary on the TIO scheme is on pages 32 to 44. Commentary on the Mobile Premium Services Industry Scheme is on pages 45 to 46.

Reporting terms

The following issues analysis is examined in terms of complaints and complaints issues.

Complaints

A complaint is an expression of grievance or dissatisfaction that falls within the jurisdiction of the TIO and which the service provider concerned has had an opportunity to resolve. The TIO received 149 742 complaints in 2007/08, a 46.1% per cent increase on 2006/07.

Each complaint is logged according to the service that it occurred under, namely landline, mobile, internet and mobile premium services.

In 2007/08, complaints increased across the board. Landline complaints rose by 59.2 per cent followed by mobile complaints (40.5 per cent) and then internet complaints (24.0 per cent). The Mobile Premium Services Industry scheme was introduced in December 2006, so MPSI complaints cannot be compared between the two years.

Complaint issues

A complaint may raise more than one issue. For example, a person who complains about a landline bill may also complain about a landline fault or landline credit management issue. The TIO logged 268 645 complaint issues in 2007/08. This compares with 166 885 complaint issues in 2006/07.

A complete list of complaint issue categories for each service type in the TIO scheme is detailed below.

MPSI scheme complaint issues categories are detailed in the MPSI section on page 45.

Complaint issues increased across all service types. Landline complaint issues increased by 77.7 per cent, mobile complaint issues by 58.3 per cent and internet complaint issues by 32.3 per cent.

We have analysed this year’s statistics according to complaint issues categories, with particular emphasis on the top eight issues. The TIO issues analysis considers issues categories across landline, mobile and internet services.

Complaint issues numbers by category for all service types appear in table 6.

Table 6 Complaint issues by category

 * 2007/08 was the first full year of the Mobile Premium Services Industry Scheme. The scheme operated from December 2006 to June 2007 in the 2006/07 year. 

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