Re: Virgin least complained about provider in Q2 2011
 

And unless l am mistaken you have a Scottish accent.:D

Re: Virgin least complained about provider in Q2 2011
 

It would be interesting to know how those statistics are compiled. I suspect that it only accounts fo complaints that have gone as far as offcom (or whoever the ombudsman is these days).

Re: Virgin least complained about provider in Q2 2011
 

From the report:

Re: Virgin least complained about provider in Q2 2011
 

Thanks for that.

It would be good if there was an honest report with statistics provided by the companies themselves.

Even 0.15 per 1000 is a huge number to actually go all the way to Ofcom, because I should think that there are probably about another 100 who don't go as far as the ombudsman.

I makes me laugh when companies pat themselves on the back if they have 90% satisfied customers. Personally I aim to have 100% of my customers not just happy, but over the moon with our service (although there will always be the odd Victor Meldrew type who you will never please).

Re: Virgin least complained about provider in Q2 2011
 

To be fair, you are unlikely to have over 4 million customers, so your 100% is probably more achievable.....

Re: Virgin least complained about provider in Q2 2011
 

A percentage is a percentage, and 1.5% actually going to the ombudsman is abysmal. It means that 60,000 customers had complaints so serious that VM's complaints procedure wasn't enough, and they felt they had to take it to the ombudsman. And at a guess that means that they probably have had at least 10x that amount in complaints that haven't gone to Ofcom.

So this is nothing to blow your trumpet about. It is something that should be looked at very seriously. Personally I believe that the reason they don't tackle the problem is because of the lack of competition.

The only reason I have stayed with Virgin is because their service (not their customer service) is probably the best of a very bad bunch.

Re: Virgin least complained about provider in Q2 2011
 

A number of those 'complaints' will include those customers that just didn't get what they wanted.

Someone not getting a free TiVo may take their complaint to OFCOM, who would record it as such even though it's not one

Even OFCOM themselves say that don't check whether the complaints reported are actually valid or not (from the previous report quote)
---------- Post added at 21:25 ---------- Previous post was at 21:23 ----------

How do you arrive at that?

If Virgin have no competition and don't tackle complaints, wouldn't that mean they would have the highest number of complaints reported to OFCOM, not the least?

Re: Virgin least complained about provider in Q2 2011
 

0.15 per 1,000 customers = 600 out of 4 million.

Re: Virgin least complained about provider in Q2 2011
 

Erm, 0.015% actually....

Re: Virgin least complained about provider in Q2 2011
 

It is very rare that complaints that aren't valid get as far as Ofcom.

The only real competition that VM have is BT and Sky. So if BT and Sky's customer service is just as bad, then why would they bother improving their customer service? There are many companies who have scrapped their overseas call centres due to complaints from customers, and because customers find companies with UK call centres more appealing. VM wouldn't do this because there isn't much alternative to VM.

---------- Post added at 22:32 ---------- Previous post was at 22:28 ----------

Oops sorry, it's been a long day.

The fact remains that in just 3 months 600 of their customers have seen fit to escalate a complaint as far as Ofcom. This is still unacceptable in anyones book.

Re: Virgin least complained about provider in Q2 2011
 

Again OFCOM have done no checking to see whether the complaints are valid or not.

It's customers who have refused any settlement of the complaint with the provider.

As I said above, I know for a fact that people have 'gone to OFCOM' because they didn't get X product free or X credit.

Just because it's a complaint to OFCOM doesn't make Virgin at fault

On the flip side to that, I'm sure there are some perfectly valid issues in there where things could have gone better.

No company the size of Virgin (or BT or Sky) are ever going to please 100% of their customers 100% of the time, and not every complaint can be resolved to the customers benefit or satisfaction

Re: Virgin least complained about provider in Q2 2011
 

You are a Virgin employee, so you will probably defend them to the hilt, and your remarks are obviously biased.

I really hate the excuse "No company the size of Virgin (or BT or Sky) are ever going to please 100% of their customers 100% of the time, and not every complaint can be resolved to the customers benefit or satisfaction". We hear this sort of excuse all the time from big companies. Well it should be a priority of any company, big or small, to aim to please 100% of it's customers. But all too often they are happy just to please 90% or so.

I have personally had countless issues with Virgin/NTL over about 20 years. And I have never taken it to ofcom, so my complaints wouldn't even appear on their statistics. In fact my latest complaint was when my two businesses were without telephones for three days when we moved because I was lied to by a member of the Virgin staff.

Re: Virgin least complained about provider in Q2 2011
 

I never said it wasn't Virgin's aim to please 100% of their customers, I'm saying its not possible

Complaints are made and end up with OFCOM due to many factors, not all of them down to Virgin.

As we going around in a circle here I think it's time to respect each others position and leave it at that

Re: Virgin least complained about provider in Q2 2011
 

I never said it was possible to please 100% of customers. We all know that there are customers who are impossible to please. What I am saying is that they could do a hell of a lot more to try and please customers.

I have said that only a small percentage of complaints go to ofcom, so there are many times more that don't. So VM have nothing to blow their trumpet about.

Even from this thread you can see that many people hate the overseas call centres, because they are impossible to deal with.

I am not one of those customers who is impossible to please, yet I have had many avoidable issues with VM, that could have been dealt with far better. The worst issue is the lies that customers are told by customer service....even you can't defend that.

Re: Virgin least complained about provider in Q2 2011
 

And what line of business are you in, Tim?