The changes announced by Ofcom are important as customers will have more options when it comes to clearing up any frustrating grievances they are having with their internet connection. Whether you’re well experienced in handling service issues with your broadband provider or you’ve never complained before, the changes will affect how you go about things.
When you submit a complaint to Ofcom (www.ofcom.org.uk/
Currently thousands of complaints every week are submitted to Ofcom regarding telecom issues. This means that inevitably a backlog builds up and a resolution could take months. That’s not what you want to hear if you have a troublesome broadband connection, is it?
When Ofcom’s new procedure kicks in service providers will have to write to the customer who has made a complaint offering the services of an Alternative Dispute Resolution scheme (ADR). ISPs will now be forced to make customers aware of two independent adjudicators;
Ciaron Dunne from Broadband Genie explains: “Otelo and CISAS have always been there sitting quietly in the background waiting to investigate your complaints but ISPs have never been forced to advertise their services so readily before. Although the time period that it takes for Ofcom to investigate and hopefully resolve telecommunication complaints has been reduced, over eight weeks is a long time to wait if you don’t have a reliable broadband service.
“We advise broadband customers to consider all options when looking to resolve their connection issues and to be aware that there are alternatives to Ofcom if time is an issue.”
