Communications Ombudsman Avis 923

An excellent service, they are compassionate, helpful and listen.
My case handler was amazing.
Being autistic, and disclosing this helped me,nad helped my case handler

If you talk to them about your problem, you're just running out of time. They make a decision without any research.

Having exhausted the companys' proceedures trying to reach an agreement I contacted the Ombudsman. The process was clearly laid out and the person assined to my case was very helpful. It took two months and reached a satisfactory outcome in my favour.

I would give a zero if there were a zero score. My friends and relatives told me that the ombudsman service often resolves disputes on behalf of companies, rather than consumers. The ombudsman service doesn’t help consumers at all. I don’t know what this service is doing. It was impossible to contact the ombudsman caseworker by phone. When I received the resolved email, I was shocked and realised that he had only read the company’s email and reports, and he had never read all my evidence. During the process, I tried to call him several times and left a message requesting a call back, as he had expressed in his answer message. But he had never called me back. I wanted to talk to explain the issue to him better. I was overseas for volunteer work at the beginning of the process, so I asked him to contact me through email. However, when I returned, I sent him an email to contact him by phone, but he never replied to any of my calls. I asked for advice from other services, and I was told that the broadband company, Virgin Media, is wrong to increase the monthly payment from £34.08 to £89.09 and charge me without my prior approval. Virgin Media is supposed to send me a letter by post for the end of the contract, which I requested at the beginning of the contract. It’s very easy to miss it because I receive so many email adverts from the suppliers. They charged me £89 for 4 months, and it’s a significant amount for me as I am a pensioner. When I wanted to cancel my account, they wouldn’t let me use the other broadband supplier, which was a new supplier willing to pay my bills. I had been trying to cancel my account since May 2025 for 6 months, which caused me stress and depression and made worse my anxiety and depression problem. The ombudsman service was extremely slow, and it isn't easy to contact them. Virgin Media had recorded my surname wrong at the beginning of the contract. I had contact with them many times, via email, live chat, and phone calls, to correct my surname on their records. Still, for two years, I couldn't manage it, and I had informed the ombudsman about this issue and explained to them that it means they don't have a contract with me, because my surname is recorded incorrectly. However, the ombudsman had never read my evidence and emails. When I read the decision issued email by mistake, I clicked on 'Decline' to appeal the decision. When I realised I had made a mistake, I sent an email to the ombudsman case worker to ask for help and explained that, due to a language barrier, I had made an error. However, he did not provide any assistance. It’s better to take the case to the sheriff court and my MP. Ombudsman services are typically available only for companies, not for consumers. Don’t trust ombudsman services, and don’t waste your time with them. It's impossible to phone them or contact them. I sent an email to complain, but the email address they provided was incorrect, and my email didn't reach them. I know that it's impossible to contact them anyway. They are asking me to call them here. I know that they won't answer it.

I had been trying for 13 months to get Virgin Media to sort out my account after my husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. After contacting the ombudsman and saying exactly what I wanted from Virgin Media the whole thing was resolved and finalised in 3 weeks. Wish I had saved myself 13 months of stress and contacted them sooner

I have had a great experience with my ombudsman after a 10 month battle with my broadband provider not paying my switch fees I have had them paid plus compensation and this would not have happened if wasn’t for the hard work put in by my ombudsman. From start of claim to the end I was kept informed at every step of the process and had direct line to my personal ombudsman. Cannot praise enough

Following a dispute with Virgin Media and a dreadful outcome whilst trying to resolve this with VM, I took my case to the Communication Ombudsman, Jacqueline . She found in my favour and instructed VM to pay me £125.00 compensation. VM also stated that they were offering me £100. However, VM had defended their poor service and claimed I owed them £560.00 for leaving before my contract had expired. Initially I paid them £250.00 immediately to show willing and try to enter into a discussion on the matter. However, VM refused to acknowledge my offer and left me negative feedback on my credit file. I paid further money to VM and ended up making an overpayment of £31.00. The Ombudsman refused three times to confirm if my calculations were correct in order for me to agree to the solution they offered. As a result despite my three letters to the CO setting out my query I failed to obtain a reply and they closed my complaint in favour of VM. Now all I get from the CO is repeated emails worded like a parrot repeating itself but without a proper response. Now I have received no support and lost the award just because I asked the CO to confirm if I had overpaid including the awards. Why did I bother. I even asked the CO to escalate my case but no response. Thanks Communication Ombudsman.

Excellent personal service, can't fault it.

Defeated
As i could not put my case across with details as mobile company would not supply paperwork as i requested still fighting mobile company had to threaten with ico

resolution was fast and the agent was super helpful.

Quick response times, listened to my complaint and when complainer tried to shut it down by saying a ticket was raised, she wouldn’t as she was aware this had been said to me several times before. My complaint was felt with fairly to both sides and issue resolved quickly that had taken months to try and resolve on my own. Great service and friendly

It was unnecessarily difficult to get in contact with the agent. They repeatedly called my number and hung up immediately upon my answering. When I promptly attempted to return the call, the agent never answered. Furthermore, my voicemails were repeatedly ignored, with the agent telling me this was because she had so many. Adding to the frustration, the agency swapped agents mid-complaint without telling me. In the end, the process was such a hassle that despite not being completely satisfied with the suggested solution, I just accepted it so the issue could finally be finished.

The representative I dealt with displayed absolutely zero communication skills and demonstrated a clear bias in favour of the supplier (Lebara). Despite multiple pieces of solid evidence supporting my case, he ignored critical information and hastily jumped to a conclusion without proper consideration.

No opportunity for appeal was provided, even though there were clear gaps and overlooked evidence in the decision. I emailed several times seeking clarification or a fair review, yet received no meaningful response. Instead, I was abruptly sent an email forcing me to either accept or reject the outcome, with no alternative or due process offered.

This felt like a forced decision, made with full knowledge that my only remaining option would be to take the matter to court. I am genuinely disappointed and disillusioned with an organisation that claims to support consumers but shows no empathy, fairness, or accountability toward clients who have already suffered due to supplier misconduct.

I work for an MP. I say this because the repeated failure of the agent to escalate a complaint to the Independent Assessor left me wondering how vulnerable members of the public cope with this service. It is not the role of case handlers to act as gatekeepers to this service, and we can only conclude that this was a deliberate attempt to suppress or manipulate complaint figures.

If this reflects a change of policy under Ed Dodsman’s leadership, then stakeholders should be informed without delay.

Dame Meg Hillier, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, recently remarked:

'The attempt to frustrate scrutiny ultimately proved unsuccessful. I hope this sends a clear message to any organisation considering similar action in future: we will have answers on behalf of the British public, whether senior officials attempt to block them or not.”
The communications ombudsman needs a thorough review from top to bottom.
As a further example of their lazy incompetence note the cut and paste responses they attach to every complaint.

Make sure that your grievance is dealt with by a real person. Too often you are fobbed off with repeated automated responses asking for the same information over and over again. Based upon my original experience I would have only awarded 2* but after speaking to David O'Hanlon I have no hesitation in awarding 5*

The communications ombudsman shoukd state clearly on its website that they do not actually deal with disability discrimination cases. By comms companies stating clients HAVE to refer complaints to the CO they are preventing customers from justice. CO are only interested in the fee they get for taking on the investigation not the fact that the client is left without the means of primary communication because of failure in service. Such cases are handled incompetently because the staff have no training and the CO is just there to delay such cases for the comms company and make the client victim ‘out of time’ for court action by delay after delay - and it is reprehensible that the CO financially benefit from discrimination cases time and time again. The staff are so badly trained that they don’t even know what accessible communication is and refuse reasonable adjustments for plain text communication.

**Cut and paste reply not even editied to my situation is an example of how little the CO care about you or your complaint. They just want the £250 you provide. Social Media shaming is the only thing they care about. 'Feedback' does not help.

Time wise it was very efficient but I always had the feeling the mobile operator would come out on top.The mobile operator didn't even have my surname correct yet this wasn't questioned by the Ombudsman.
Overall don't get too optimistic.

Very easy to use and the lady I spoke to was very helpful.Resolved my issue within 24hours after me spending months trying without success.

I came to the ombudsman in hopes of a fair outcome after years of problems with virgin media. Theres nothing that was actually done nor resolved, I wasnt even helped to get out of the contract they're keeping me hostage with.

I was told to request my data for the case, the ombudsman agreed to wait for review until I had recieved and sent in my evidence. Virgin media refused to send it out after being contacted twice, via email and phone (this wasnt fair but no one seemed to care that they had done that to me as a disabled person again and the review went forward despite it, so much for fair right?) i feel virgin media completely controlled this whole process and i was given the same laughable offer as virgin orignally offered.

Apparently there's a huge number of loopholes and specifics that are, obviously, always in favour of the billionaire tech companies! So no, I don't believe this service is fair or impartial in the slightest, it has been specifically moulded over years in favour of the tech companies through ridiculously specific rules and loopholes to help them avoid actual accountability. So instead of helping me, I just got over apologised to and told that I was believed but that the system isnt fair and had no actual resolution, I now am going to have to take this to court which is once again, usually in favour of the billionaires, so I have discovered here that there is no justice nor fair outcome in this country anymore. It's all about keeping money in billionaires pockets and keeping the the lower class in their place, under the boot and I'm deeply saddened that I ever wasted my time hoping for a fair outcome. You cant call yourself fair and then have ultra specific loopholes that keep your billionaires safe, you are just yet another professional apologists protecting the class divide, in favour of the billionaires and it's disgusting.

Edit in response to reply:
You do not give ample time, you gave me 30 days during which time I requested my data TWICE and was refused, which is illegal for virgin media to do. When I contacted the person I charge of my case, I was given a copy and paste response about how legally virgin media have to give me my data within 30 days from the request. No one held virgin accountable for refusing me acsess to my own data, the case went ahead without my consent or knowledge and the outcome was based on virgin media providing a single deadlock letter as evidence.

I am extremely disappointed with how my case was handled. My complaint was not objectively reviewed on its real substance – the unacceptable and humiliating behaviour of the O2 store leader and the moral harm caused by that incident.

The incident in the store was so distressing that I specifically asked to be released from O2 without any termination fee, as I can no longer feel comfortable returning to that shop. Instead of being understood and supported, my case was not truly examined, and I am now effectively punished by being forced to remain with O2 for another 1.5 years. God forbid I ever need in-store assistance again.

The investigation felt completely superficial, relying only on O2’s version of events without any genuine consideration of my detailed explanations or evidence. I provided full documentation and context, yet no one from your team asked any clarifying questions or tried to understand the full background – that this was a repeated issue caused by poor communication between O2 departments and lack of customer care.

Instead, the final decision was based on standard phrases like “I was not present in the store,” which makes me question what real purpose your service serves if it cannot help customers facing mistreatment or discrimination.

Overall, I feel deeply disappointed and let down by this process, which only added to the distress caused by O2’s behaviour.

I already emailed your team on 14 October with all details, and nobody replied. So please don’t tell me to email again — the problem is that you don’t respond or review cases properly in the first place.