Communications Ombudsman Avis 924

Dreadful. The complaint handler made a mistake in their understanding of the situation. They have admitted this but have failed to correct it. So we are in limbo. A total waste of time.

Don't waste your time trying to solve the problem yourself. If you think you're right and have evidences to support your case let Communications Ombudsman take car of it for you. Charlotte took my case, and just in a couple of weeks it was solved. I'm so grateful for you help.🙏

I assume they are funded by the telecommunication companies hence the web sites make it hard to find who to complain to then hard to make a complaint then impossible to have a conversation. Eventually they simplicity the dispute leaving aside the difficult parts and propose a settlement that as you have dated so much time you are forced to accept.

I just had bad Expirence with communication ombudsman, please do not wasted your time as they are not experienced not have legal qualifications and make decisions in favour of multimillionaire companies they working for them not for customers, even the manager does not have legal qualification. They took 2 months for investigation which at end was not a proper investigation they do not have any evidence and facts regarding your problem. They not requesting information from EE they just took the fact suit to the ombudsman and EE they play together. Do not waste your time just go to the court as ombudsman damages your case by making wrong illegal decision. When I asked the facts and evidence they use they could not answer, just told me we get information from EE , I have problem with network provider over 22 months and ombudsman even not care about this. I believe ombudsman must be shut down as they work for big companies.

The Ombudsman was completely useless at addressing the complaint. Instead of requesting more evidence or undertaking a more thorough investigation, they just accepted everything that Virgin Media said as factual and ignored anything I said or evidenced. Very one-sided approach and definitely not impartial at all. May just be my particular experience but it seems pointless to raise anything with them.

Its bad enough that you have to wait 8 weeks to be able to contact them, but then wait weeks for a resolution agreed. However then even with a company making your credit score bad with a bad credit marker on it by mistake they still will not take any firmer action. The officers ignore emails, even when you ask for escalation they ignore. Basically you are FOBAR without any recourse at this stage, even if its effecting your life such as a Mortgage application, tough poop. ITS ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING. I have got my Local MP who also happens to be the Shadow Home Sec RH Chris Philp involved. Something desperately needs to change. AS FOR THEIR RESPONSE BELOW, NOTE I STILL HAVE NOT HEARD BACK FROM MY EMAILS TO THEM (OMBUDSMAN) LEFT ON THE CASE SINCE SEPT HOW THE HELL DO THEY THINK THAT IS ACCEPTABLE. NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE.

Anonymous, difficult to understand the process and almost as bad as the company I complained about! I think they are a tick box AI driven enterprise , not fit for purpose. I had automated emails sent in the middle of the night about things I did not understand and my case had 'closed' on it at one point when it had not been dealt with at all, yet the automated emails kept coming. Just there to show compliance with some sort of legislation I presume but not really addressing issues.
Edit, after noticing that my review was labelled 'unprompted' I would like to say this is not true, I did a survey and was asked to give a review on Trustpilot at the end. With regard to the comments I got from the service....it took months to get any sort of resolution from you in the first place and that was totally unsatisfactory and you have not replied to my further queries , so why would I waste more time dealing with you when you have been so poor in handling things? Maybe all these bad reviews should tell you that you are not fit for purpose?

Clear bias for the company over the individual. I’d paid out £100s to Plusnet for internet that was not fit for service only to discover that a 448kb cap had been put on without any warning or notification. Had to spend extra money on data to attend online meetings / view television. No refund. Only explained copper wire as excuse & BT Open reach placing the cap . Ombudsman just parroted the company without any interrogation as to the fairness of hidden T &C. or lack of notification that this might be a possibility when I signed up. No goodwill, no sympathy. Abysmal, cynical - servants of capitalism - a charade of customer care without any true regard for justice.

I complained about the appalling service, treatment and lack of responses from EE
The ombudsmen looked at EE’s response and used this in their favour. I was not given a chance to respond to the final decision and they used a different number on my account as evidence. This number belongs to someone else who is abroad. The number the complaint was made about was not even mentioned in the response. I was not given the opportunity to correct this

Don't waste your time with these cowboys. They are NOT independent, they cannot communicate probably and they just fob you off.

They do not care one iota about customers. They are clearly paid by the companies who you complain about to fob customers off and close complaints as soon as possible always in favour of the company.

THEY ARE NOT INDEPENDENT AT ALL

They are not even capable of communicating with you and simply close complaints without fully investing them. They ALWAYS take the side of the company and NEVER the consumer.

A scandalous waste of time — avoid unless you enjoy being ignored**

I went to the Communications Ombudsman expecting a fair hearing. What I got instead was sheer incompetence. Key evidence was ignored, communication was inconsistent, and the investigation felt rushed — as if someone had already decided the outcome before even reading my case.

Their staff were helpful at first, but once I pointed out clear procedural errors and provided documented failings, the tone changed completely. They stopped engaging altogether.

My original complaint was against BT — and I actually won — yet BT went straight back to the same behaviour as before, and the Ombudsman did nothing to enforce their own ruling.

A service that’s meant to protect consumers ends up shielding the companies instead. Don’t expect accountability, speed, or basic competence — and if you try to appeal, they simply shut it down and stop responding.

I’ve now written five follow-up letters since their so-called “final decision,” and still haven’t received a single response. The silence speaks volumes.

This process has cost me time, stress, and any confidence I had in the ADR system. I’m furious and would strongly warn others: take care — once the Ombudsman decides to fail you, there’s nowhere meaningful left to turn.

Lodged a complaint to the ombudsman regarding No phone line with BT for over 5 months. They were as useless as BT A total Quango service no purpose. Then blamed me for not supplying my account number. All my details address etc were given. Then Made a complaint against Ombudsman and a woman Dion phoned blaming me saying it was my fault and tried to get meto change the nature of my complaint. Declined to put anything in writing. Useless. No appetite to investigate. Look for any excuse to close complaint.

Shocking pointless waste of time don’t understand or care about the impact big companies not providing a service we pay them for has on individuals. In dispute with EE but ombudsman let them change it to BT 🤷🏻‍♂️ I don’t think they actually understood everything it’s all done online and as always the little people are just a number or tick box exercise so people can justify claiming a wage no personal touch everything has gone mad can’t wait for an EMPto drop let’s see these big companies fall apart then everything is guided to land on the companies side

The ombudsman is essentially window dressing to give the impression that as customers we have an alternative to a legal route. They largely ignored all of our argumentation with a "you signed the Ts&Cs". Well yes, BT/OpenReach is in many cases a monopoly supplier, so what is the choice in an area with no mobile reception? The ombudsman's role should be to address the power imbalance between large corporates and their customers. I'd say this one is a fail.

Easy to complete the online forms. Their help was excellent.

If your supplier is ignoring your complaint and failing to offer any acceptable level of customer service, the ombudsman service will at least force them into action, but that’s about it. The eight week delay just drags this process out longer. My complaint was eventually resolved after three months, but without the ombudsman’s intervention, I’d still be hitting my head against that metaphorical brick wall.

At the end of my contract with Vodafone I informed them via Tela Technology who were the provider of our mobile phone service that I was transferring to another provider. Of the three phones I had with them I only needed PAC for two of them and didn’t want the third phone at all. The transfer of the 2 numbers went smoothly enough but I noticed a few months later that Vodafone had been charging me continually since the contract had finished. Despite numerous emails and telephone conversations I was unable to get either Tela or Vodafone to admit their mistake or refund me any monies I was due.
Once I contacted the Communications Ombudsman and spoke to James and explained my issue he quickly understood my issue and set up a case number for me. I was able to provide him with copies of emails and letters I had received relating to the overpayment and he contacted Tela on my behalf. They agreed to refund me the monies I had overplayed and did so by return.
The matter was resolved within three weeks of my first contact with James which I think is excellent.

Utter waste of time. The Ombudsman: had no authority to compel O2 to engage and investigate my complaint; cannot compel O2 to implement resolutions; had no authority to award reasonable compensation; allowed O2 to engage in the lowest cost to their business option by ignoring the Ombudsman knowing the maximum penalty for them is just £100.

Litigation has now started and I am awaiting a Court hearing as mediation failed.

I read that the Communications Ombudsman is funded by the communication operators within the UK and therefore appear to have a financial incentive to find in their favour. The Ombudsman have no ability to consider or question regulations, established procedures or recommend changes that are considered standard in any conventional regulatory body. Their system is set up to work totally in the interests of the operators and is, I believe is in need of an urgent overhaul to prevent even greater levels of consumer dissatisfaction. Overall, I consider that the quality of the Ombudsman’s investigations to be poor, and upon making further inquiries they admitted that they have little power to enforce companies to act in a proficient manner. Unless one has serious major issues regarding wrongdoings by the operators, one should consider very carefully if the time spent in complaining to the Ombudsman is really worthwhile as – in my opinion the Communications Ombudsman are totally inept in their investigations and not fit for purpose.

After 8 weeks of complaining to O2 and getting nowhere I contacted the ombudsman and my case manager, Julie, soon got a resolution that I was happy with. She kept me informed regularly and was very professional. Well done, excellent service, a voice for us against these large institutions.