By Adrian Weckler
Billing issues still dominate complaints to Irish mobile and fixed operators, according to new figures published by the telecoms regulator, ComReg.
The figures show that for the three biggest mobile operators, Eir, Vodafone and 3, billing complaints are higher than all other complaints combined, including contractual matters, services issues and number portability.
While not as big a percentage for fixed operators, it still makes for the highest single complaint category for companies such as Sky, Virgin Media and Pure Telecom.
Billing is classified as being billed after cancellation, being billed for services not received, being billed more than an agreed amount, being double billed or not receiving a refund.
The biggest single issue for customers of mobile operators was being billed more than the agreed amount, according to ComReg. Most mobile operators are also taking slightly longer to resolve complaints than before, according to the figures.
Eir has more complaints per 100,000 mobile subscribers than 3 or Vodafone, although all three mobile operators have seen the volume of complaints decline in the last three months.
Issues relating to premium rate services have also doubled in the last year, according to the official report.
When it comes to sorting out problems, Pure Telecom takes the longest time to resolve issues, at more than three times the industry average, according to the figures.
On complaints relating to installation, it took an average of 146 days to close out complaints to the operator.
Pure Telecom was also highest in relation to complaints about broadband, followed by Eir, Sky, Vodafone and Virgin Media. Vodafone led in complaints about fixed voice services.
A spokesperson for Pure Telecom was unable to comment on the figures.
While Eir, Sky and Vodafone all reduced the amount of time it takes to resolve a complaint, Virgin Media saw its resolution time increase almost threefold to above the industry average.
Overall, ComReg received 342 complaints in the second quarter of the year.
During the three-month period, ComReg recorded approximately 3,800 “issues”, classed as either electronic communication services (ECS), premium rate services (PRS ) or “other”.
This was a 10pc increase compared with the same time last year. ECS issues increased by 8pc and PRS issues increased by 112pc.
Meanwhile, 3 was sanctioned by ComReg for overcharging 25,500 customers on premium rate services.
The operator said it will pay back more than €140,000(US$ to accounts that were charged 50 cents more per SMS text than the correct rate for the premium rate services involved.
In a statement, ComReg said that it had notified 3 “of a finding of non-compliance with its obligations under the premium rate services code of practice”.
The regulator said that 3 had confirmed to it that “it has implemented additional measures to remedy the non-compliance”.
ComReg said that given 3’s response and action, it would not need to take any more action against the operator.
