Dragging VM to the Ombudsman: What are your chances of winning?

[Cardiffman282]

Virgin Media uses the Communications Ombudsman for alternative dispute resolution purposes. This means that when you have exhausted the internal VM complaints process and have a deadlock letter (or else eight weeks have passed since you first formally complained to VM) , then you can seek resolution via the Ombudsman (at no expense to you).

But what are your odds of winning once you get that far? Is it worth the time and trouble? Will VM fight you all the way or seek a quiet deal with you?

It all depends on the individual case of course but there are some clues as to how VM is likely to respond generally.

Broadly VM will contest about two thirds of cases and settle around one third. 

If it does contest your case is that the end of the road for you? Actually no. VM doesn't do that well when it chooses to contest cases with about half of all VM cases brought to the Ombudsman being upheld in the customer's favour and just 17% not upheld.

The upshot is that, on average, you have an 83% chance of getting something out of bringing your case. Not bad odds considering there is no cost to you.

Out of interest TalkTalk hate contesting these cases (maybe due to the cost) and settle a whopping 87%. Plusnet has a miserable cases upheld rate of 71%.

Have you taken your complaint to the Ombudsman? How did VM react? What was the outcome?

See https://www.virginmedia.com/help/complaints 

https://www.commsombudsman.org/complaints-data

[Cardiffman282]

The Q2 stats are now available (albeit buried).

VM is getting a bit more belligerent with these Ombudsman cases. Broadly it now contests four fifths of cases (up from two thirds) and settles about one fifth (down from a third).

However VM wins only a fifth of cases brought to the Ombudsman by its aggrieved customers (about the same as last quarter). About three fifths are upheld (up from a half). In summary it's fighting a bit harder but not really getting anywhere.

TalkTalk still hates these cases and settles a whopping four fifths of cases brought. 

BT, by way of contrast, is very sniffy about settling cases with just 2% of cases brought being settled.

As a side note does anyone know what has happened to Ofcom's quarterly complaints stats? They seem to have stopped. 

[newapollo]

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@Cardiffman282 wrote:

As a side note does anyone know what has happened to Ofcom's quarterly complaints stats? They seem to have stopped. 

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The report has been delayed until 14th November due to changes in methodology.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/announcements/telecoms-and-pay-tv-complaints-q2-2024