Communications Ombudsman Reviews 935

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.

My complaint was managed very professionally and an example to the rest of the industry. The process was clearly explained from the outset with regular updates. The resolution was detailed and clearly managed to my satisfaction.

No teeth, no chance of a decision in your favour against the likes of O2 - cowboys.
They are helping O2’s unprofessional behaviour to go unpunished, and thereby actually facilitate them and reinforce the way they can do or say whatever they want, and don’t have to try and justify anything until after they have ruined your credit file and your are forced to try to get justice by the Ombudsman

An absolute waste of time that only added to the stress of my complaint.
Sided with my service provider (Three) without assessing all the evidence I.e, recorded calls made by myself to Three.

Understand what Ombudsman
means

Laura managed to resolve my complaint within 2 weeks , something it took me a year , a nightmare year which has affected my health , every time a vehicle pulled up outside my house I thought it was bailiffs which EE had threatened they would send if I didn’t pay , it was false promises from EE ( polite version of their lies ) I was told I would get reward if I chose them , they messed it up from day one , each member of staff EE told me a different story , not one said similar to another member of staff .
Their executive complaints team were dealing with it , each one told me Rebecca was looking into it then after a year I find out Rebecca had closed complaint months before , Not only did she not tell me she didn’t tell any other member of staff
Another member of exec team Millie L looked into but final response was same debt still remained as did £1551 default on my credit file , writhin 2 weeks of Laura from Ombudsman getting involved EE decided they would except items back and no money owing , and clear my b default on credit file

I raised a formal complaint with BT after my account was closed in error but continued to be reported to credit reference agencies with an invalid balance and late payment markers. This caused serious damage to my credit file.

Despite BT admitting the billing error and offering a small goodwill payment, they have not provided evidence that the negative markers have been corrected. My credit file (as of August 2025) still shows adverse information linked to BT.

The complaint handling process felt dismissive. Rather than properly addressing the harm caused and ensuring the inaccuracies were removed from all CRAs, BT appeared more focused on closing the matter quickly with a token payment. This leaves customers like me with the burden of chasing the CRAs and the ICO to protect our credit standing.

I have seen the Ombudsman reply and respond accordingly:

Thank you for your response. I note your statement that all evidence and information is considered. However, in my case, adverse credit markers remain on my file despite BT’s own admission that the debt was raised in error and later withdrawn. The Ombudsman’s decision did not reflect this, leaving me with ongoing credit damage. I have already provided documentary proof and BT’s final response letter confirming the account should have been closed in January 2025 with no outstanding balance.

I would welcome clarity on why this evidence was not fully reflected in your decision and what steps I should now take to ensure my credit file is corrected.

⸻

Fully explained the complaints procedure and helped me submit my evidence whilst remaining completely impartial. My case against BT was upheld, and they were instructed to compensate me for the lies the BT agents told me.

In my case, the Ombudsman’s decision was fair and just. However, I still didn’t receive the due full amount that EE was supposed to pay. The Ombudsman told me to contact the EE, and the EE told me to contact the Ombudsman. Such an irony!”
At end nothing in my hand. I am confused issue resolved or not?

sided with EE after they continued to take my money for a product that was paid off. I wanted what had been taken fraudulently, the contract had ended, EE claimed they notified me, they did not. Any attempt to speak to my caseworker was never successful. They decided that apparently EE had informed me, without any evidence. No message ever came through on my IPAD the product n question to inform me of such. Yet EE can say they did and its believed. I a EE customer of over 15 years is apparently not to be believed and the £900 taken from me at a time when I nearly died in childbirth and my very premature baby daughter was in hospital for 11 weeks, if I had a notification I would have acted, unfortunately during such a big change in my life and life changing events I was not quite in the right mind to reminder expiry dates of every contract, but EE knew and still continued to take my money when right now I am struggling. Shame on you for not protecting us as consumers. Don't bother using them, they will only side with these big corporations.