How to complain to the ombudsman about a mobile phone provider

1. Complain to the company

Try to resolve the dispute with your provider by explaining your problem and what you want done about it. 

If the provider has its own internal complaints procedure, you should follow this in the first instance.

2. Get a letter of deadlock

If your provider refuses to do what you ask to sort out the problem, ask for a ‘letter of deadlock’ to show you've done all you can to resolve the complaint. 

If the company fails to respond to your request for a letter of deadlock within a reasonable period of time (say, 14 days), you can take your complaint to the ombudsman.

3. Find the correct ombudsman

There are two ombudsman services that deal with mobile phone complaints - Cisas and the Communications Ombudsman.

Find out which one your provider belongs to, as this will be the one where you'll need to use to escalate your complaint. 

These schemes only deal with complaints about mobile service providers, not about other mobile phone retailers such as third party sellers like the Carphone Warehouse, for example. 

4. Contact the ombudsman

Contact the ombudsman to find out how to submit a complaint. Different ombudsmen have different procedures – some may ask you to fill out a complaint form, while for others you need only write a letter outlining your problem. 

If it’s the latter make sure you include the following information:

• Your name and address (or the name and address of the person making the complaint)
• The name and address of the organisation the complaint is being made about
• Details of what your complaint is about, including exactly what the company did that it shouldn’t have (or what it didn’t do that it should have done)
• What you've lost in terms of personal injustice, financial loss, hardship or inconvenience
• What you would like the organisation to do to put things right, and details of what you've done so far to try to resolve the complaint
• Include copies of any relevant letters, emails, invoices or receipts

Contact Cisas

You can submit a complaint to Cisas through its online claim form.

If you have any issues, you can call Cisas on 020 7520 3814.

Contact the Communications Ombudsman

You can contact the Communications Ombudsman either online, via email or by post at:

The Communications Ombudsman
PO Box 730
Warrington
WA4 6WU

5. Await a decision in writing

The ombudsman will examine at the evidence presented by both sides. 

It might contact you for more information, but there isn’t a hearing, as with a court case.

Once the ombudsman has made its decision it will write to you and the company with details of the ‘award.' 

If the award is in your favour, this will include details of what the company must do to put things right.