Ofcom’s consultation on the review of ADR in the telecoms sector - Which? response

Summary

• Which? welcomes this opportunity to respond to Ofcom’s review and consultation on ADR in the telecoms sector. Effective ADR is critical for consumers to seek redress when they experience harm. Consumers greatly value access to fast and reliable connectivity, but when issues arise with their services, feelings of frustration can sometimes be exacerbated by poor levels of customer service. As such, improving standards of customer service to resolve complaints before they are escalated to an ADR provider is important to improve consumer confidence and trust.
• Overall, we broadly agree with the proposed changes Ofcom has outlined, including the proposed implementation periods. While we understand the basis for Ofcom to reapprove both ADR schemes, we think it is ultimately in the interests of consumers to have a single mandatory ombudsman provider within key economic sectors. This approach, as stated by the Ombudsman Association, would assist Ofcom in its objective to ensure a consistent process in consumer experiences with ADR. This is further reinforced by Section 54 (7) of the Communications Act (2003), which requires that the number of different sets of procedures for accessing ADR is kept to a minimum.
• We are also concerned about the changes to the decision making principles for ADR schemes in the telecoms sector. We recognise that there is a clear rationale for updating the decision making principles to ensure that they are aligned with other ADR schemes, but no underlying rationale for making these changes has been  provided by Ofcom. If Ofcom proposes making changes to these principles it should set out the underlying rationale and reasons for doing so in full.