BT Vision is the most complained-about pay TV service in Britain, according to figures published by Ofcom.
The media watchdog has revealed the best and worst of UK providers, with BT Vision garnering easily the most complaints in the all-new pay TV category. 0.27 complaints per 1,000 customers from BT Vision customers were registered between January and March this year, beating Virgin's 0.07 complaints and Sky's 0.03.
The good news is that while still substantially more complained-about than its rivals, customers' moans about BT Vision are down from 0.38 complaints per 1,000 customers in the last three months of 2011.
Ofcom said its analysis "suggests a number of reasons for the relatively high number of complaints about BT Vision", going on to list "issues related to their sales processes and complaints with billing".
Meanwhile, TalkTalk should be marched directly to the naughty step -- it was by far the most complained-about landline provider and broadband provider in the first three months of this year. Virgin Media was the least whinged-about landline provider in the same period, while Sky attracted the fewest broadband complaints.
Numerical network Three was the most complained about network with 0.14 complaints per 1,000 customers, while Orange complaints are down following a rash of criticisms in the last quarter of 2011, which I'd guess were related to the operator's price hike in November.
O2 was the least-complained about network for the sixth consecutive quarter-year, the little goody-two-shoes.
Do you use BT Vision? Do you like it, or can you see why people complained? Let me know in the comments or on our Facebook wall.
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Comments 20
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alfstar 27 June, 2012 18:31
I use BT Vision and it's great. Completely free, great on-demand services including iPlayer, ITV Player, 4OD, Demand5, etc. It's also less than a quarter of the price of all other TV services (only £4 a month). And while I'm aware BT have terrible customer service, I've only had to contact them once, and that was to set it up.
billfred 27 June, 2012 21:14
I don't anyone who has this service...
anonymous 28 June, 2012 08:44
I had to set up BT broadband for 3 different people and it was a nightmare experience.Customer service is terrible and they pass you all over the place for simple questions.Just get a BT phone as I have to and then transfer it
btcomplaints 30 June, 2012 18:11
Same old from BT with their truly awful complaints departments. I was so unhappy and frustrated with BT that I setup BTcomplaint.com which is a forum for unhappy customers like myself to submit and share complaints so we could help each other out resolving BT issues. Shocking really that it came down to this but since setting it up we've received hundreds of complaints. You would have thought by now that BT would have bucked their ideas up, BT Vision recently (June 2012) topped the complaints table. But ironically, the BT Infinity service is an excellent product and service so maybe BT have turned a corner. Lets hope so!
anonymous 15 July, 2012 07:54
I had BTvision and the broadband / phone package.
Absolutely awful service. Broadband speed and service would drop off. Call centres who could not fix problem. When the broadband speed dropped off, the on demand service of vision would also disappear. This is the only reason you would take vision is for the on demand, apart from that it is essentially just a freeview + box.
My viewing card stopped working for setanta / espn on several occasions - missing live games that I wanted to see. On one occasion the espn part of the service was off for 2 weeks. When I phoned and complained I was told I needed a new card. BT then proceeded to sign me up for another term of the contract (12months I think) and charge me another £10!!!!!
The broadband they blamed on my line! They had always been the service provider at the new build house in which I live and sent me lots of filters and little boxes to convert the main phone line coming in but speed never got over 5mb. They proceeded to tell me when I phoned to say I was leaving to go to sky that there would be no difference in service as sky just use the same line as BT. However not once has the service gone in 2yrs of being with sky and I get double the broadband speed!!!! I was once a BT customer that had TV, Phone and Broadband as well as 2 BT mobile phone contracts. Because of their poor service I will never ever EVER go back to them and have cancelled every contract. I also never recommend them and most of my family has now moved from them because of my experience, once moved they also realise the shoddy service they were receiving. Very, Very POOR
anonymous 14 August, 2012 12:01
I cancelled my Sky contract in March and installed a BT Vision box - my monthly costs have reduced from £22.50 per to just £ 4. The £222 saved during the 12 month BT contract has been invested in buying a Panasonic twin tuner dvd recorder, so that I have the ability to record 4 different programs (5 if you include my 5 year old Panasonic DVD hard disc recorder) whilst watching another program of our choice on our Pana freesat TV. I know that it sounds extreme but we mostly choose to watch recordings of our favorite programs rather than live TV and whilst we don't use all our recording capacity at any one time, it's good to be able to record clashing progs without having to worry about hard disc capacity. The BT vision box has worked fine up to now (we had serious reliability issues with Sky boxes in the past) and with only £40 set up costs and £4 a month, it is truly excellent value. I would suggest to anyone who installs one of these boxes to consider moving the home hub to a position behind the main TV and Vision box, so that the box can be hard wired to the hub. We do this most successfully and use wireless connection for the computer.
I would agree with the appalling BT customer service, but we haven't needed a 'trip to India' to discuss the Vision Box up to now - our past history with BT broadband is a different story. At one point we had 11 weeks without a broadband connection, 4 new Home Hubs in the house and 3 visits from BT engineers. Nothing seemed to help until suddenly, out of the blue (not a pun), the signal arrived and all was well!
anonymous 27 August, 2012 22:43
Having been with BT for years, decided to ask why I was paying such a high rate for phone/broadband etc. Was told that 'unless you ask' - great!!!! Was told that I could get a much better rate and hows about including BT vision. It all sounded good and supposedly saving loads of money. Have never had a hub - just an old fashioned router and nothing new arrived when the BT vision box arrived. The first few weeks it was great and then I couldn't get many channels - they were so distorted both vision and sound (my 'ordinary TV upstairs with normal free view box works fine) and I am fed up with being told rubbish by the support team. Latest thing is that my aerial is bad (so why can I get everything on other NON BT vision box tv's within the house). Don't know what to do as I have only just signed onto the contract and yet I now use my TV WITHOUT the BT vision if I want to watch the TV in my lounge. Any suggestions????
anonymous 3 September, 2012 17:10
After goining BT vision I've found it great. At first not all the channels were receiving all future data but a quick reset and channel scan and it's tip top!
People MOAN when something goes wrong but aren't to quick when they have great service.
If your moaning down the phone and don't seem to get anywhere - ask for a manager or someone based in the UK and don't ask what they can do, tell them what you want !
anonymous 17 September, 2012 18:05
BT vision is Terrible, the box switches off suddenly for no reason at all and takes about 15mins to reboot back on. The broadband was fine when we first got it but has slowly become rubbish and painful to watch any tv online. It constantly pauses. Pay extra and get something that works!!
anonymous 18 October, 2012 11:16
Our decision to install BT Vision in June 2012 has proved disastrous. It was not possible for us to get the facility to work using the BT Vision User Guide. With help from BT helpline we were able to get BT to work but on switching off at end of day we could not restart next morning. Happily we were able to revert to the set manufacturer's remote control and receive basic programmes but we were unable to receive the BT Vision facilities we paid for. On numerous occasions we referred to helpline, and the best they could do was to lead us through a procedure to get the BT Vision remote control working but never how to hold it working when switching off. One technical adviser recommended we reverted to using the manufacturer's remote control and forget about facilities until the BT service improved. By September we discovered how to reinstate the remote control - not explained in any of the user information provided by BT. Now we must go through a tiresome procedure to get TV working each morning.
Most technical advisers tried to be helpful, though one lady could have been provided by central casting for a bit part as prison guard in Stalag .......... !!!
anonymous 20 October, 2012 23:58
Bt infinity is amazing! I recently was upgraded to 75mbps free of charge, and as far as vision goes, I you really cannot argue for £12 a month, I had the pleasure of contacting technical support (in india), after our wifi network disappeared on the hh3, he sorted it out in less than 30 minutes, and as an ex Virgin fibre cable broadband customer and orange adsl customer, BT keep up the good work you mop the floor with all of them. :D
anonymous 5 November, 2012 20:56
We have used BT vision having switched from Virgin Media. For the second or third time we have missed episodes of Homeland - the box recorded an entirely different programme. Also, episodes of "Revenge" are missing. It is hopeless in comparison with the Virgin media service. Occasionally the box misses the end of a programme, but not by much. I have chosen to cancel the service, not worth the £4.00 per month - I think it is going up to £5.00. It's not worth a penny in my opinion.
royw 10 November, 2012 15:14
BT vision is absolute crap.
BEWARE
Do not sign up because you will not be allowed to escape even when you realise
they are supplying you with a crappy sub standard service. You will be threatened
with proceedings to recover their lost revenue if you withhold payment.
BEWARE.
Do not sign up with BT.
anonymous 16 November, 2012 15:52
My vision box blew up, destroyed my T.V., without phone for a day,new home hub arrived 5 days later so broadband (essential) restored eventually,and of course no "Vision' Have tried everyone on 0800 800 151, very polite very knowledgible with certain problems BUT rubbish with this problem.
15 days now and no response from "Safety?" dept. who were supposed to contact me.No further response from above number. I have had to buy a new T.V. I do not want to get the ruined T.V repaired as they may eventually ask to see the damaged one...some hopes.... I have told them I will not pay for the time I have been without 'Vision' and if things don't improve soon I will cancel my subscription,let them take me to 'small claims' they can obviously use the bad publicity to alert others to their rubbish service to paying customers.
Really Pissed Off. M.
anonymous 14 December, 2012 21:55
Wish I'd never signed up to BT, the simple pleasure of being able to watch TV in the comfort of my own home has been ruined by a service which simply cant provide this factor.
The BT vision box turns on and off, you try and change channel it switches off, you use a different remote ie: stereo and the BT vision turns on or off!!
I left Sky due to restrictions on the property i moved into, in all the years i was with Sky not one problem whatsoever.
I feel really concerned about the implications of not only the uncertain reliability of the BT services but also have no confidence with customer services.
Having to pull a plug out and do a reset on the advice of time after time, just makes me want to throw the box out of the window. I am strongly considering seeing citizens advice, cancelling the direct debit and cancelling the service altogether.
Where do i go from here????
anonymous 3 April, 2013 13:02
bt box shuts down when i use the iplayer
anonymous 3 April, 2013 13:04
bt box shuts down when i use the iplayer
anonymous 3 April, 2013 13:05
bt box shuts down when i use the iplayer
Jamsie 6 May, 2013 18:40
Bt broadband slowed down every few months. We phoned each time and they admitted that our speed seemed to have been turned down. It went back up after we complained, but then the same happened again a few months later. We changed to BT infinity and so far all ok. BT vision was great for us until the latest upgrade. The new pause function is the biggest bugbear - it obscures half the screen. I paused it today to write down a telephone number on screen, but the number was completely obscured. BT admit this was annoyance was picked up in their user testing, but BT went ahead with it anyway. I formally complained about it, but was told that they have no intention of chaning it anytime soon.
Jamsie 6 May, 2013 18:41
*changing it