Customer complaint issues

Customers identified 7,943 different issues associated with the 4,092 complaints opened in the quarter. This was an increase of 1.0% on the previous quarter when 7,868 issues were identified.

There were 1,600 disputed high bill complaints, a decrease of 6.8% from the 1,717 received in the previous quarter. High bills continued to be the most significant billing issue, representing 20.1% of all issues raised this quarter.

After two quarters of decreasing complaints about customer service, this quarter saw an increase in each of the three customer service issues. Despite this increase, the decline in these complaints compared to last year is still significant, showing a 32.1% drop in customers service issues and a 39.3% decrease in complaints about incorrect advice and or information. These numbers continue to reflect well on retailers and their commitment to customers through difficult times.

We have been monitoring complaints relating to payment difficulties, to gauge the impact of the AER Statement of Expectations. We received 193 complaints about payment difficulties, a decrease of 14 complaints compared to the last quarter, however it was a drop of 52.6% compared to the same quarter in 2019. Retailers’ commitment to supporting customers has been extremely positive, however with government income support reducing and rent and mortgage relief coming to an end, it is expected that payment difficulties will increase over the course of this year.