Ofcom published consultation findings for dispute resolution procedures

Ofcom published consultation findings for dispute resolution procedures

Communications regulator, Ofcom, has published consultations on the review of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) schemes for telephone, fixed line and mobile broadband.

The consultation period for the two separate ADRs - the Ombudsmen Services: Communication (OS) and the Communications and Internet Services Adjudication Scheme (CISAS) - finished in June and the results have now been published.

The ADR procedures are intended to offer consumers a way to escalate their complaints against providers after they have initially tried to sort their complaint via the usual route.

The review found that a ‘reasonable decision’ had been made in nine out of ten cases brought to the attention of the two ADRs. However, Ofcom suggested that improvements could be made in several ways. It explained that it’s chosen option was to, "Modify the conditions of our approval. This would involve the introduction of a new condition of the approval requiring the Schemes to adopt a set of 'Decision Making Principles' including the development of guidelines on awarding compensation."

One of the main problems occurs when two similar complaints are dealt with differently, by the same ADR, or by the two separate ADRs.

CISAS, for example, awards average compensation of £173, while the OS awards just £103. Although the recommendations do suggest measures to improve consistency, there is still a lack of clear guidelines on amounts that should be paid in compensation to homeowners or businesses that suffer from poor connectivity, poor customer service or slow mobile broadband.

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