Ofcom video guide on making a formal complaint about a telecoms provider

Ofcom has just published a video for consumers on how to complain if they have a problem with their communications provider. 

From 1 September 2009, if a consumer has made a formal complaint to their provider and it hasn’t been resolved within eight weeks (previously 12 weeks), they will be able to take the complaint to an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) scheme. 

The ADR schemes act as an independent middleman between the communications provider and the consumer. If the ADR scheme agrees with the consumer’s complaint it can order the communications provider to fix the problem and, if needed, pay compensation. 

It is an Ofcom requirement that all communications providers belong to an ADR scheme. The ADR schemes are CISAS (www.cisas.org.uk) and Otelo (www.otelo.org.uk).

The video can be found here: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consumer/2009/08/video-guide-to-telecoms-complaints

A paper guide on how to complain about a communications provider can be found here: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/advice/guides/complain.pdf