Otelo
This page contains information about the Office of the Telecommunications Ombudsman (Otelo), including:
What it does
Advantages and disadvantages
Which complaints are eligible and which are not?
Cost
Timescale
Procedure
Outcomes
What it does
The Office of the Telecommunications Ombudsman (Otelo) is a free, independent ombudsman service to resolve disputes between consumers and some telephone and internet service providers in the UK.
By law, all telephone and internet service providers are required to offer an independent ADR procedure. These procedures must be approved by the regulator, Ofcom. There are two schemes that have been approved by Ofcom: Otelo and CISAS. All telephone and internet service providers should be members of one of these two schemes. You can check their members on the scheme websites. If you are in a dispute with your telephone or internet service provider, the company should tell you which scheme they use. If they are not members of one of these two schemes, you should report them to Ofcom, who can take action against them.
Otelo is also a member of the British and Irish Ombudsman Association and meets its membership criteria.
This information applies in England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
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Advantages
- It is free
- It is independent
- It is relatively quick
- There is no need to attend a hearing
- The decision is binding on the company, but if you are not happy you can decide to go to court
Disadvantages
- You have to try to resolve your dispute with the company first (same for CISAS)
- Unless the company agrees that the dispute cannot be resolved, you have to wait for eight weeks before applying to Otelo (same for CISAS)
- You won't get the costs of compiling and photocopying evidence back, even if you win (same for CISAS)
- Your complaint might not be investigated or upheld
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Which complaints are eligible and which are not?
The complaint must be about a company that is a member of Otelo. Currently Otelo's members include British Telecom, O2, Vodafone, TalkTalk, Virgin Mobile and others. A full list of members is available on the Otelo website.
Otelo can consider complaints from residential customers and from small business customers whose annual spend on telecommunications is £5,000 or less.
The complaint must relate to the provision of mobile phone, fixed-line phone, or internet services or to certain services like text messaging, voice mail, and services for people with disabilities. Among the types of complaints that Otelo deals with are those about:
- accounts and billing
- customer service
- supply and disconnections
- repairs
- privacy
Otelo cannot deal with complaints about content provided via mobile phones or the internet.
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Cost
The scheme is free to consumers.
Legal representation is not necessary. Help is available from Otelo staff for completing the complaint form, which can be done by telephone.
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Timescale
During the year 2009-10, 46% of cases were resolved within six weeks (the target is more than 90%). One-third took longer than eight weeks.
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Procedure
You must first use the company's internal complaints procedure. If you don't get a reply, or are not happy with the company's offer within 8 weeks, or if you reach deadlock before that time, you can go to the ombudsman.
Otelo sends your complaint to the service provider and asks for their response. Otelo staff will try to help you and the company reach an agreement through infromal mediation, usually over the phone. If this doesn't work, Otelo will investigate the problem and make a decision.
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Outcomes
Companies that are members of the scheme agree to be bound by decisions of the ombudsman, who can order them to:
- offer an apology or explanation
- provide a product or service
- give compensation of up to £5000 (including VAT)
But you should be aware that 78% of the awards made during 2009-10 were for less than £100, 8% were for £100-500, and fewer than 100 awards were for more than £500.
The ombudsman can also ask the provider to change their policies or procedures, which can benefit other customers.
Decisions are binding on the company but not on the consumer. So if you accept the ombudsman's decision, the company will have to comply. If you are not happy with the ombudsman's decicion, you can still take your case to court.
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July 2010
