Making a complaint and using ADR schemes

Communications providers offering services to people, small businesses (up to 10 employees) and not-for-profit organisations (where up to 10 individuals work, not including volunteers) must have in place, and comply with, complaints procedures that meet certain minimum standards, and belong to an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) scheme.

Making a complaint

Communications providers must have a complaints code of practice which is easily accessible and sets out their complaints handling process. It must include contact details for making a complaint, including a phone number (either free to call or charged at the same rate as a geographic number), a postal address and an email address or webform.

The complaints code of practice must also set out the steps that a provider will take to investigate a complaint, the timeframes for resolving a complaint and what a customer can do if they remain unhappy with the outcome, including using an ADR scheme.

A provider must take prompt and active steps to resolve a complaint and promptly tell the customer the outcome it has reached.

ADR

ADR schemes are independent bodies that carry out an impartial assessment on complaints between a customer and a provider, and reach a decision based on the information submitted by both parties. ADR schemes are free to use.

You can take your complaint to an ADR scheme if:

• you have already raised it with your communications provider and it is still unresolved; and
• it has been at least six weeks since you made the initial complaint to your provider or you’ve been unable to reach an agreement with them and you have received a deadlock letter.

Ofcom currently approves two ADR schemes: the Communication & Internet Services Adjudication Scheme (CISAS) and Communications Ombudsman (Ombudsman Services changed its name to Communications Ombudsman in July 2023).

Which scheme does my provider belong to?

Use our ADR checker to see which provider belongs to which ADR scheme. If your provider is not on this list, you can check with the ADR schemes to find out which scheme your provider belongs to: Communications Ombudsman and CISAS: