Virgin Media complaints hit six-year low

Ofcom's Q3 2025 data shows Virgin Media's broadband complaint rate has dropped below the industry average for the first time since 2019 - a shift for a provider that had typically ranked above it.

The improvement follows customer-service reforms introduced in 2025, including a specialist UK support team and AI-assisted call-handling tools designed to resolve issues faster.

Rankings elsewhere were largely unchanged, making Virgin Media's improvement the most notable movement in this quarter's data.

Illustration: Choose.co.uk

Virgin Media drops below industry average

Virgin Media generated 7 broadband complaints per 100,000 customers in Q3 2025, placing it below the industry average for the first time since early 2019. In the previous quarter the provider recorded 8 per 100,000, which matched the industry average at the time.

Across the wider market, most providers' positions changed little. Plusnet and Sky recorded the lowest complaint levels at 4 and 6 per 100,000 customers respectively, while EE, TalkTalk and Vodafone generated the most complaints at 10 per 100,000, with BT recording 9.

No provider recorded a sharp spike during the quarter, suggesting overall dissatisfaction levels remained broadly stable.

The data also shows NOW Broadband no longer appearing in Ofcom's broadband complaints table, despite still being listed for landline services.

This follows structural changes introduced in June 2024, when new customers began signing up to NOW powered by Sky, with broadband packages handled through Sky's systems rather than NOW's standalone platform.

Because Ofcom reports providers separately for each service and generally only includes those with at least 1.5% market share, NOW's remaining standalone broadband base has now fallen below the reporting threshold, while its landline customer base remains large enough to be included.

What's behind Virgin Media's improvement

Virgin Media's improved position follows a series of customer-service reforms introduced during 2025 aimed at reducing complaints and resolving issues more quickly.

These included launching a specialist UK-based support team for complex cases, expanding staff training, and rolling out AI-assisted tools designed to help agents respond faster and more consistently during live customer interactions.

The changes came after periods of elevated complaint levels and regulatory scrutiny in recent years. In Q3 2023, Virgin Media recorded 32 complaints per 100,000 customers following an Ofcom investigation into contract cancellations and complaints handling - more than double the industry average at the time and the highest rate among major providers.

That spike was not unprecedented. In Q1 2021, the provider recorded 33 complaints per 100,000 customers, again the highest among major broadband providers and well above the industry average of 19, after complaints rose sharply over the preceding year. At the time, Virgin Media said it responded by hiring more than 500 additional care agents, after which complaint levels fell before rising again in 2023.

Seen together, those episodes suggest Virgin Media's complaint performance has historically moved in response to operational or regulatory pressure. The latest Ofcom figures therefore represent the first independent snapshot showing how its most recent reforms compare against competitors.

What the Q3 complaints data indicates

Provider rankings changed little in Q3 2025, with most major broadband providers remaining close to where they have sat in recent quarters.

Within that broadly stable picture, Virgin Media's drop below the industry average stands out as the quarter's clearest movement. While it does not yet place the provider among the lowest-complaint group, it shifts its position materially closer to them after historically sitting above the market midpoint.

The figures also highlight how performance varies across services rather than across brands alone. Sky records among the lowest complaint levels for broadband and landline but ranks higher in mobile, while Plusnet generates very few broadband complaints yet sits comparatively higher for landline.

This variation suggests complaint performance often reflects service-specific systems and infrastructure rather than a single overall provider standard. That pattern is reinforced by complaint drivers this quarter: faults, service and provisioning issues dominated broadband and landline complaints, while complaints handling was the leading cause in mobile and pay-TV.

At the same time, the highest broadband complaint positions remain unchanged, with EE, TalkTalk and Vodafone each recording 10 complaints per 100,000 customers.

These patterns show that while the overall hierarchy remains familiar, meaningful movement can still occur within it - as Virgin Media's latest result demonstrates.