Ofcom probes Gio over complaints failure

More bother for troubled ISP

By Tim Richardson • Get more from this author

Posted in Telecoms, 20th January 2005 12:23 GMT

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Ofcom is launching an investigation in to Gio Internet, over the troubled ISP's failure to operate a satisfactory complaints process for peeved punters.

Over the last year it has received a "growing number of complaints...from consumers dissatisfied with Gio", the comms regulator said.

"Gio does not appear to have a code of practice for complaints and is not currently a member of an alternate dispute resolution (ADR) scheme. Therefore, Ofcom is unable to direct consumers to an ADR scheme where the consumer has exhausted Gio's complaints procedure and a 'deadlock' has been reached."

Under the Communications Act 2003, ISPs and other comms suppliers must have complaints procedures in place.

Ofcom's investigation is yet another headache for an ISP that has been in the news lately for all the wrong reasons. In November, NetServices Plc, Gio's wholesale broadband supplier, announced that it was pulling the plug on Gio, claiming the ISP owed it more than £220,000.

This month a debt collection agency refused to chase up cash for Gio because of the number of complaints it had received from people who disputed the claim or who said had never been Gio Internet customers. ®