Complaints to the Malta Communications Authority increased by 13% in the last six months of 2018 when compared to the first half of the year, according to the authority’s statistical report on complaints and enquiries.
In total, the MCA received 132 complaints from subscribers of telephony, internet, television and postal services, 95% of which were closed within 20 working days.
The authority also received 354 enquiries.
Quality of Service issues topped the list of complaints received, with faults being the most common type of complaint received with a total of 45 cases reported.
From information gathered regarding complaints received in Q1 2019, the MCA noted that such complaints had decreased significantly. The MCA would keep monitoring trends in this respect to ensure that such complaints continued to decrease.
The second common type of complaint received was related to billing issues, namely incorrect billing, with 19 complaints reported to the MCA. In nine of these cases, following the necessary investigations, the MCA determined that the service providers were required to take necessary remedial action to address the issues reported.
The MCA recorded a slight decrease of 10% in complaints related to postal services during the second half of 2018. The MCA brought these cases to the attention of the service provider so that it could further investigate the matters raised and address any ensuing issues accordingly.
Customer support was a key aspect of the service and customers expected timely and effective assistance when encountering any issues. The MCA monitored the customer care response time provided in the industry.
The information gathered through a series of mystery shopping calls made to GO plc, Melita Ltd, and Vodafone Malta Ltd customer care units indicated that the average time taken for a call to be answered by a call agent was 54 seconds.
In 95% of cases, calls were answered by a call agent within 5 minutes.
The public can contact the MCA on 2133 6840 or by email at customercare@mca.org.mt .