For complaints raised from 8 April 2026, eligible telecoms customers can take an unresolved complaint to alternative dispute resolution (ADR) after six weeks, reduced from eight. A deadlock letter can allow referral sooner. Ofcom’s announcement explains the change and its application to residential and small business customers.
For a reseller, the practical requirement is a reliable record of when the complaint arrived, who is responsible for it and what has been communicated. The clock needs to remain visible while the team investigates a service issue or disputed bill.
Establish the Applicable Complaints Process
Ofcom’s complaints-handling requirements sit in General Condition C4 and the associated Approved Complaints Code. Providers serving customers within scope need compliant procedures and membership of an approved ADR scheme.
Check the applicable customer and service definitions rather than assuming that every business account has identical rights. Record your scheme membership and keep the published complaints code, customer information and letter templates consistent with it.
The two approved schemes are Communications Ombudsman and CISAS. Use the details of the scheme your business actually belongs to when directing a customer to independent review.
Recognise the Complaint When It Arrives
A customer need not use a particular subject line or the word “complaint”. Staff should recognise dissatisfaction about the service or complaint-handling process where a response or resolution is expected, and assess it under the applicable complaints procedure.
In a reseller business, the first contact might reach sales, support or accounts. A billing query can reveal a complaint about repeated charging errors; a service case can become a complaint about how an outage was handled. Preserve the date of the original complaint when transferring the work between teams.
Avoid unnecessary duplication. The complaint register can refer to the existing service case and its evidence while recording the separate complaint-handling milestones.
Keep the Register Useful
| Record | Why it matters operationally |
|---|---|
| Receipt date and channel | Establishes when and how the complaint reached the business |
| Customer and affected service | Connects the complaint with the relevant account and service history |
| Category and responsible owner | Helps route the investigation and identify recurring issues |
| Actions and customer updates | Shows what has been done and what the customer has been told |
| ADR or deadlock correspondence | Preserves the document and evidence of sending |
| Outcome and closure date | Records the result without losing the earlier history |
Use a controlled correction process if a recorded date is wrong. An audit trail should explain the correction; moving the date simply to clear an overdue item would undermine the register.
Keep sensitive personal detail limited to what the investigation requires and available only to appropriate staff. A management report normally needs the category, status and dates rather than the full customer narrative.
Review Approaching Deadlines
Build a regular review around complaints approaching the referral point. Check whether the investigation has an owner, whether information is outstanding and whether the customer has received an update.
Six weeks is an escalation threshold, not a recommended target for resolving routine complaints. A complaint can still be settled before or after that point. Reaching it does not erase the provider’s work or oblige the customer to stop talking to the provider.
For complaints received before the rule change, establish the applicable earlier position separately. Do not apply the new clock retrospectively simply because a register was introduced later.
Distinguish Deadlock From an Overdue Case
Deadlock records a final position where the internal process cannot resolve the disagreement. It can give the customer access to ADR before the normal waiting period ends. Communications Ombudsman’s process explains this route and its twelve-month referral period after a deadlock letter.
Generate the correct correspondence, review its details and retain evidence that it was sent. Saving a draft letter is not the same as informing the customer. The workflow should make that distinction visible.
Coordinate Complaints With Billing
Where a complaint concerns money, identify the disputed charges and review the appropriate collection holds. An unresolved complaint should not be ignored by the credit-control team, but neither should staff assume that every complaint automatically cancels the entire account balance.
The account record should explain what is on hold, why, and what will happen when the complaint is resolved. Approved credits or refunds then need to pass through the financial workflow rather than remaining an agreement in correspondence.
Managing the Record in SAFE CRM
SAFE CRM includes a complaints register linked to the customer record. Its complaints workflow tracks the relevant dates and correspondence alongside case history and billing context.
Software supports the process; the provider still needs accurate receipt dates, an appropriate investigation and correctly issued customer communications. When reviewing the workflow, follow one complaint from the first contact through to its final response and financial outcome.