If you have a problem sorting out a complaint with a public communications provider (PCP) and that company is one of our members, Otelo may be able to help.

A PCP is any company which provides an electronic communications network or service to members of the public or small businesses. This may be, for example, a telecommunications company or an internet service provider (ISP). Check the members section of our website to see if the company you're complaining abut is a member of Otelo.

Our job at Otelo is to investigate complaints fairly. We listen to both sides of the story and look at the facts. The service is free and independent.

We can deal with complaints about:

• the way in which your mobile and fixed phones, faxes and internet service are provided to you;
• certain services like short messaging services (SMS or texting), voicemail and call-forwarding;
• services and products for people with disabilities like text relay (an operator service that translates voice to text and text to voice) and free directory enquiries;
• if your complaint is justified, the ombudsman will consider whether the member company must take any action to put things right for you.

An ombudsman is a  person who decides what action should be taken when you and the the company you complained about can't agree. When a company joins Otelo it has made an agreement with us to honour the ombudsman's decision if you accept the resolution we offer to you.

There are some issues which Otelo cannot look into, the most common examples are listed in the "what we can't handle" section of this website.

If you want to look at the full set of rules that our service follows, these are set out in our Terms of Reference document, available in the Downloads section of this site.

Our "Service Standards" section of the website describes what to expect from Otelo and how to complain if you're unhappy with the service Otelo provided to you.