Tearing your hair out? We made 52 million complaints last year

Figures from the Ombudsman Services have revealed an astonishing 52 million complaints were made about different products and services in the UK last year. Retailers, phone companies and energy firms are still responsible for the lion's share of problems, but we're using new methods of getting our own back.

The Consumer Action Monitor revealed that retailers were the most complained-about group, attracting 23% of complaints, and faulty products were the biggest source of issues.

Meanwhile, telecommunications companies attracted 16% of all complaints - on everything from faulty broadband and terrible reception to billing problems. And energy companies were responsible for 13% of complaints - as billing issues, interruptions in services and poor service drove consumers round the bend.

This reflects findings from Citizens Advice, and Chief Executive Gillian Guy points out: "The majority of complaints from customers are about their bills, from large back bills to incorrect bills, or even no bill at all. With billing a basic part of the service energy firms provide, it should be the simplest thing to get right."

One piece of good news revealed by the study is that we are willing to use new tools to make sure our complaints are taken seriously. We are starting to understand the power of public humiliation to try to persuade a company to take action, so in 2015 we made 18 million complaints on Facebook and Twitter — up 5% in a year. It means that more than a third of the total complaints are made through social media now.

Still much to be done

There is still an awful lot to be done through, because while millions of people aired their complaints, an astonishing 66 million times in 2015 we decided it was too much hassle to complain, so we just put up with poor goods and services.

Part of the problem is that it's getting harder to turn to the courts. The research found that the 81% hike in the cost of small claims court fees in early 2014 has put people off the courts, and more than twice as many tend to end up with various ombudsmen instead.

Almost one in ten people with a complaint ended up with ombudsman - while just one in twenty turned to the courts. A third of people who considered taking their complaint to court eventually decided against it because of the costs involved.

Another issue is that people are intimidated by what they see as a stressful and difficult process. Of those who didn't complain, 45% said it was too much hassle and 28% said they could not be bothered.

However it doesn't have to be a huge undertaking. There is an independent ombudsman who will oversea complaints about retailers, telecoms firms and energy companies, so if your initial complaint falls on deaf ears, you don't have to march off to the courts, there's a far simpler solution.

Chief Ombudsman Lewis Shand Smith said: "We're still seeing consumers ignore millions of problems each year because they'd rather suffer in silence than go through the perceived hassle of complaining – but it's not as complex and time-consuming as they might think. At a time when it is becoming more expensive to take court action, alternative dispute resolution, including ombudsmen, is an important and growing part of the civil justice system as a whole."