In 2020 there was a tens of percent jump in consumer complaints about television services

In 2020 - the year in which the Corona shut down Israeli citizens in homes and captivated them to screens - there was a tens of percent jump in consumer complaints about television services; 50% of the complaints were against HOT - according to a report by the Cable and Satellite Council published today (Tuesday).
Of all complaints, 9% were against yes. The Board of Supervisors of Cable and Satellite Services reports that after years of decline, in 2020 there was a 70% increase in complaints.
About 70% of the complaints examined against HOT and 48% of the complaints against yes were found to be justified. Compared to the previous year, there was a 170% jump in complaints against HOT, and there was a 15% increase in complaints against yes compared to 2019.
Of the complaints received by the council, 22.7% dealt with financial issues: the subscribers of the broadcasters complained about charging higher rates than those agreed with the companies, unjustified exit fines or double charges. According to the council, after its intervention, the companies returned more than NIS 600,000 to 1,186 consumers.
More than a third of the complaints received regarding HOT were on financial issues. About a quarter of them were on disconnection difficulties - a trend for which the Ministry of Communications decided in July 2021 to impose a fine of NIS 262,610 on HOT. According to Meirav Strosberg Alkabetz, director of the council's consumer protection department, in 2020 there was a significant increase in complaints about the difficulty of disengaging, and with the economy returning to routine in 2021, the number of complaints on this issue has decreased.
The council also reports that 17% of complaints about customer service, such as non-arrival of a technician, delay in connecting to the service or waiting a long time for a service center. More than 15% of complaints were about issues of broadcast content - such as inappropriate content, channel downloads, covert advertising or translation issues. Many complaints were received about the sports channels, which continued to charge for sports events that were canceled due to the corona, and consumers also complained about the difficulty of canceling an appointment on these channels.
Of all the complaints, 41% were general and also dealt with the television services of companies such as Netflix (-0.48% 624.02), Sting TV, Cellcom TV and Partner TV, which broadcast over the Internet - so the services are not supervised by the council. Additional complaints were against the public broadcaster supervised by the corporation council, or the Idan Plus service and channels supervised by the other authority.
Deganit Kramer, Deputy CEO of yes, Pelephone and Bezeq International: "We invest a lot of resources in order to provide excellent service to our customers, and we are committed to continuing to invest in developing and providing the best solution for our customers."