Spark received the most complaints with 140, followed by Vodafone with 133 and then sellers on Trade Me with 121.
The statement from Russell McVeagh said the caveats the commission put in its report were not sufficient to protect the reputations of companies.
The Commission includes the caveats in its report that larger companies were likely to receive more complaints and complaints did not necessarily mean any law had been broken
"Regardless of the caveats, publishing the number of complaints received about individual named companies in an official report about NZCC enforcement gives the impression those companies have done wrong, or are more likely to have done wrong, than other companies who are not listed," the statement said.
"For example, the 2016 Report lists Harvey Norman as the fourth most complained about trader under the Fair Trading Act, only noting via footnote that 84 of Harvey Norman's 117 complaints (72 per cent) were a result of a single instance of online pricing error."
The statement said in future it hoped the Commission presents the complaints in a more balanced way by listing the number of complaints by industry, only naming businesses who had broken the law and adding more detail.
The law firm commended the commission on its transparency.
