Internet complaints are more common than telco complaints
Many irate customers are waiting months for their telco or internet provider to resolve their issues, alarming new figures have revealed. FIND OUT THE BIGGEST COMPLAINTS
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Many irate customers are waiting more than two months for their telco or internet provider to resolve their gripes, alarming new figures have revealed.
And disgruntled customers are complaining about their internet services more than their phone services for the first time, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman 2018-19 report, out today, has found.
The data showed only 47 per cent of cases were closed within 60 days compared to the
2017/18 financial year when 77 per cent were finalised within this time frame.
And the most common grumbles made by customers included a slow or no response to their problems, issues with services and equipment fees and slow data speeds and dropouts.
The report found on average frustrated Australians logged 360 complaints per day.
But despite this the report revealed about 132,400 complaints about phone and internet services were made in the 2018/19 financial year — a drop of 21 per cent on the previous financial year.
A majority of these (85.3 per cent) were made by residential consumers while the others were made by small businesses (14.5 per cent).
Ombudsman Judi Jones said customers relied heavily on their internet service and when it failed they sought urgent help.
“Internet connections are pretty important to us, we expect to be able to connect at home and in our businesses all the time,” she said.
“When it goes wrong we feel cross about it.”
But she said the main reasons customers reached out for assistance from the TIO was because of bill-related issues.
And the most common financial outcome from disputes resulted in billing adjustments, debt or fee reduction or waivers.
The median value in financial outcomes was $405.
As for mobile phone services the main bugbears were equipment fees, delayed or lack of action from a provider, a resolution was not reached or misleading conduct relating to a contract and termination fees.
As for NBN, 23,360 complaints were made about its service quality in 2018-19 compared to 27,010 in the 2017-18 financial year — a fall of 14 per cent.
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The report revealed the most complained about phone and internet providers were Telstra (52 per cent), Optus (24 per cent), Vodafone (5 per cent), iiNet and TPG (4 per cent each).
Also, under new rules rolled out by the Australian Communications and Media Authority on July 1 last year, telcos and internet providers must disclose complaints data to ACMA.
This has forced telcos and web providers to pull up their socks and act more quickly to resolve customer issues.
The TIO has had to fatten its teams in order to deal with complaints by introducing small business and technical teams.
Minister for communications, cyber safety and arts, Paul Fletcher, said he was pleased to see a fall in complaint numbers.
“This reduction in complaints correlates with actions taken by the Government, regulators and the telecommunications industry to improve transparency, accountability and consumer experience for Australian telco users,” he said.
NATIONAL COMPLAINTS
• internet services — 43,164.
• Mobile phone services — 40,103.
• Multiple service complaints — 30,678.
• Landline phone services — 17,267.
• Property — 1175.
Source: TIO.