Telco customers given fresh hope of having their complaints dealt with quickly
IRATE telco customers fed up with outages and streaming problems will have their complaints fast tracked under a new system designed to resolve issues more quickly.
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IRATE telco customers fed up with outages and streaming problems will have their complaints fast tracked under a new system designed to resolve issues more quickly.
Millions of Australians have been left furious with repeated service failures on Telstra’s network and passionate soccer fans dubbed Optus’s World Cup streaming “Floptus” after they were unable to stream live matches this week.
But under new changes on complaints handling implemented by the regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, from July 1 telcos and wholesale providers must act more quickly to resolve customer issues.
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This includes quitting the finger-pointing that has gone on particularly between the National Broadband Network and service providers.
Communications Alliance’s chief executive officer John Stanton, who represents the telecommunications industry, said the introduction of time limits would help speed up dealing with common customer complaints including outages, voice call issues and service problems.
“It provides assurance to consumers that all of the providers that are involved in their service, including NBN Co, other wholesale telcos and the retail telco service provider have a responsibility for fixing or helping to fix problems in a timely manner,’’ he said.
“The new rules arrive as the NBN rollout is close to hitting full speed and generates some inevitable disruption to consumers, as hundreds of thousands of people move every month or so onto the NBN.”
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The new changes include that providers must:
— Have and follow a written complaints handling process.
— Acknowledge all consumer complaints within two working days.
— Try and resolve complaints on first contact.
— Otherwise resolve complaints with 15 working days.
Service providers who do not follow these changes may have court proceedings issued against them, injunctions or receive penalties up to $250,000.
Latest statistics from the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman found in the 2016/17 financial year complaints about the NBN soared by 160 per cent to 27,000.
Under the changes telcos must also report complaints made directly to the them, however there’s concerns some may regard a customer call as a “query” while others may regard it as a “complaint.”
These complaints figures must be reported to the ACMA.
Amaysim’s chief executive officer Julian Ogrin said the changes would force telcos to better handle customers’ problems.
“We can only assume ACMA has done this because most telcos aren’t doing a good job of handling and reporting complaints,’’ he said.
Vodafone’s chief strategy officer Dan Lloyd welcome the complaint handling rules which he said they already have largely in place but said this would create more work for telcos.
“The new rules will also require more administrative work so telcos will need to ensure this added admin does not take away from helping customers,’’ he said.
sophie.elsworth@news.com.au
MOST COMMON COMPLAINTS
1. Charges and service fees 38,600
2. Provider response 36,600
3. Poor service quality 19,000
4. Connection/changing provider 13,800
5. No service 12,800
6. Debt management 9,300
7. Making a contract 7000
8. In contract 5600
9. Equipment 3000
10. Payments 2400
Source: Latest Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman statistics, July-December 2017.
Originally published as Telco customers given fresh hope of having their complaints dealt with quickly
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