April 20, 2018
In light of a report on Wednesday that showed complaints about telecommunications services have risen substantially as the NBN rolls out, the Federal Government says it will act to strengthen consumer protections.
The six-monthly Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) report showed that Australian families and small businesses made almost 85,000 complaints about telecommunication issues in the second half of 2017.
On Friday, Federal Member for Wide Bay Llew O’Brien said he welcomed the release of the government’s terms of reference for a review into consumer safeguards in the telecommunications sector.
The review will be undertaken in three parts.
It aims to ensure access to an effective complaints handling and redress scheme; that consumers have reliable telecommunications services; and that consumers will be able to make informed choices and have access to fair and comparable services from providers.
The first stage of the review will examine the existing model for handling consumer complaints and will identify areas for improvement.
“The TIO’s six-monthly report shows the existing model for complaints handling and redress is not working,” Mr O’Brien said.
“Customers are continuing to experience poor service and are unable to get their service provider to satisfactorily resolve issues.
“The fact that complaints to the TIO are so high across all types of fixed line and mobile services clearly shows there is room for improvement.”
In addition to the review, the Government has announced a range of new protections specific to consumers migrating to the NBN.
Under these rules, the ACMA will require retailers to:
- Improve their complaints handling processes, including informing customers of the time it will take to fix a service and providing a key point of contact
- Perform a line test to confirm a working connection at installation, and undertake a line speed test at any time if requested by a customer
- Re-activate a service on a legacy network within a certain time frame if an erroneous disconnection has occurred and the NBN cannot be connected
- Publicly release complaints statistics received by large service providers to help consumers differentiate between retailers based on the quality of their customer service
- Explain to consumers how different speed tiers can be applied in their home or business, as well as a ‘critical information summary’ for NBN services when signing consumers to a new contract
In addition, the ACCC has commenced a broadband monitoring program to provide users with data on the real-world broadband speeds experienced from various retailers.
The ACCC has released guidance on how retail service providers (RSPs) should advertise broadband speeds so customers can make informed decisions.
It has also investigated cases of misleading broadband speed marketing and taken enforcement action against RSPs.
- Related article: Qld Tops Phone Complaints List
