Vic: Complaints against telcos rise

AAP General News (Australia)
08-24-2009
Vic: Complaints against telcos rise

By Greg Roberts

MELBOURNE, Aug 24 AAP - Australians have made more than 20,000 complaints a month against
telecommunications companies this year as figures rose despite a campaign to lift customer
service.

Industry ombudsman Deirdre O'Donnell released a report on Monday revealing how often
people had complained against the nation's top 10 telcos, with Telstra the worst offender.

Ms O'Donnell said the major complaints involved customer service issues such as billing
errors, failure to cancel direct debit, failure to cancel accounts when asked, not providing
information when asked and inconsistencies within an organisation.

One customer complained about telco Dodo charging them three months in a row for a
replacement SIM card they never received.

"So far Dodo has taken $390 out of my account for this service, but I still haven't
received the SIM and can't use the service," the person says in the Ombudsman's report.

"I have asked Dodo to refund my money but they refuse to do this until I receive the SIM card."

The number of customer service complaints rose 1.8 per cent during the campaign, compared
with a 46 per cent rise in 2007-8, which prompted the connect.resolve (connect.resolve)
campaign.

Hopefully by the end of 2009, the number of complaints will be dropping, Ms O'Donnell
told reporters.

"We've had two years where we've been the busiest ombudsman in Australia," she said.

"Very, very basic stuff was not being done that drives the consumer crazy with frustration.

"We hope that part of the success of connect.resolve, which has been putting the spotlight
on service, has raised awareness in companies that their customers deserve good service.

"Ultimately the customers will judge: if a company is giving them good service, there
should be a reward in that, if they're not, in a competitive environment choices can be
made."

This year's campaign and the public report cards released on Monday were a "necessary
step" because consumers had stopped being a priority for telcos, said Broadband, Communications
and the Digital Economy Minister Stephen Conroy.

"I remain concerned that the number of consumer complaints still being registered is
simply too high and industry is not doing enough," he told reporters.

"As I have previously warned, regulatory options will be considered if consumer interests
are not adequately protected."

He said he believed the telcos wanted to provide good service and praised them for
co-operating with the campaign.

Most of the chief executives of the 10 companies contributed to the report, but Vodafone
and Hutchison 3 boss Nigel Dews said the ombudsman's office should have worked with the
telcos more.

"It created great headlines but was less helpful in telling us what the underlying
issues were that we needed to work on," he wrote.

AAP gr/pmu/ht

KEYWORD: TELCOS (WITH FACTBOX)

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