Customer Service Guarantee

Q: What is the Customer Service Guarantee (CSG)?
A: The CSG is a performance standard created by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). This standard provides financial compensation, of a prescribed amount, to customers who are affected by delays in service connections and fault repairs. It also covers missed appointments. However, some exemptions apply.

Q: What types of telephone services does the CSG Standard cover?
A: The CSG Standard covers the supply of standard telephone services, including voice-grade services used for a fax machine or to access the internet. The CSG Standard also covers the following call features:

• call waiting.
• call forwarding.
• call barring.
• calling number display.
• calling number display blocking.

It does not apply to:

• customer-owned equipment or rented telephone handsets.
• customers who have more than five telephone services.
• mobiles, ISDN or satellite services - except where these services are provided to meet the Universal Service Obligation.
• Activities past the network boundary point, which is usually the first telephone socket in a property.

Q: How much compensation can I get under the CSG Standard?
A: To determine the amount of compensation you may be eligible for, it is important to assess what timeframes apply to your situation.

Q: When might the CSG Standard not apply?
A: You are not eligible for CSG payments when:

• a service provider makes you a reasonable offer of an interim or alternative service that you do not accept.
• you accept an offer of an interim or alternative service.
• you have more than five eligible phone services at one time.
• you have not cooperated with the service provider and denied access to your premises.
• non-compliance of the Standard is due to other circumstances beyond the control of the service provider, such as extreme weather conditions (for more information, see TIO Position Statement on Mass Service Disruptions at the bottom of this page).
• delays are due to the need for the service provider to comply with the law.
• you agree to waive your rights to CSG eligibility
• a service provider has reasonable grounds to believe you would be unwilling or unable to pay for the connection or usage charges of the service.
• a telephone service is an InContact service (a service connected for access to incoming calls and calls to emergency services only).
• call features are not available due to existing network limitations.

Q: How do I claim CSG compensation?
A: There is no requirement to apply for compensation under the CSG Standard. CSG payments should be applied automatically as a credit on your account. In some circumstances a cheque will be sent. Payments should be applied within 16 weeks.

Q: What kind of CSG complaints can the TIO handle?
A: The TIO investigates complaints where the service provider denies liability under the CSG Standard, or where the complainant disputes the amount of financial compensation offered by the service provider. However, a complainant's eligibility to CSG payments, or the amount of CSG she is entitled to, is usually investigated as a secondary issue to investigations of alleged connection delays, fault rectification delays and missed appointments, concerning standard telephone services.

Q: What kind of CSG complaints is the TIO unable to handle?
A: The TIO is unable to handle complaints about a consumer's or service provider's dissatisfaction with the terms of the CSG Standard. Complaints of this nature should be addressed to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) or a local Member of Parliament for feedback to the Federal Minister for Communications.

Q: How can the TIO help to resolve a complaint about a company failing to comply with the CSG Standard?
A: Provided that sufficient evidence is available to demonstrate the consumer's entitlement to CSG compensation, the TIO is able to make a determination for the service provider to pay the amount due. In most instances, however, determinations are not required as the complaint is usually resolved during the course of the investigation.

Q: What information will the TIO need from me if I wish to make a complaint?
A: If you wish to make a complaint to the TIO about not receiving the correct CSG payments, you will need to provide:

• the date that you applied for a telephone service connection or the date that you reported a fault.
• the date the service provider said it would connect the service or attend to the fault. In some cases this date may not have been given.

Q: Is CSG compensation payable for co-existing delays?
A: No, compensation is not payable for a missed appointment on a day on which compensation is also payable due to either the connection delay or fault repair delay. Similarly, if a customer requests a new connection and call features at the same time, compensation for any delays in connecting the call features will not apply until the connection takes place.

Q: Do CSG payments apply if there is a delay in the transfer or porting of a service from one provider to another?
A: No, where you have requested to transfer an existing connection from one service provider to another and have experienced a delay, you will not receive CSG compensation.

Q: Can a phone company advise you to stay home all day so that it can attend to a fault or connection?
A: No, under the CSG Standard your phone provider can offer you a five-hour time-frame (such as between 8am and 1pm), or it can offer you an exact appointment time (such as 8.15am). It cannot offer you an all-day appointment period. Further information is available from the ACMA’s CSG Fact Sheet.

TIO Position Statements about the Customer Service Guarantee (CSG) Standard

• Introductory note about the CSG.
• Interim/Alternative services and the CSG
• Repair delays
• Intermittent faults and the CSG
• Reallocated in-place services and the CSG
• Cabling beyond first socket or main distribution frame
• Mass Service Disruptions
• Internet outages
• Slow line speed
• CSG claims where long distance and local call providers are different
• Disconnection delays and the CSG

Other agency links

Australian Communications & Media Authority

• FAQs: Customer Service Guarantee (CSG) Standard for phone users
• Factsheets including
  • CSG Standard factsheet &
  • Your rights to an interim or alternative phone service under the Universal Service Obligation

Telstra list of Mass Service Disruptions

Last updated September 2007