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Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman
connect.resolve

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1—Release of public report on TIO’s connect.resolve campaign
2—Public report - PDF 5.88Mb, 44 pages
3—Next steps
4—Campaign background
5—Contact us about the connect.resolve campaign



Release of public report on the Telecommunication Industry Ombudsman’s connect.resolve campaign

On 24 August 2009 the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Stephen Conroy, launched the public report on the Telecommunication Industry Ombudsman’s connect.resolve campaign.

In the report, Ombudsman Deirdre O’Donnell says:

“The connect.resolve campaign was the TIO’s call to action to the telecommunications industry to refocus on customers and their experiences. All indications are that the industry had heard that call.

“The statistics from the 6 month campaign show an overall stabilisation in complaints to the TIO, after almost 18 months of sustained growth.

“…some our major companies have stepped up to the challenge, with Chief Executive Officers noting they have made improvements in their processes.

However, the proportion of complaints about customer service-related matters has remained unacceptably high, and the industry still has much work to do if consumers are to be convinced their voices are also being heard.”

Read full text of Senator Stephen Conroy's speech - on his website
Listen to Senator Conroy's speech - wmv audio file 7.58Mb
Read full text of Ombudsman Deirdre O'Donnell's speech - PDF 74.32Kb, 2 pages
Listen to Ombudsman Deirdre O'Donnell's speech - wmv audio file 4.16Mb
Listen to Chair of TIO Council Virginia Hickey's speech - wmv audio file 4.10Mb


Public report

See the complete public report (PDF 5.88Mb, 44 pages) for an overview of the campaign, with statistics, consumer voices and messages from the Executives of leading telecommunications providers.



Next steps

At the company level, several CEOs of the TIO’s largest member companies have publicly committed to continue to address customer service as a priority.

And the industry as a whole is committed to finding ways to improve its customer service through initiatives of Communications Alliance.

The TIO will continue to report on complaints about customer service and complaint handling, including in our quarterly TIO Talks newsletter, and we will work with our members to provide them with complaint data that helps them better understand what their customers are telling the TIO.



Campaign background

Over the past two to three years, increasing numbers of the consumers who call the TIO have been telling us about their frustration and concern at being given the run around by their service provider, or about feeling let down because actions promised were not followed through.

Customer complaints often involve basic matters. They can be about having to wait for a long time to speak with company representatives or getting transferred repeatedly between departments. Or they can be about providers not fulfilling straightforward requests, for example to change an address or cancel a service. Increasing complaints about such experiences from consumers indicate a real need for improvement in the fundamental areas of customer service and complaint handling.

These complaints were the catalyst for what became the TIO’s connect.resolve campaign, which ran between January and June 2009. The overall aim of the campaign, through highlighting such customer experiences, was to encourage the telecommunications industry to focus on improving its customer service and complaint handling systems, as a priority.

See also:




Contact us about the campaign

Please contact Mr John DuBois, the TIO's Communications Manager, with your questions about the connect.resolve campaign:

Telephone: 03 8600 8378 or 0417 559 287
Email: tio@tio.com.au

  
 

 

  
  Last updated: 24 August 2009  
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