Media Release
Wednesday 4 December 2002
Dumping complaints on the rise
Complaints about Internet dumping have increased by more than 200%
since March, according to the latest statistics published by the
Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.
Telecommunications Ombudsman, John Pinnock, said the number of complaints
about dumping to 190 numbers had risen from the 274 complaints recorded
in the first three months of 2002 to 368 in the June quarter and
602 in the September quarter. Complaints related to international
dumping increased from 54 to 99 for the same period.
"This is an alarming increase in such a short period of time," Mr
Pinnock said. "At this rate we will have exceeded the total of 1271
complaints received in the 2001/02 financial year by the end of
the December 2002 quarter."
Mr Pinnock said "dumping" most commonly occurred when a person visiting
an Internet site or "private Internet area" had their regular dial-up
modem connection disconnected and reconnected to either an international
number or a 190 (premium rate) number. He said users would generally
have to have downloaded software to enable this to occur but this
could be done very simply, often by clicking on an icon.
"Modem connection charges are legitimate if the customer is given
fair warning of what will happen if they choose to proceed," Mr
Pinnock said.
"Unfortunately, in many cases, the customer is not aware that they
have been 'dumped' until they receive an unusually high phone bill,
either because no warning was given or because the customer failed
to see the warning or acknowledge its contents."
Mr Pinnock said 85.4% of the complaints recorded since March related
to 190 charges, while the remainder related to international charges.
"This is quite clearly an issue of increasing concern, particularly
to families with children constantly surfing the Net. I welcome
news that the Federal Government is considering a package of measures
to safeguard consumers," Mr Pinnock said.
The TIO has jurisdiction to investigate dumping complaints. Where
a complainant denies ever having visited the site or sites in question
or denies that anyone was on the Internet at the time the charges
were recorded, the TIO will investigate the complaint through the
telephone service provider responsible for the account. Where a
complainant admits accessing adult websites but denies seeing any
warnings or claims they did not proceed after seeing warnings, the
TIO may refer the complainant to 190 Complaints, also known as the
Telephone Information Services Standards Council (TISSC).
TIO's quarterly complaint statistics
The TIO's quarterly complaint statistics released today report that
a total of 15,365 complaints were lodged in the June 2002 quarter
- a 21.7% decrease on the March 2002 quarter - and a further 15,454
were lodged in September 2002 quarter. The biggest cause of complaint
was billing. Internet complaints rose in the September quarter from
12.4% to 13.9%, with an increased number of complaints relating
to provision, faults and customer service. Complaints about the
new broadband technologies, especially xDSL, rose significantly,
no doubt boosted by a reported increase in take-up among residential
users.
Full statistics and further information is available in the December
issue of the TIO's quarterly newsletter, TIO Talks.
For further media information, please contact TIO Public Affairs on 03 8600 8738 or 0403 601 532.
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