2002/03 Annual Report

Profile Of Complainant - Small Business Complaints

• Small Business Complaint Type
• Small Business Complaint Mix

The TIO is empowered to investigate complaints from residential and small business consumers. A business is generally regarded as small if it employs less than 20 people, however, the TIO takes a flexible approach and may exercise its discretion to investigate complaints by businesses that do not satisfy this definition. In doing so, the TIO will have regard to the following factors:

• the number of employees;
• the amount in dispute;
• the issue in dispute; and
• whether the TIO's timeframes for resolution will suit the complaint.

In 2002/03 only 6.8% of complaints, 3,932 in total, emanated from small businesses. 69.5% of these complaints were related to landline services, 12.7% to Internet services and 17.9% to mobile services. These proportions are relatively consistent with the small business statistics recorded last year, but show a slight increase in Internet complaints (up from 10.3%) and a corresponding decrease in mobile complaints (down from 19.7%).

The complaint mix for small business complaints differed markedly from the complaint mix for complaints overall. Only 81% of small business complaints were resolved at Level 1, while 12% were resolved at Level 2, 6% at Level 3 and 1% at Level 4. This is a reflection of the relative complexity of many small business complaints.

The apparent decline in small business complaint numbers is a cause for concern for the TIO and may be an indication that awareness levels amongst small businesses is declining. The TIO will be conducting a public awareness survey early in 2004 and will take careful note of the results in so far as they relate to small business owners. In the meantime the TIO will continue to look at ways to increase small business awareness of the TIO.

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