TIO Annual Report 2002/03

Case Studies

• Internet Billing
• Internet Customer Service

The Complaint:

A complainant contacted the TIO after she became aware that she had been billed several thousand dollars by her Internet service provider for excess usage on an ADSL account held in her name, but used almost exclusively by her son. She stated that she believed that the charges had been incorrectly attributed to her account and asked the TIO to investigate. The complainant advised the TIO that her ISP had offered a $1000 discount on the account as a gesture of goodwill.

TIO Response:

The TIO raised a complaint with the provider asking for evidence to substantiate its view that the complainant had been correctly billed. The ISP provided the TIO with evidence that it had sent the complainant 12 emails about her usage indicating when the usage had reached 50%, 80% and 100% of her usage limit. In addition, the provider had sent monthly bills to the complainant, bills which indicated that the usage was high. The provider also provided the TIO with its Customer Care Notes which indicated that the complainant did not contact it to dispute excess usage for more than 4 months. The usage reports provided by the ISP indicated that the excess usage on the customer’s account stopped on the exact same day that she contacted the provider to dispute the excess usage.

The Outcome:

The provider offered to maintain its offer of a $1000 discount on the complainant’s bill. The TIO advised the complainant that on the basis of the available evidence this was a fair and reasonable resolution to the complaint, but that the TIO would be willing to continue its investigation if the complainant could explain on what basis she disputed the usage, and why she had not contacted the provider sooner. The complainant expressed her dissatisfaction with the outcome, and indicated that she did not read emails from her ISP or open her bills (as she paid by direct debit). The complainant did not provide any explanation as to why she disputed the accounts, and so the TIO exercised its discretion not to investigate the matter further.

The Complaint:

The complainant received her Internet and landline telephone services from the same company. Prior to embarking on an overseas trip she contacted the company’s landline customer service area and advised a representative that she wanted to disconnect her telephone and suspend her Internet service. The representative agreed to action her request. Upon return the complainant found that the company had disconnected her telephone service but not suspended the Internet service and that she had been charged access fees on the account for the entire period she was away.

TIO Response:

The TIO referred the complainant back to the company in order to give them one more opportunity to address her complaint. The company refused to credit the Internet access fees because there were no notes on her Internet service account to indicate that she had requested a suspension. The company claimed she would have had to talk to a separate area to arrange for the suspension of the Internet service and that there was no evidence she had done so. The TIO escalated the complaint to Level 2.

The Outcome:

On closer examination, the company decided not to dispute the complainant’s version of events and agreed to credit the disputed access fees. The company acknowledged that the complainant had contacted it in relation to the telephone service, that it had actioned a disconnection request in relation to the telephone service and that the complainant had not used the Internet account from the date she requested its suspension.

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