TIO Annual Report 2004/05

Summary of Complaint Handling Performance

Definitions
The TIO uses four terms to describe how it records the calls, e-mails, teletypewriter* (TTY) messages, faxes, in-person visits and letters that it receives.

Contacts
A contact is any communication with the TIO. During the year, contacts rose 28.8% to 97,798.

Enquiries
An enquiry is a contact about a matter that is not usually an expression of grievance or dissatisfaction or which lies outside the jurisdiction of the TIO. Enquiries rose by 18% to 18,883. Enquiries also include anonymous, frivolous or vexatious complaints or complaints where the consumer has not first tried to resolve the matter with their provider.

In 2004/05, 18.2% of enquiries were first-resort contacts, where the consumer had not attempted to resolve their problem with the service provider, which may indicate that consumers either do not understand the role of the TIO or that they lack faith in the ability of their service providers to resolve their complaints. Enquiries also include complaints about non-members of the TIO Scheme, members that have gone into liquidation or complaints about issues that do not relate to telecommunications.

7.2% of all enquiries were about telemarketing by companies other than telephone or internet service providers reflecting growing consumer concerns about what are perceived to be breaches of privacy. Increasingly, enquiries to the TIO also include complaints about pay-TV and telecommunications content services.

* See Glossary for further explanation.

Complaints
A complaint is an expression of grievance or dissatisfaction that falls within the jurisdiction of the TIO and which the relevant member has had an opportunity to resolve. During the year, the TIO handled 78,915 complaints, a dramatic 31.9% increase on the previous year.

Issues
This is the actual matter about which the consumer has complained. One complaint may be about several issues. Complaints involving 100,825 issues were received, which is an increase by almost half (48%) over the previous year. This figure partly reflects a closer adherence by the TIO to complaint logging procedures (whereby all issues that are part of a complaint should be captured), but it is primarily due to the increasing complexity of complaints. Many complaints now involve multiple issues such as billing, provisioning and customer service.

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