TIO Annual Report 2004/05

Landline Service Issues (Overview)

44,559 issues raised
The TIO dealt with 44,559 landline services issues, an increase of 23.2% on last year.

Complaints about landline contracts rose by 145% from 563 to 1,381 with three quarters of these complaints relating to incorrect advice given by providers (and agents) to customers at the point of sale. The surge in this type of complaint may be attributed to increased competition between companies to win, and retain, customers by offering discount packages and bundled deals.

Privacy complaints more than doubled from 908 to 2,135, with the largest number (887) about telemarketing by members. Many of the complaints referred to instances where complainants claimed to have asked the company to cease calling and remove their details from marketing lists, yet the calls continued. The TIO strongly supports the view of the Australian Direct Marketing Association (ADMA) that there should be a national “do not call” register established to protect consumers from what is increasingly being seen as an intrusive nuisance. Complaints about the receipt of unwelcome calls also contributed to the significant increase in this category.

Customer transfer complaints increased by half to 4,514. Three-quarters of these were from customers claiming that their telephone services had been transferred to another company without their authority or informed consent, otherwise known as slamming. Complaints about unauthorised transfers increased significantly during the last part of the year, and again may be attributed to the increased market activity of a small number of members.

It is of some concern that an increase in the reliance on telemarketing appears to have had a detrimental effect on the quality of the relationship between customers and providers. Usually, telemarketing or other recruitment activity is not undertaken directly by providers but is outsourced to agents.

As with last year, customer service complaints increased significantly, up 72%. Many of these complaints are due to lengthy wait times for customer service, failure of members to action specific requests from customers and incorrect or inadequate information given about a product or a service. These figures reflect an increasing trend over recent years and show that providers are simply not maintaining standards of responsiveness.

Porting complaints also trended upwards with an increase of 40%.

Phone card complaints have continued to rise with an increase of 17.8% this year. These complaints generally related to terms and conditions, billing, and customer service issues associated with the provider. Three systemic investigations about the billing of calling cards were conducted in 2004/05.

Only a small number of landline complaints were about disability services; nevertheless it is pleasing to note a decrease in complaints from 23 to 14 in 2004/05.

View Landline Statistics

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