TIO Annual Report 2006/07

Billing and Payments

This year the Billing category was renamed Billing and Payments. Previously, payment complaints were listed under the Billing category, so the change has not had any impact on the number of complaints recorded. The change allows better identification of issues related to payment such as direct debit complaints.

A total of 35,918 billing complaints was recorded in 2006/07 (compared with 34,320 in 2005/06). This represented 22.9 per cent of all complaints, down from 26.9 per cent in 2005/06.

Before 1 December 2006, complaints about mobile premium services were recorded under Billing and Payments. From 1 December 2006 these complaints were listed separately under complaints against the MPSI scheme, reducing the number of billing complaints the TIO would otherwise have recorded.

Internet (Billing and Payments)

The number of internet Billing and Payments complaints rose by 84.5 per cent, from 5,385 to 9,933. Some of the increase was attributable to more households and small businesses connecting to the internet.

Other contributing factors were the bundling of contracts and problems with direct debit payments. One company accounted for 3,107 internet Billing and Payments complaints, or 31.3 per cent.

Landline (Billing and Payments)

Landline Billing and Payments complaints dropped slightly this year, from 13,725 to 12,902.

Mobile (Billing and Payments)

The TIO logged 13,083 Billing and Payments complaints for mobile services in 2006/07. From 1 December 2006, complaints about the billing of mobile premium services were separated from general TIO complaints and registered under the MPSI scheme. It is therefore not possible to compare the total number of mobile Billing and Payments complaints with those of previous years. More specific complaints under the Billing and Payments category – for example, direct debit complaints – are, however, comparable.

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