TIO Annual Report 2006/07

Contracts

Complaints in this category rose from 14,830 in 2006 to 18,148, but as a percentage of overall complaints they stayed the same, at 11.6 per cent.

Advice Provided at Point of Sale

The TIO is now able to capture and report on more specific details about lack of information or misleading advice provided at the point of sale. As with previous years, point-of-sale advice was a major contributor to contract complaints, with the internet category recording 2,820 of these types of complaints and the mobile and landline categories recording 5,412 and 2,160 respectively. Of these complaints, a small proportion was identified as being about cooling-off periods, the identity of the service provider and termination fees. Most (2,447 for internet, 1,958 for landline, and 4,374 for mobiles) were about lack of advice or inaccurate advice about the product and terms, including applicable charges.

Variation of Terms

A major cause of concern was the large number of complaints about service providers changing terms and conditions during the course of a contract. More information about this topic is covered under the Internet, Landline and Mobile sections.

Internet

Complaints about internet contract issues increased from 3,554 in 2005/06 to 5,819 in 2006/07. Changes to the TIO’s complaint keywords at the beginning of the 2007 financial year allow more complaint data to be captured but mean that it is difficult to make direct comparisons with previous years.


Landline

Landline contractual complaints rose from 2,820 to 3,861 this year – an increase of 36.9 per cent. Traditionally, landline services were provided on request and terminated on request. Many services are now supplied on contract for a minimum period – usually as part of a bundled contract or a “capped” plan inclusive of call charges. In exchange for discounts or extra benefits customers commit to a minimum period of service.


Mobile

Mobile contract complaints remained static in number (8,468 in 2006/07 and 8,456 in 2005/06) but fell as a percentage of all complaints from 6.6 per cent to 5.4 per cent.

This may be due to the fact that the number of mobile services is not increasing as rapidly as in previous years and most customers have probably had a mobile phone for some time and are more aware of contractual issues.

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