TIO Annual Report 2006/07

Transfer

As the name suggests, Transfer encompasses issues encountered during the transfer of services between providers. This category incorporates the old categories of Churn (or Customer Transfer) and Porting (transfer of mobile phone numbers between networks). Complaints rose slightly from 6,073 to 6,215 but decreased in percentage terms from 4.8 per cent to 4 per cent.

Internet (Transfer)

Complaints about internet transfers rose substantially, from 213 in 2005/06 to 741 in 2006/07 – an increase of 248 per cent. Transfer problems were not usually an issue for customers of dialup services, but more customers are using broadband services and are experiencing delays with the transfer from one provider to another. Complaints where services are transferred between providers without the customer giving their informed consent are also on the increase for internet services.

The TIO will monitor this area since technological advances are likely to allow customers greater freedom to move between providers. With this freedom comes the opportunity for error.

Landline (Transfer)

Transfer complaints about landline services dropped slightly from 5,213 in 2005/06 to 4,856 in 2006/07. Some transfer complaint categories are comparable with those in previous years. However, changes to keywords and the introduction of more specific categories have made direct comparisons difficult in some areas.

Mobile (Transfer)

Mobile transfer complaints dropped slightly, from 647 in 2005/06 to 618 in 2006/07. Of these, more than half related to complaints about a delay in transferring services.

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