Reaching out

Members of the TIO scheme

* includes members that meet the definition of a carriage service provider but do not identify themselves as providers of traditional standard telephone, internet or mobile services.

Member Communications

During the year, the Member Communications team met 70 members across Australia. Of these, it hosted 19 members at the TIO. Feedback from these members was positive and all noted the benefits of having a better understanding of our complaint handling process.

Member Communications provided assistance to the members involved in the connect.resolve campaign. It ensured the operational staff employed by these members understood the purpose and focus of the campaign and the additional data the TIO can provide to assist with their root-cause analysis of complaints.
Member Communications provided training to members over the last year on:

• strengthening internal dispute resolution processes and promoting a culture of excellence in complaint handling
• understanding TIO processes with a view to reducing TIO complaint escalations
• TIO position statements and breaches of the Telecommunications Consumer Protections Code
• evidence required for the TIO’s assessment of complaints.

The team also facilitated complaint resolutions when members had ceased to trade or had been acquired by another member.

Member Communications ensured members have remained updated on TIO internal developments through seven editions of its electronic newsletter, MNews. Through this newsletter, it reminded members of their legislative requirements under the Customer Service Guarantee Standard, following the Victorian bushfires. This was to ensure that all carriage service providers understood that regardless of being a reseller or carrier, they were required to notify customers individually or to publish a notice if they were unable to meet fault rectification timeframes on standard telephone services. It also reminded members of their obligations in circumstances where consumers dispute charges on their bills or indicate an inability to pay because of hardship.

Lastly, two new advisers, Andrew Noble and Vicki Saray, were welcomed to the Member Communications team, which looks forward to engaging with TIO members in the new financial year.

ISP engagement project

In August 2008, the TIO surveyed internet service providers (ISPs) to better understand their specific needs and to receive feedback on our complaint-handling processes.

The ISPs were asked four questions:

• how could we improve our handling of internet complaints?
• in the context of internet complaints, how could we more clearly demonstrate our independence?
• are there ways that we can assist you to reduce costs incurred from complaints?
• based on your experiences, what are three things we could do better to fulfill our mission?

We received responses from 69 members. Responses varied widely, but had some common themes on ways we could better address complaints involving ISPs, including:

• having a devoted team with in-depth understanding of how ISPs operate, from a business and technical perspective
• informing complainants of our independence when they initially contact us, since there is a perception by those who responded that we are more of a consumer advocate than an independent dispute resolution body.

The responses were then translated into five key actions, as follows:

• investigate the feasibility of developing a specialised complaint handling model, with internet complaints handled by dedicated processes and officers
• review the information we seek from complainants and the advice given to them when they contact us
• incorporate the survey’s feedback into the TIO’s end-to-end process review
• develop and provide guidelines, resources and feedback for ISP members to help reduce TIO complaints and escalation
• seek feedback from ISPs annually.

ISPs will continue to be notified of the progress of the key actions, as many of them are ongoing and have been incorporated into the end-to-end process review. In August 2009, we invited ISPs to participate in our survey of all TIO members.

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