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The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman welcomes the ACMA’s Consumer Information Standards announced today (22 June 2018).

Executive Director of Dispute Resolution and Deputy Ombudsman Diane Carmody says “We welcome ACMA’s enforceable standards to improve the customer experience when migrating to a service delivered over the NBN. We are pleased that our comments aimed at improving consistency of consumer information have been adopted and we are continuing to work with providers and stakeholders to improve outcomes and standards in telecommunications provision.  

The Telco Accessibility Task Force has been established to remove the barriers to effective dispute resolution in the telecommunications industry and improve the industry’s ability to address consumer issues.

Chaired by the Ombudsman, the Task Force meets virtually at least twice a year and brings together key representatives from consumer and community groups and representatives from the telecommunications industry.

The group consists of up to 20 members representing a diverse range of perspectives, minority groups and special interests, including but not limited to:

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman Simon Cohen has welcomed the release of the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy’s Reform of the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) report.

“I am pleased with the findings that the TIO generally meets the National Benchmarks for industry Ombudsman and that we deal with consumer complaints well,” Ombudsman Simon Cohen said.

As set out in the TIO Terms of Reference, we handle complaints from owners and occupiers of property about:

The TIO has a zero-tolerance policy on aggression and violence.

This glossary provides clear definitions for key terms used throughout our guidance documents. It is designed to help you better understand the language we use.

Authorised representative

A person who has authority from a consumer to deal with a provider on their behalf. This includes the power to make changes to the consumer’s account without them being present. 

Case manager

A staff member of the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman handling a complaint. 

Residential consumers made 7,411 complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman about problems managing their telco debt between 1 January and 31 June 2018, representing 10.2 per cent of complaints received during the period. These figures were highlighted in the organisation’s latest Systemic Insight: “Sales Practices Driving Consumer Debt”, published today (Wednesday 27 February, 2019).