Unclear, delayed and missing bills

We can help with your complaint about bills that are unclear, irregular or delayed, as well as complaints about how bills are provided. To resolve your complaint, we consider the law, good industry practice and fairness.

Types of billing complaints

We deal with complaints about billing issues such as:

bills that aren’t itemised
bills with unclear charges, credits or adjustments
not receiving regular bills, or being billed for old charges
how bills are provided.

What you should expect from your provider: the law and industry practice on billing

Your phone bills should be clear and itemised

By law, phone bills must show the date, destination number, duration and cost of all calls, except untimed local calls. Information in bills should be clear and accurate, and include all the important details.

You should get a bill within ten business days of your billing period

Generally, providers must bill you for each billing period. If you’re given a bill more than 10 business days after the end of the billing period, you should also get more time to pay.

You can’t be billed for old charges

Unless there are exceptional circumstances, providers must not bill you for charges that you incurred more than 160 days ago.

More information

For more detailed information read our guidance on Billing - in detail.

Other guides for Billing and payments

Tips for billing complaints about mobile services

Getting your money back: how to stop direct debits and reverse charges

This help page tells you what you can do to stop a direct debit. It also tells you how you can get a refund by reversing a charge from your financial institution if you paid with a credit card (this includes debit cards where you pay using a “credit” function).

Payment problems and errors

We can help with your complaint about direct debit payments, payment fees, and payments that are missing or applied incorrectly. To resolve your complaint, we consider the law, good industry practice and fairness.

High and disputed charges

We can help with your complaint about charges and rates that you didn’t agree to, as well as complaints about excess usage charges and administrative fees that you think are too high. To resolve your complaint, we consider the law, good industry practice and fairness.

Carlo was placed into further hardship after falling victim to a scam

Complaint

Carlo, a full-time student with limited income, was scammed into buying three mobile phones, leaving him with a $3,200 debt. He contacted BranchTel for help as he couldn’t afford to pay off the debt, causing him significant distress and hardship.

Outcome

During conciliation, BranchTel initially offered Carlo a payment plan of $180 per month, which he couldn’t afford. After raising concerns about this, BranchTel agreed to waive all of Carlo’s debt due to his severe financial hardship.

Mobile phone

Tamin Tutoring was charged an unfairly high early cancellation fee

Complaint

Tamin Tutoring signed up for an NBN service and equipment bundle with BlockTel but experienced frequent faults with slow and dropped video calls and inconsistent phone calls. When they tried to cancel due to these issues, BlockTel demanded over $7,000 for early termination.

Outcome

Tamin Tutoring didn’t want to pay this cancellation fee because the service never worked properly. After complaining to our office, the parties agreed that Tamin Tutoring could exit its contract and only pay 40 per cent of the cost of the cancellation fees.

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