Skip to main content

Loss of or access to phone numbers

We can help with your complaint about certain problems with phone numbers, including complaints about losing access to your number because you have lost the rights of use of it or it has been quarantined. We can also help if you have been given an out of area number – that is, a number with an area code different to your actual location – without being told how calls will be charged. To resolve your complaint, we consider the law, good industry practice and fairness.

Types of complaints about phone numbers

We deal with complaints about phone number such as consumers:

  • losing their rights of use of a number
  • having their number quarantined
  • not being told about the costs of having an out of area number.

 

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

Your providers should help you to get your number back

Generally, providers should not refuse to retrieve and re-issue a number to a consumer who last held rights of use to it. If this isn’t possible, the provider should explain why.

Your providers should warn you about charges for out of area numbers 

If a provider agrees to issue you an out of area number, they must tell you that calls to the number from geographically local numbers may be charged at non-local rates. They must also tell you that you may not be able to transfer the number to another provider later.

How we've helped other customers

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.
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.
This page was last updated on
04th Dec 2024