Fairness and Satisfaction Surveys provide valuable feedback to help improve TIO services

Providing a fair, independent, and accessible dispute resolution service is part of the TIO’s purpose. World-leading work has been underway at the TIO, with the Fairness Project Team creating a vision for evaluating fairness and satisfaction with the TIO process, and a methodology to measure the concept.

The pilot Fairness and Satisfaction Surveys have now been running for over six months, with around 200 people responding each week. The surveys ask questions about a consumers experience of fairness and satisfaction with the TIO’s service, and collect demographic data on age, gender, and First Nations origin.

Project Lead and TIO Service Insights Specialist James Micallef said, “The surveys have been giving us a wealth of data to analyse and draw insights from. A lot of what we’ve found so far has been really positive, showing us where we’re doing well, and what consumers like about our service.

“We offer a free-text option for feedback and we’re hearing some great stories,” James said. “One consumer representative’s elderly mother was being chased for an incorrect debt, and we worked with her and the telco to have the problem resolved in just four days. The consumer said we were very understanding, and she told us this made a world of difference to her mother’s wellbeing. This kind of feedback is really encouraging to hear.”

The free-text feedback also gives the TIO the opportunity to improve services, and adapt to consumer needs.

“We’ve also received feedback that can help us make our service better. For example, a consumer told us they had difficulty getting authorisation forms signed by their elderly parents who live remotely and didn’t have internet access. We want our process to be as accessible as possible, so we’re currently developing a recorded verbal authority process for similar future situations.”

Over the next few months, the project team will combine the data collected in surveys with TIO complaints data, creating visualisations that provide deep insights into our service. This will allow the Team to see how satisfaction and perceptions of fairness change along our complaints process, with different complaint issues, and across different providers.

The Fairness and Satisfaction surveys are an important tool the organisation has implemented to improve satisfaction. We will continue to monitor and improve our survey methods and our service to ensure fairness and satisfaction for all consumers.