Helping people when services fail
When people run out of options, they’ll often turn to local MPs or community organisations for help. To make sure we’re supporting those people in frontline community roles, we’re offering free online sessions with practical information and tools they can use every day.
Tools and guidance to support the community
Our free online sessions are tailored to what people need to best support their community. We offer practical guidance and real consumer insights to make it easier when supporting someone with a phone or internet problem.
We can cover:
- how the complaint process works
- when and how to refer someone to the TIO
- simple steps that can make it easier to resolve problems with a telco
- the rights of vulnerable consumers such as people impacted by financial hardship or family violence
- questions you’re regularly receiving from the community
- what to do when someone isn’t getting a response from their telco.
TIO’s community outreach presenter, Justin, said a key part of these sessions is helping organisations understand how to guide people to the right support.
“We work with people that are on the frontline supporting people every day,” he said. “Our role is to make sure people know there’s somewhere to go for help when they’ve run out of options.”
When things go wrong online, options are limited
Our recent online sessions also explored the growing number of problems people face with social media and other digital platforms, where there aren’t clear pathways for help.
One consumer who came to the TIO was a small business owner, Sandy,* who lost access to her social media business account without warning. Sandy relied on social media to connect with customers and manage advertising, so the impact was immediate.
When Sandy* tried to fix the issue, the platform’s response was sent back to the account she couldn’t access, leaving her with no clear way to get help.
The TIO is currently unable to help people like Sandy with digital platform issues. It’s why we’re calling on the government to expand our services so we can help communities with telco problems and digital complaints.
To help us spotlight the issues people are facing with things go wrong online, we want to hear from people in your community who are getting nowhere with their digital platform providers.
*Name changed for privacy reasons