Telcos lashed for complaint wait times

Telecommunications companies person been rebuked by the manufacture watchdog for taking longer to rectify issues, contempt little complaints being made against them.

Data released by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) revealed the full fig of complaints had dropped from 1,037,823 successful the 2022-23 fiscal twelvemonth to 899,691 successful the 2023-24 play – a driblet of 13.3 per cent.

However, customers waited an mean of six days for issues to beryllium resolved, up from 5.2 days reported the twelvemonth before.

ACMA subordinate and user pb Samantha Yorke called connected the manufacture to enactment a “greater focus” connected improving its effect times.

She emphasised disruptions to telephone and broadband services had the imaginable to interaction someone’s livelihood and their quality to pass with families and friends.

“The clip taken to resoluteness complaints is going successful the incorrect direction, which is precise frustrating for telco customers,” Ms Yorke said.

“People request to consciousness assured that their telco services volition enactment arsenic expected, and that erstwhile thing goes wrong, effectual and timely enactment volition beryllium taken by their telco to hole it.”

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland noted a simplification successful complaints could bespeak a nonaccomplishment of spot successful the complaints handling process, and said Australians deserved “reliable avenues to person their complaints resolved”.

“A simplification successful complaints besides doesn’t archer the afloat communicative of a customer’s experience, arsenic we cognize galore radical take not to lodge a ailment erstwhile they person issues with their service, owed to a deficiency of assurance successful ailment processes,” she said.

“I person already directed the ACMA to revise the telecommunications Complaints Handling Standard.

“The purpose is to amended the mode complaints are handled and resolved by telcos, ensuring processes are consumer-focused, businesslike and effective.”

However, Industry assemblage Communications Alliance main enforcement Luke Coleman said the figures revealed telcos had “lifted their game”.

He revealed the fig of complaints escalated to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) had dropped by 14.5 per cent year-on-year to 55,117.

The referral complaint of complaints that weren’t capable to beryllium resolved by the supplier and required further probe by the TIO besides remained dependable astatine 6.1 per cent, a flimsy betterment from the 6.2 per cent reported past fiscal year.

“Australians usage much than 45 cardinal mobile and broadband services, but less than 57,000 complaints were made to the TIO,” helium said.

“(That’s) an extraordinarily debased fig for an manufacture that Australians trust connected each day.”

While the caller information does not disclose the show of idiosyncratic providers, underperforming telcos volition beryllium named and shamed successful ACMA’s information releases successful November.

The archetypal raft of numbers, based connected information betwixt July to September 2024, volition comparison companies connected cardinal show metrics.