Annual Report 2005 5

Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman 2005 Annual Report Providing free, independent, just, informal and speedy Annual Report resolution of complaints 2005 Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman Limited ACN 057 634 787 Telephone 03 8600 8700 Facsimile 03 8600 8797 Freecall TH 1800 062 058 Freefax TH 1800 630 614 TTY 1800 675 692 Translator & Interpreter Service 131 450 Website www.tio.com.au Postal Address PO Box 276 Collins Street West Melbourne Victoria 8007 Australia Street Address Level 15, 114 William Street Melbourne Victoria 3000 Australia PROVIDING FREE, INDEPENDENT, JUST, INFORMAL AND SPEEDY RESOLUTION OF COMPLAINTS ABOUT TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES. Established in 1993, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman Limited (TIO) is a free and independent dispute resolution service for residential and small business consumers who have been unable to resolve a complaint with their telephone or internet service provider. The TIO is wholly funded by telephone and internet service providers, who are required by law to be How to make a complaint part of, and pay for, the TIO Scheme. Before lodging a complaint with the TIO you should: • try to solve the problem with your telephone company The TIO’s Annual Report includes a comprehensive or Internet service provider review of complaint statistics for the 2004/05 • try to get the name of the person you spoke to at financial year. These statistics are published for the company • gather any papers relevant to the complaint, such as the information of consumers, and to help service contracts, bills or copies of correspondence (please do not providers identify areas where they can improve send original documents to the TIO). their performance. The TIO recommends that complainants: • pay any undisputed portions of bills • keep copies of any payment transactions relating to the complaint • be prepared to write to the TIO with details of the complaint. Achieving a resolution to a complaint may require compromise on one or both sides of the argument. However, a resolution found this way is almost always less expensive and speedier than one found in the courts. Complainants may take their dispute to court if they are not satisfied with the outcome reached by the TIO. Design Mackay Branson design Bankers Commonwealth Bank of Australia Solicitors Corrs Chambers Westgarth Auditors RSM Bird Cameron CONTENTS Year at a Glance 2 Operations 22 Mobile Service Issues 40 Statement by the Definitions 22 Overview 40 Chairman of the Board 6 Classifying and Billing 41 escalating complaints 23 Contracts 42 Statement by the Resolving complaints Credit control 43 and deciding what Customer service 44 Chairman of Council 8 is fair and reasonable 23 Directories 44 The Ombudsman’s Determinations and directions 24 Disability services 44 Overview 10 Complaint handling Disconnection 45 performance 24 Faults 45 Operations – Porting 46 Administration 12 Landline Privacy 47 Funding 12 Service Issues 28 Provision 47 Governance 12 Overview 28 Internet Service Issues 48 TIO administration 12 Billing 29 Organisation chart 13 Contracts 31 Overview 48 Public Affairs 14 Credit control 31 Billing 49 Member Communications 15 Customer service 32 Contracts 52 Customer Service Credit control 52 Policy 16 Guarantee 33 Customer service 52 Convergence 16 Claiming compensation Customer transfer 52 Jurisdiction 16 for business loss 33 Disconnection 53 TIO position statements 17 Connect outstanding 33 Faults 53 Members publicising Customer transfer 34 Privacy 54 the TIO 17 Directories 35 Provision 55 Systemic Complaints Disability services 36 Investigation Disconnection 36 Systemic Issues Procedure 18 Faults 37 Investigations 56 Relationship with Land access 37 industry and Numbering 38 Codes 59 government agencies 19 Payphones 38 Mobile premium services – Complainant “If it’s on the bill” 19 Phone cards 38 statistics 68 Reports to members 20 Priority assistance 38 Quality assurance Porting 39 Member complaint and staff training 21 Privacy 39 statistics 73 Investigations audit 21 Provision 39 Glossary 76 TIO member list 79 Financial report 91 2 YEAR AT A GLANCE The TIO handled 97,798 contacts in 2004/05 – a 28.8% increase on last year’s total of 75,904. Total contacts included 18,883 out-of-jurisdiction enquiries and 78,915 complaints. The 78,915 complaints investigated in 2004/05 were 31.9% more than the 59,850 complaints investigated last year. A single complaint may contain more than one complaint issue. In 2004/05 the TIO recorded 100,825 complaint issues, up from 68,020 last year. 44.2% of complaint issues handled by the TIO were about landline services, 39.9% were about mobile services and 15.9% were about internet services. 90.2% of complaints were resolved at level 1, compared with 89.7% last year. Where did they come from? Areas of note 92.2% of complaints were made by residential Complaints about mobile services grew faster than consumers, 7.3% were made by small businesses those for internet and landline services. Mobile and 0.5% were made by government, community or services complaints rose by almost 88% to 40,254. charitable organisations. In the March quarter mobile complaints exceeded 44% of complainants were women. those for landlines, 42.9% of complaints, against 41.6% for landlines. The order was reversed in 88.0% of complaints were lodged by telephone, the June quarter and there were more landline 8.0% were lodged by e-mail, 2.8% were mailed and complaints than those for mobiles over the full 1.1% were sent by fax. year. 16.3% of complaints were made by customers Internet service complaints grew by 54.1%, and referred to the TIO by their providers. landline service complaints by 23.2% Our members With landlines, the significant complaint categories that grew the most were: In 2004/05, 152 members joined the TIO Scheme and 60 members departed, bringing the total to • contracts, which increased by 145.3% 1,135 members, up from 1,043 in the previous year. • privacy, which increased by 135.1% • customer transfer, which increased by 48.3%. With mobiles, the significant categories were: • customer service, which increased by 145.0% • billing, which increased by 112.3% • faults, which grew by 99.9%. With internet, the significant categories were: • customer transfer, which increased by 693.8% • contracts, which rose by 99.9% • customer service, which increased by 89.0%. 3 Total enquiries, complaints and complaint issues 2004/05 Total complaints since 2001/02 �� Total complaint issues since 2001/02 Total contacts since 2001/02 �� All statistics have been rounded to one decimal place. In some cases, this may produce totals that are slightly more or less than 100%. For a definition of the terms that the TIO uses to categorise contacts with complainants, please see Definitions, page 22. 4 YEAR AT A GLANCE Complaint breakdown (%) Complaint outcomes (%) �� Complaint mix (%) Complainant type (%) �� Complainant Type % �� 7.3 �� 1. Business � �� 2. Charity 0.1 3. Community 0.2 4. Government 0.3 5. Residential 92.2 Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman Annual Report 2005 �� Internet issues Mobile issues Landline issues �� Telecommunications IndustryTelecommunications Ombudsman Annual Report 2005 �� 5 6 STATEMENT BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD The TIO continued to provide outstanding service The TIO returned a surplus of $167,283 for the to complainants and the industry in 2004/05. year. The financial reserve amounted to $612,347 In early 2005 the Board, in conjunction with the at year-end. As I stated last year, the reserve Council and senior staff, conducted a significant will be instrumental in protecting the TIO from review of the TIO’s strategy. This review focused on fluctuations

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