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Speaker 1: The telecommunications industry. Umbardsman has released figures in terms of

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Speaker 1: complaints that they handled over the last financial year twenty

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Speaker 1: three twenty four to the thirtieth of June this year,

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Speaker 1: Residential consumers accounted for eighty eight percent of the complaints.

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Speaker 1: Small business made up the rest. The total number, though,

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Speaker 1: fell by some fourteen percent to the previous financial year.

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Speaker 1: That's fifty six thousand complaints seven hundred and eighteen, in fact,

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Speaker 1: fifty six seven eighteen during twenty three twenty four, down

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Speaker 1: fourteen percent on the year before. So at least that's

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Speaker 1: a positive. The Umbardsman is Cynthia Gabert, and she joins me. Now, Cynthia, good.

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Speaker 2: Morning, Good morning, Matthew.

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Speaker 1: How are you all right? Thank you? Well, you'd welcome

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Speaker 1: the fall off. I guess, yeah.

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Speaker 2: It's good to see a reduction in complaints, and that's

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Speaker 2: on the back of a series of reductions over the

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Speaker 2: last few years. I suppose bit that I suppose, since

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Speaker 2: I was a little bit of caution about it, too excited,

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Speaker 2: because we are concerned that consumers aren't coming forward, that

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Speaker 2: this Matter Act may actually been under representation of how

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Speaker 2: dissatisfied consumers really are with their telc provider. We did

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Speaker 2: some research last year that said nearly half of those

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Speaker 2: that had a concern with their telco didn't come forward

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Speaker 2: because they were concerned that it was going to be

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Speaker 2: too hard, you know, process is too overwhelming, to cumbersome,

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Speaker 2: to fly, or wouldn't change anything. So we're cautiously welcoming it,

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Speaker 2: but you know, very very concerned that people do still

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Speaker 2: need to be able to exercise their right to complain

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Speaker 2: about this essential service.

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Speaker 1: What were the complaints about. Was there any particular issue

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Speaker 1: that dominated stood out?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look, there's some really stubborn issues Matthew, and one

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Speaker 2: of them, I suppose, it's just core customer service where

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Speaker 2: you know, there was no or some sort of delayed

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Speaker 2: action by a provider might have promised they were going

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Speaker 2: to do something undertake and to send the rised bill

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Speaker 2: for example, and they weren't doing it. Made up over

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Speaker 2: sixty percent of all the complaints that came to us,

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Speaker 2: which you know is I would have sort of relatively

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Speaker 2: straightforward thing to tackle. Do what you say you're going

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Speaker 2: to do it, something my mother always told me. But

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Speaker 2: then we also saw complaints about service and equipment fees

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Speaker 2: as well as phone dropping out no, no phone or

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Speaker 2: in continued to drive consumer frustration.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so what about fault testing, Now that was something

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Speaker 1: that you'd heard about a fair bit because obviously the

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Speaker 1: complaints include Internet, I presume.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and the majority of the fault related complaints we

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Speaker 2: had were Internet related complaints. And you know, we did

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Speaker 2: see a bit of a mixed bag in terms of

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Speaker 2: some providers improving and others getting much worse in that respect.

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Speaker 2: But again that's people telcos only know about a fault

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Speaker 2: when someone's usually letting them know, or they're just that

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Speaker 2: might tell them, get it, thought it. I suppose it's

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Speaker 2: the key message. You know, it drives frustration if people

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Speaker 2: can't fly on their faults being remedied as quickly as possible.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, what is the process. So normally someone should go

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Speaker 1: to their provider first, That tells draped us Vota phone

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Speaker 1: whoever it is.

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Speaker 2: Yep, absolutely, So give them a go at giving the

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Speaker 2: complaint resolves. Let them know that you're not happy, and

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Speaker 2: if you can't get a fair and reasonable outcome, call

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Speaker 2: our office or access our online complaint form. Our phone

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Speaker 2: number is one eight hundred zero six two zero five eight,

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Speaker 2: and our website is TiO, dot com dot au and

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Speaker 2: there's heaps of information there about you right to your

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Speaker 2: responsibilities as well as being out of lodge or complaints

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Speaker 2: with us, and we're free and independent of the telco.

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Speaker 1: Well the phone call settler. I mean, if if somebody rings,

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Speaker 1: do you then say well you need to go online

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Speaker 1: and do this or can can they just deal with

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Speaker 1: it on the phone and move on with their lives?

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Speaker 2: Moving on with your life at times? Yeah, it is,

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Speaker 2: the first thing we will do is get that your telco,

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Speaker 2: So let's so Telstra optus to call you and try

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Speaker 2: and resolve it directly with you and that resolves of

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Speaker 2: us majorities complaints when you finally get contact with the

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Speaker 2: right person in the organization. If that doesn't, you are

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Speaker 2: absolutely within your rights to come back to us and

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Speaker 2: we'll send you a message to let you know that

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Speaker 2: we haven't heard from you. Is everything sorted and if not,

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Speaker 2: please come back and let us know and we'll do

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Speaker 2: a more detailed investigation at that point.

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Speaker 1: Okay, all right, Well that's easy enough. So eighteen hundred

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Speaker 1: zero six, two zero five eight and some four thousand,

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Speaker 1: four thousand and seven in fact from South Australia complaints

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Speaker 1: last year last financial year, so down twenty three percent

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Speaker 1: of the national average.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm hoping is because South Australians have less concerns.

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Speaker 2: But I really do want to encourage everybody if they

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Speaker 2: do have a concern, don't be shy. Let your tell

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Speaker 2: con and let us know. Because you and I have

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Speaker 2: talked about this before, Matthew, phone and internet are essential

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Speaker 2: to our ability to do so many things now that

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Speaker 2: maybe ten years ago it wasn't as embedded in everything.

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Speaker 2: And you need to know it's going to work and

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Speaker 2: that you will get your complaint resolved when you have one.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, you know. I can remember a time and

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Speaker 1: I'm going back twenty twenty five years or more where

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Speaker 1: we would get so many calls here at five double

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Speaker 1: a on people who were misled in their phone plans,

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Speaker 1: who found they were on a really expensive plan, or

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Speaker 1: inadvertently bought a phone they didn't know they were buying,

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Speaker 1: or whatever it was. And all of that has gone away.

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Speaker 1: The simplification of phone bills and the ease of taking

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Speaker 1: your number from company to company, it's just made life

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Speaker 1: so much easier, particularly sorting out phone plans, where if

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Speaker 1: you tried comparing apples and apples you just couldn't way

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Speaker 1: back then.

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Speaker 2: Yes, oh absolutely, and that's one of the key reasons

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Speaker 2: complaints have had those steps declined, and those premium services

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Speaker 2: that you didn't know that you were being changed for

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Speaker 2: at international roamings a lot more straightforward. So there is

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Speaker 2: a lot of simplification that has actually really taken the

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Speaker 2: heat out of the complaint environment, and the industry needs

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Speaker 2: to be recognized for that. I suppose I just challenged

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Speaker 2: them to go further. Don't be happy enough with fifty

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Speaker 2: six thousand complaints.

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Speaker 1: If you can get left, Yeah, well that's right. I

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Speaker 1: reckon you need to transfer over to the electricity industry, Cynthia,

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Speaker 1: and see if you can sort that mess out of

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Speaker 1: their bills.

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Speaker 2: But anyway, next time, mate.

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Speaker 1: Indeed, all right, thank you for your time today.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Matthew.

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Speaker 1: Cynthia Gabert, who is telecommunications industry ombudsman and annual complaints show. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: there are still some issues and as she says, the

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Speaker 1: challenge for the telcos get the complaints down, do better.

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Speaker 1: But they are down fifty six seven hundred and eighteen

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Speaker 1: complaints in the twenty three to twenty four financial year,

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Speaker 1: down overall. Some wereas at fourteen percent fourteen point six.

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Speaker 1: Here in South Australia we're down twenty three percent, just

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Speaker 1: four thousand and seven complaints made to the TiO. But

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Speaker 1: you do remember those days, don't. You just couldn't make

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Speaker 1: sense of the phone bill and there were different times

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Speaker 1: of day at different rates, and you try comparing that

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Speaker 1: to a different provider, and the numbers that the times

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Speaker 1: wouldn't match up, and the numbers and everything else just

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Speaker 1: an absolute nightmare. And if you happen to get a

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Speaker 1: good plan, well you made sure you're stuck to it.

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Speaker 1: But a lot easier these days, so they have simplified

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Speaker 1: and that's what we, certainly electricity companies need to do

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Speaker 1: that retailers just make your bills easy, easier to understand

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Speaker 1: and try and work out different times a day in

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Speaker 1: rates and all of that sort of thing. They're where

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Speaker 1: telcos were almost thirty years ago, for goodness sake,