The Department of Communications and the Arts has published a consultation paper on proposals to force mobile phone and other telecommunications providers to deal with consumer complaints quickly and effectively.
Minister for Communications, Senator Mitch Fifield said the new rules would ensure consumers could access an effective complaints-handling and redress scheme that required transparency and accountability.
“Consumers are fed up with poor service and inadequate safeguards when their telco fails to address a complaint,” Senator Fifield said.
“Complaints about customer service and billing continue to be the top issues reported to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman [TIO], and complaints in Australia are far too high.”
He said the initiative was the first stage of a three-part consumer safeguards review, being led by Andrew Dyer and the Department.
“Mr Dyer has previously been Chair of the TIO Council,” Senator Fifield said.
“He has significant experience in customer service, complaint handling and dispute resolution.”
The Minister said the existing complaints-handling regime was almost totally reliant on industry self-regulation.
“This paper proposes a range of measures to improve complaints handling,” Senator Fifield said.
He said it proposed that while telcos would continue to have primary responsibility for dealing with complaints, a new external dispute resolution body, independent of the industry, would be established to deal with complex complaints.
Senator Fifield said the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) would have responsibility for collecting data relating to industry performance and complaints and would publish reports with detailed analysis of the data.
He said ACMA would also provide transparency of complaint levels for each telco in the market.
The Department’s 11-page consultation paper can be accessed at this PS News link.
