ACMA puts telcos' customer service under scrutiny

The ACMA has kicked of a major enquiry into customer service in the telecoms industry with release of the enquiry's terms of reference, a consultation paper and call for "the broadest possible input on the problems telecommunications customers are experiencing with customer service and complaints-handling."

A year after he launched the ACMA's 'Reconnecting the Customer' enquiry into customer service in the telecommunications industry, ACMA chairman, Chris Chapman, has signalled strongly that the outcome will be tougher regulation, as he continues to pan the industry's customer service standards.

Wednesday 1 June will be judgement day for Australian telcos: the ACMA is expected to announce plans for tougher regulation when it releases the draft report on its year-long enquiry into customer service and complaints handling in the industry.

The telco industry has got its first taste of tighter regulation, threatened by the ACMA as the result of its 'Reconnecting the Customer' enquiry into telecommunications customer service, with the introduction of a regime that will impose fines for failure to meet customer service timeframes.

The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) reckons the telecommunications industry is in ‘denial’ about the threat of regulation if it fails to fix its customer service and complaints handling problems revealed in submissions to the Australian Communications & Media Authority’s (ACMA).

The ACMA has released a progress report on its 'Reconnecting the Customer' inquiry into how the telecommunications industry deals with its customers, concluding that billing and usage information on telecommunications services is inadequate and potentially detrimental to consumers' finances.

Written by: David Swan | Published in: MobilityDespite an overall decrease in complaints, more users than ever are dissatisfied with their mobile phone service according to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.

The telecomms industry has been almost unanimous in its responses to the ACMA's draft report of its 'Reconnecting the Customer' enquiry in claiming that a revised Telecommunications Consumer Protection (TCP) Code will address the ACMA's concerns. ACCAN does not agree.

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) has been given more clout to resolve consumer complaints against telcos: it can now make decisions on disputes involving sums of  $30,000, three times its current limit.