Mobile phone providers happy to continue delivering substandard service
21.05.12
Phone companies paid a record $28 million in fines to the ombudsman last year and still the complaints continued to mount, suggesting the companies are happy to pay the fines and continue to do what they want, which is to deliver substandard service.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority has threatened to introduce standards that can be enforced by the courts if the telecommunications industry does not lift its game.
On the evidence presented by the latest ombudsman's report, the time has come to introduce court-enforceable legislation, for the present system of self-regulation cannot be allowed to continue.
How bad is the service? A survey by the ombudsman found that 55 per cent of people had attempted to deal with their phone company on at least five occasions before contacting the TIO for help.
Sixty per cent of consumers spent three hours or more trying to resolve their problems before contacting the TIO and 20 per cent spent more than five hours, while 50 per cent said they had been handballed to at least three different phone company departments.
Source: Courier Mail