If something’s gone wrong and we haven’t put it right, you can make a complaint. We’ll handle it openly, fairly and promptly, in everyday language, and it costs nothing to complain. This page summarises our Complaint Handling Process, and explains when you can take a complaint to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO).
How to make a complaint
Tell us it’s a complaint, and what you’d like us to do about it. You can:
- call us on 1800 663 977
- email [email protected]
- write to us at PO Box 138, Gisborne VIC 3437
If you need help to make a complaint, for example because of a disability, hardship or difficulty with English, just ask and we’ll help. You can also contact us through:
- the National Relay Service on 133 677
- the Translating and Interpreting Service on 131 450
- someone you’ve appointed to deal with us for you, like an advocate or authorised representative
How quickly we’ll respond
| Step | When |
|---|---|
| We acknowledge your complaint | Straight away if you talk to us by phone, or within 2 working days if you email or write |
| We propose a way to resolve it | Within 15 working days, or 2 working days if it’s urgent |
| We do what we’ve agreed | Within 10 working days of you accepting it |
When we acknowledge your complaint, we give you a case reference. Quote it whenever you contact us about the complaint, and call us with it any time to check how it’s going. If we can’t resolve your complaint in time, we’ll tell you why and how long it will take.
We try to sort out every complaint on first contact.
Urgent complaints
We treat a complaint as urgent if:
- you’ve applied for, or are getting, financial hardship assistance, and the complaint could make your hardship worse
- your service has been, or is about to be, disconnected without us following the proper process
- you’re a Priority Assistance customer, and the complaint is about that service
While we’re looking into it
- We won’t take credit management action over an amount you’re disputing while your complaint is unresolved and being investigated, by us or the TIO.
- We won’t start legal proceedings about it while we’re handling your complaint, or for 7 working days after we tell you the outcome.
- We won’t cancel your service just because you’ve complained or gone to the TIO.
Escalating a complaint
If you’re not happy with how your complaint is going, ask us to escalate it, by phone, email or post. We escalate a complaint automatically if it becomes urgent, or if we’ve missed one of the times above.
Treating each other with respect
We’ll always treat you with courtesy and respect, and we ask the same for our team.
We know problems with your service can be frustrating, and it’s completely normal to feel that way. Telling us you’re frustrated, and why, helps us understand how serious the problem is. But we won’t accept abusive behaviour towards our team, like swearing at them, insulting or threatening them, or harassing them.
If a call becomes abusive, we may warn you, then end the call. You can contact us again once things have calmed down, or make your complaint in writing instead. In serious or repeated cases, we may suspend or cancel your service, as our Critical Information Summaries allow.
Taking it to the TIO
If you’ve made a complaint to us and you’re not satisfied with how we’ve resolved it, you can contact the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO). It’s a free, independent service for resolving complaints about phone and internet providers. The TIO usually asks you to try to resolve the complaint with us first.
- Phone: 1800 062 058
- Online: tio.com.au
How a TIO complaint works
When you complain to the TIO, it usually starts by referring your complaint back to us. We then contact you directly to resolve it with you: the TIO doesn’t act as a go-between at this stage. If we can’t resolve it together, the TIO can escalate the complaint and take a more active role.
So if you’ve already been talking to us, you’ll often keep dealing with the same team.
At this first stage, the TIO gives you a date, and closes the complaint automatically on that date unless you tell it otherwise. If we haven’t resolved your complaint by then, contact the TIO before that date and tell it so.
The TIO deals with your provider, not the network
Our services run on networks owned by other companies, like nbn co and Opticomm. When a problem with your service starts in the network, like a fault, a delayed repair or a missed technician appointment, the TIO handles it as a complaint about your provider: us. It doesn’t take it up with the network for you.
That means a TIO complaint about a network’s fault or its technicians comes back to us to resolve. We raise network problems with the network for you either way, so contacting us first is usually the quickest way to get them fixed.
We’ll always do our best to help, within what we can reasonably do as a retail provider. Some things, like how quickly a network repairs a fault in its own equipment, are outside our control, but we’ll keep pushing the network and keep you updated.
Other organisations that may help
Depending on the complaint, these may also be able to help:
- your state or territory’s Office of Fair Trading or consumer affairs agency
- the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), for Australian Consumer Law matters
- the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), for matters under the Telecommunications Consumer Protections Code
- the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), for privacy complaints
The full process is in our Complaint Handling Process.