The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) reports that for the first quarter of the year the level of complaints about mobile phones dropped by 30 per cent, but Australian consumers still found plenty to complain about, with an overall rise in complaints of 4.5 per cent.
Picture by Lazurite
In total, 40,021 complaints were made, according to figures published by the TIO’s quarterly publication “TIO Talks”. We are apparently complaining less about mobile phones, but more about landline services (up 8.8 per cent) and Internet services (up 12.4 per cent), although mobile as a complaint category still makes up 57.3 per cent of all complaints received. Mobile coverage is the key thing we bitch about to the TIO.
For internet services we complain mostly about slow or consistently dropping out services. Outright loss of service remains an issue for both net and landline services, although the TIO notes that there have been a larger than normal number of what it calls mass service disruptions — or in other words, natural disasters and extreme weather conditions — over the period, which would explain some of the issues.
The TIO notes that in cases of mass service disruptions, carriers have lengthier periods to resolve service issues, although they’re obliged to tell customers (either via advertising or personally) where they’re claiming the exemption due to such issues. For the 585 2012-13 financial year to date, 23 providers have declared mass service disruptions, nearly 100 more than for the entire 2011-12 financial year.
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