TIO Complaints Hit New Low

Good news, everybody! Complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) have hit an eight-year low, although complaints about landlines (yes, still a thing) are on the rise.

Picture: Getty Images

The TIO has released figures that detail the number of complaints that it dealt with in the October-December 2014 quarter, and it appears that we’re getting less annoyed with our telcos and their services.

The TIO got 29,560 complaints over the quarter. To give that context, the next lowest quarter in terms of complaints would be a total of 26,632 complaints recorded way back in the July-September quarter of 2007.

The complaints may have been a little different back then, except for the fact that the one area of complaints that does seem to be on the rise relates to landlines. While the number of telco services as a whole has dipped slightly year on year, down to 50.4 million in 2013-2014 compared to 50.6 million in 2012-2013, and mobile and internet complaints are down per 100,000 users, the same isn’t true of landline TIO complaints, which were up 3.7 per cent.

Service type Complaints/100,000 2013-2014 Complaints/100,000 2012-2013 % change
Landline 493.2 475.4 3.70%
Mobile 237.1 300 -21%
Internet 249.5 254.3 -2.60%
Total 275.5 313.6 -12.20%

So clearly, we’ve put a few smartphones back in desk drawers since the same time last year, but those of us still clinging to landlines are having more issues with service and billing around them.


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