TIO complaints fall nearly 20% in June quarter

Amid all the attention being paid to the volume of customer complaints over telecom services, the industry has been at least partly vindicated by new data showing a relative decline in complaints to the Telecom Industry Ombudsman.

Complaints to the Ombudsman as a portion of services in operation fell 19.4% during the June quarter to 7.5 per 10,000 customers, down from 9.3 in the prior quarter, the latest Complaints in Context report [PDF] shows.

Optus topped the list with 9.4 complaints per 10,000 services, followed by Telstra with 7.9 and Vodafone with 3.5.

Communications Alliance CEO John Stanton said the results paint a more up-to-date picture than the survey results released by the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) over the weekend, which had suggested that many customers are dissatisfied with the level of customer services being provided.

“The past year and a half has been challenging for the industry, leading to difficult moments for some customers, but this result ... shows that the commitment industry has made to improving customer experience is beginning to make an impact.”

He also noted that the gains were achieved before regulator ACMA's new complaint handling rules come into effect. Under proposed changes to the Telecommunications Consumer Protection Code, participation in the report will be increased to a minimum of 10 providers.

Communications Alliance also published the findings of the latest survey [PDF] conducted for the industry body by Roy Morgan Research, which indicates that 65% of consumers are satisfied or very satisfied with the overall level of customer service received on their most recent contact with a telco.

But the survey also shows that only 42% of respondents who had made a complaint in the last six months were satisfied with how their complaint had been handled, while 43% were dissatisfied with the complaint handling process.

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