A failure to deal with customer complaints promptly has resulted in Internet service provider NetCube being ordered by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to comply with the complaints-handling requirements of the Telecommunications Consumer Protection Code.
The ACMA directed NetCube to comply with the TCP Code following an investigation in which it found that between December 2015 and 20 February 2016, NetCube had failed to deal promptly with complaints and failed to keep proper records of complaints as required by the TCP Code.
The authority also found one instance in which NetCube pursued a customer debt when the amount was the subject of an unresolved complaint, contrary to the requirements of the TCP Code.
In February, the ACMA identified a rise in complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) about Novatel Telecommunications Pty Ltd trading as NetCube, including an increase in complaint-handling issues over the previous two consecutive quarters to December 2015.
{loadposition peter}A subsequent investigation by the ACMA found that NetCube did not keep adequate records of due dates for a proposed resolution of customer complaints, making it difficult to ensure that it met the timeframes set out in the TCP Code (two working days for urgent complaints, 15 working days for non-urgent complaints).
The ACMA also found breaches of TCP Code obligations relating to recording and communicating proposed resolutions, delays in resolving complaints, reasons for resolutions, customer responses, underlying causes and credit management action for disputed amounts.
The action by the ACMA means that if NetCube fails to comply with the authority’s direction by breaching the complaint handling rules in the TCP Code again, the ACMA can commence Federal Court proceedings for civil penalties.
ACMA chairman Richard Bean said the authority expects NetCube to make improvements to its complaint-handling practices and “will be keeping a close eye on complaints to the TIO”.
“The telecommunications industry has come a long way since complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) peaked at almost 200,000 a year six years ago,” Bean said.
"But the complaint-handling practices of some providers continue to fall short of the standards expected by consumers and the ACMA will hold them to account.”
Under the TCP Code, providers are required to take certain steps to ensure complaints are managed with fairness, courtesy, objectivity and efficiency, including the monitoring of delays in complaint resolution and advice to customers.
The code also requires providers to keep complaint records including the steps taken to address a complaint and the resolution (if any) and that providers take any credit management action in relation to amounts that are the subject of an “ongoing unresolved complaint that is still under consideration by the provider or the TIO”.