The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) has released data for Q1 revealing that 30% of complaints made by telecom consumers remained unresolved between July and September 2024. These unresolved complaints primarily relate to issues such as poor customer service, billing problems, equipment issues, and intermittent service or dropouts.

In response to the rising number of unresolved complaints, the TIO initiated a new follow-up process with consumers in July to better understand and resolve issues at the end of the referral period. Despite these efforts, the Australian community lodged a total of 13,541 complaints about their phone and internet services between July and September 2024, marking a 4.6% increase in complaints compared to the same period last year.

More than half of these complaints were related to no or delayed action from a telco (8,063 cases), followed by complaints about service and equipment fees (4,705 cases), and complaints about no phone or internet service (1,443 cases). Complaints related to failure to cancel a service increased by 7% from 1,052 complaints last quarter, to 1,126 in this reporting period.

Ombudsman Cynthia Gebert expressed her concern over the data, stating, “This is the first quarter we have reported on this data in this way, and it is concerning that such a large volume of problems referred to telcos remain in dispute.” She further highlighted the frustration experienced by customers, “Customers are contacting my office because of patchy service and dropouts, telcos dragging their heels when it comes to fixing something, and poor customer service experiences. It’s very frustrating for customers.”

Despite a drop in overall complaints last financial year, Gebert expressed disappointment over the recent increase, “We saw a drop in overall complaints last financial year, which is a positive sign for both customers and telcos. It’s disappointing to see the numbers jump back up, reporting the same persistent problems.”

The TIO data also revealed that 89.2% of complaints were made by residential consumers and 10.8% from small businesses. Of the complaints made by small businesses, 60.9% were related to no or delayed action. The top five Local Government Areas (LGAs) with the highest number of complaints were Brisbane (426), Gold Coast (279), Moreton Bay (251), Sunshine Coast (199), and Wyndham (198). Complaints by customers identifying as belonging to the First Nations Community increased by 15.2% (416 cases).

In response to these figures, Gebert encourages consumers to take action, “I encourage anyone who is experiencing an issue with their phone or internet service to first raise the issue with their telco, and if the matter can’t be resolved, to make a complaint with my Office. We are free, fair, and independent.”