This is the headline from the Telecommunications Ombudsman’s six month update. Whilst it comes as no surprise to see the numbers of complaints during a period of huge change in the industry, there are some concerning trends emerging.
Launching the Update, Ombudsman Judi Jones said;
“The telecommunications industry in Australia continues to experience significant change. An increasing range of products and services are being offered to consumers, expectations for the quality of phone and internet services are high, and the rollout of the National Broadband Network is changing the way we use telecommunications services.
“However, consumers still seem to be facing the same problems, particularly with their bills and the customer service they receive. Confidence in services being updated or transferred reliably, faulty equipment, and poor service quality were also recorded as key issues. Additionally, the wider issues relating to phone or internet problems such as debt management are concerning.”
The larger service providers all suffer from the need to separate their businesses into separate sales and operations units. This approach can lead to selling a product and raising an expectation with a consumer that can’t necessarily be delivered in the way promised by an operations team that relies on a third party (NBN) to keep its end of the bargain. Sales teams are bonused on selling products, the delivery of these products is not their issue. Equally, the perennial drive to take cost out of operations leads to the continuing trend in off shore support staff and call centres, a huge bug bear for those of us that don’t speak 14 different languages. All these cost pressures and inter reliance issues between the re-seller and the NBN inevitably create poor service and consumer complaints, as reflected in the TIO’s report.
One benefit of using a local provider such as OCB is that you always get to talk to an English language speaker. Whatever the question; when can I get connected, can I change my direct debit number, how do I integrate my new Chromecast system, all get answered quickly and efficiently by a group of people living and working in the same area as you the customer and all of whom are doing it because they too got fed up with the big company service mentality. It’s extremely gratifying to constantly hear from our customers how much they enjoy the personal service and care provided by the OCB team. Why don’t you try for yourself?
Check availability at your address or call the team today on 07 5322 5380 to actually talk to someone who understands the end to end delivery of what we promise and makes it happen (in English!)
