Complaint Handling Policy.

Introduction

We're committed to giving our customers the best possible products, services and experience, every time they deal with us – and that includes handling complaints. This policy tells you more about our process if you get in touch with any concerns about our products or services.

A complaint means an expression of dissatisfaction regarding a product, service or the complaints handling process itself, where a response or resolution is expected. If there is any uncertainty, we will clarify with you whether you would like your concern managed as a complaint.

It's our goal to handle every complaint fairly, politely, objectively and efficiently, without charge – so that you can get back to enjoying your service.

Who can make a complaint?

Anyone who isn't satisfied with our products or services, or how we have handled your enquiry, can get in touch to lodge a complaint – including you.

If you'd like to nominate someone else to make or handle a complaint on your behalf, we might call or email you and ask for your permission to discuss your complaint with them.

We'll handle your complaint fairly, politely, objectively and efficiently – and provide help to anyone who needs to formulate, lodge and progress a complaint with us.

If you have any other specific needs, please let us know – so we can best work out how to help.

Your legal rights

Nothing in this policy limits or detracts from your rights under Our Customer Terms, the Telecommunications Act 1997 (Cth) ("Telecommunications Act"), the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) or any other laws.

While we believe that our complaint handling procedures in this policy will provide a quick and effective resolution of your concerns, you don't have to follow them. You can choose to take independent action to enforce your rights instead.

How we'll handle complaints

Our complaint handling policy aims to provide an efficient, fair and accessible mechanism for customer complaints.

Our Customer Service team will be your single point of contact – whether you'd like to make a complaint about technical difficulties, billing issues, or our authorised dealers and staff.

Our main goal is to resolve most enquiries and complaints during your first call, and our Customer Service Representatives have the training and authority to deal with most problems and enquiries. That's not always possible, though – and if that's the case, we'll aim to have the complaint resolved within a timeframe that's agreed upon with you.

Our investigation will begin once your complaint has been assigned, and the time that we will spend on your complaint will be dependent on the seriousness and complexity.

We won't cancel your services when you make a complaint, to us, or to an external dispute resolution body.

To keep track of how we're handling complaints, our supervisors will:

• Randomly check records of complaints received by the Customer Service Representatives to make sure that a satisfactory solution has been reached.
• Call back a cross section of customers to discuss how we handled the complaint – and to find out if we can do better.
• Review every complaint that hasn't been resolved within our timeframes, and determine what action is needed to resolve them quickly.
• Identify any systemic issues and implement new ways of improving our processes and training our staff.

How to take your complaint to senior team members

If you're not satisfied with how the Customer Service Representative has handled your complaint, you can request to be transferred to a supervisor. Once you've raised a matter with a supervisor, he or she will aim to resolve the complaint as soon as possible and within a timeframe agreed upon with you. The supervisor will deal with you personally – they won't pass messages through other staff.

Making complaints

If you need to make a complaint or would like to check on how a complaint is progressing, please contact us through:

If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech/communication difficulty please contact us by using the National Relay Service.

We'll acknowledge your complaint immediately if you've made it over the phone, and within 2 working days if you've gotten in touch through any other channel (for example, by post, email or online) – including where you left a message with our afterhours messaging service.

If we can't speak to you directly, we'll send you an email acknowledging your complaint – and share our contact details so you can call us back.

When we acknowledge your complaint, we'll give you a unique reference number or similar so you can easily follow it up. We'll also give you an indicative timeframe for resolving your complaint. You can follow up using the contact phone number or email address on your most recent invoice.

We aim to resolve all complaints within 10 working days of the complaint first being received. If we're unable to meet this time frame we will explain why before that period ends – and provide you with a new expected time frame.

You can request your complaint to be looked at urgently:

• if you've applied to qualify as being in financial hardship under our Financial Hardship Policy or Payment Assistance Policy, and the issue you're complaining about directly contributes to the financial hardship you're experiencing, or
• if your service has been disconnected or is about to be disconnected and due process has not been followed.

In this case, we'll agree with you on how to address the issue and implement all actions needed to fix it within 2 working days. If there's a delay, we will explain why and provide you with a new expected time frame. For longer delays, we'll also inform you about your options for external dispute resolution – such as the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman ("TIO").

We'll provide written confirmation of the resolution, or proposed resolution, of your complaint within 5 working days if you ask for it.

If we're unable to contact you, we'll write to you and let you know. We'll also provide details of our contact attempts – and ask you to contact us to discuss the complaint within 10 working days. If you don't contact us within this time, the complaint will be closed.

Monitoring the progress of your complaint

You'll be provided with a unique reference number for your complaint, which you can use to track its progress. You can monitor the progress of your complaint by calling our Customer Service Team.

Proposed Resolution

If we propose a resolution to your complaint, we'll ask if you're satisfied with the proposed resolution. A proposed resolution must be accepted by you before we're required to implement it. Once the proposed resolution is accepted, we will complete all steps to implement it within 5 business days or within 2 business days for an urgent complaint. Once these steps have been taken, we will close your complaint.

Free of charge

We won't charge you for dealing with your complaint.

Taking appeals to external organisations

We believe that our internal appeal process will provide the quickest and most effective way to resolve complaints. If you're not satisfied with how we have handled your complaint, you have a right to take it to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, which is a free and independent service.

You can refer a complaint to the TIO at any time – and don't have to go all the way through our review process before complaining to the TIO. You should note, however, that the TIO service is intended as a last resort for telecommunications subscribers with complaints, and the TIO's position is that you should raise a complaint with us before approaching them.

The intention of the scheme is that we try to settle the issue before it's taken to the TIO. If you believe that any complaint raises wider telecommunications policy issues or is outside the jurisdiction of the TIO, then you may wish to raise it with the Australian Communication and Media Authority.

To lodge a complaint with the TIO you can call on 1800 062 058 or visit the website www.tio.com.au or write to:

TIO
PO Box 276
Collins Street West
MELBOURNE VIC 8007

Frivolous or vexatious complaints

If, after careful consideration and appropriate internal escalation of a complaint, we reasonably conclude that:

• we can do nothing more to resolve the complaint or assist you; and
• your behaviour or complaint is frivolous or vexatious,

we may decide not to deal, or to deal further, with the complaint.

We'll contact you within 5 working days to let you know the reasons for our decision – and your options for resolving things externally.