Optus and other telcos 'not meeting needs' of people with complaints over network issues: ombudsman

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Customers of big telco companies are being trapped in complaint merry-go-rounds that fail to fix their phone and internet problems quickly. Advocates are calling for tough penalties if companies mistreat customers, but the industry is pushing back.

Transcript

00:00Judith McLaughlin suddenly lost reception at her home in July, leaving her unable to

00:09make or receive mobile calls on the Optus network.

00:12Oh, nightmares definitely. It was just a merry-go-round.

00:16Her problems persisted and after almost two months, Optus advised her to change providers.

00:22I contemplated making a complaint to the Ombudsman, but I was so sick of it all.

00:28Research found many telco customers who complained were frustrated by repetitive processes, but

00:34others didn't bother complaining, believing it would be a waste of time.

00:38Close to half of Australians who had a telco issue didn't go ahead and make a complaint.

00:44They suffered in silence.

00:46The latest Ombudsman statistics show complaints about Optus have jumped 5.7 per cent.

00:52There's also been a spike of almost 17 per cent in people demanding compensation after

00:58lengthy outages or other serious problems.

01:01What we really need to see is minimum standards that hold telcos accountable for the service

01:08and how they treat their customers.

01:10But that call is rejected by the industry, which says complaints to the Ombudsman are at

01:1520-year lows.

01:17Others have the ultimate power in this equation, and that is the ability to walk away from their

01:22telco.

01:23Optus declined to be interviewed.

01:25The company apologised for the inconvenience Judith McLaughlin experienced and said it hadn't

01:31decommissioned any mobile towers near her this year.

01:35Michael Atkin, ABC News.

01:36Onto, Ok.

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