If you’re a business, delays in getting your phone services connected or fixed costs money. If you’re a regular customer, it’s still a pain in the arse. Minister for Communications, Stephen Conroy, says a new Customer Service Guarantee will set “timeframes to be met by providers for the connection, fault repair, and keeping of appointments.”
The plan is that if big telcos — those offering at least 100,000 such services nationally — don’t meet timelines in at least 90 per cent of cases, then the Australia Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) will slap them with a fine. The maximum penalty will be finalised after public consultation, but could be as high as $2 million.
Senator Conroy believes the new measures “will promote consistency and provide incentives for service providers to improve performance, especially in rural and remote areas.” Hopefully the times they set will remain consumer focused and not just lip service. We’ll wait and see. [dbcde.gov.au]
DarthDVD
Tuesday, August 9, 2011 at 10:14 PMI want my 2 Tin cans and string repaired! :P
Jordan
Wednesday, August 10, 2011 at 1:17 AMVodafone could be in a spot of bother
Cameron
Wednesday, August 10, 2011 at 8:25 AMNo, no, no, no, no! You can’t say they have to meet timelines in 90% of cases, you have to take it on a case by case basis, and ensure the person who is actually put out by the telco stuff up’s are compensated. The current CSG is a joke with so many loopholes for them to wriggle themselves out of, it needs to be made MUCH harsher and simpler. Here’s an idea, make your telco (not necessarily Telstra), give you a date and time when something will happen, if it’s not done at that time, you get compensated 6 months access fee’s.
fakestevejobs
Wednesday, August 10, 2011 at 10:18 AMcool can Telstra be sued to the hilt for providing crappy congested RIMS?
Matt
Wednesday, August 10, 2011 at 10:56 AMHow does this help with the fact that unless you happen to be optus, most landlines are Telstra Wholesale, and they do all the work?
TSH
Wednesday, August 10, 2011 at 11:08 AMFWIW I was pleasantly surprised by an on-time, efficient and relatively hassle-free visit from a Telstra technician just yesterday. Hopefully iiNet can match that by meeting the target they set for my connection.
Jamie
Wednesday, August 10, 2011 at 11:20 AMThis sounds totally pointless. 90% of cases? So say they have 100,000 customers on a service, that means that they have to stuff up 10,000 of those to get hit with a fine? Yeah, ok, whatever…
light487
Wednesday, August 10, 2011 at 12:00 PMWhat I would prefer to see, on top of hefty fines, is that if these big Telcos can’t meet the “guarantee” then they should be forced to give the customer (whether invidual or business) some form of compensation, obviously scaled to the size of business/customer and scaled to suit the problem.
@Jamie – 90% success rate is actually pretty decent benchmark.. 10% is 10,000 in 100,000 is still a lot yes.. but currently they are not getting fined for anything in this space. Needs to be a realistic amount for both sides.
jonny
Wednesday, August 10, 2011 at 4:47 PMThis is the same guy who wants to filter the internet. I just can’t take him seriously. He says whatever he thinks will get him votes and knows nothing about tech.