New Ombudsman report shows customers must contact telcos multiple times to fix small problems

Most consumers who report shoddy customer service to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman have contacted their provider several times before doing so and in many cases have spent nearly 10 hours on the phone trying to solve their problems, a new report has found.

The report comes as Vodafone recently announced it had shed over 170,000 customers in the second half due in part to its customer service failures, while other telcos have pumped more funds into customer complaints handling under pressure from regulators.

The new Resilient Customers report, published by the TIO, found that 39% of respondents had discussed their particular problem at least six times with their provider, while 24.7% said they had discussed it either three or four times.

Over 31% said they had also raised the matter for the first time over three months prior to contacting the TIO, while 39.8% said they had spent between one and three hours trying to fix the matter. Over 26% said they had spent between three and six hours, while 20.3% said they had spent at least nine hours trying to fix the issue.

Ombudsman Simon Cohen said the report “explodes the myth” that consumers who go to the TIO to complain haven’t done anything to resolve the problem in their own time.

“This is an important finding to be aware of. The second message here is that people who come to the TIO don’t always have complex problems. It’s many times about credits they haven’t received, something about contract terms and so on, which many telcos are good at responding to.”

Cohen says the issue doesn’t need to be that complicated – a majority of problems handed over to the TIO are solved quickly and only one in 10 requires further investigation.

“It can be made much easier for consumers to make complaints and have them solved. If all employees work hard to solve complaints and make good records of those inquiries, there is a much better chance they’ll get resolved quickly.”

“Of all the complaints we receive, even for people that have spent multiple hours on the phone talking to a range of people, we find that if we put them through to the expert complaints handling team, they are usually sorted.”

Customer service has been one of the biggest points of criticism for the Australian telecommunications industry. The Australian Communications and Media Authority recently released a report in which it outlined various methods for the industry to improve.

In the new report, the TIO pointed out that “customer service and complaint handling practices are still a significant cause for concern among consumers”.

The findings of the latest report, which surveyed 516 consumers over a seven week period during 2010, confirm that perception.

About half the respondents said they had dealt with more than three departments when trying to get their problem sorted out, and over 55% said they had asked for the matter to be escalated. However, 40.8% of respondents who were unable to escalate their matter were told a supervisor was not available.

Nearly 60% also said they weren’t given any estimated time for a resolution.

Cohen says the results clearly show there is still a lot of concern about customer complaint handling.

“This is represented as well in the research being done by ACMA, which made six draft proposals about better complaint handling, improved product disclosure and others, so that consumers get a fairer ride.”

But Cohen is also confident that standards are improving, saying “there is no question at a very senior level there is a real commitment to do better”.

“That just needs to trickle down to the frontline.”