Judi Jones (Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman)
Complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) about services provided by Dodo, Optus and Boost rose during the first quarter of the 2022 financial year.
According to the Ombudsman’s latest Quarterly report, Dodo, a subsidiary of Vocus, copped the largest growth in complaints over the period percentage-wise with a 15 per cent increase, rising to 376 complaints.
The TIO claimed the bulk of these, at 265 complaints, were about its internet services.
As for Optus, 3,860 complaints were made about its services — a 2.3 per cent increase from the quarter prior — with 2,095 of these relating to mobile issues.
Boost also saw a slight increase with its complaints going up 1.8 per cent to 226, all related to its mobile services.
In addition, Harbour ISP, which was bought by Uniti in November 2020, just made it into the 10 most complained about telcos for the quarter, with 134 complaints, 127 of these being for its internet services.
Meanwhile, complaints about the other top telcos declined during the three months to 30 September, resulting in an overall 11.2 per cent drop in complaints to the TIO, to 21,489.
This includes Telstra, which fell by 14 per cent down to 12,074. Most of the complaints about Telstra to the TIO were for its mobile services, at 4,291, but internet complaints were not far behind at 3,759.
Vodafone, the third-most complained about telco for the quarter, recorded an even larger drop of 17.3 per cent, to 1,140 complaints, with the majority relating to mobile troubles.
“This quarter’s results continue the positive trend for telcos and consumers,” said Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman Judi Jones.
“I encourage the telcos to stay this course, keep listening to consumers and actively work with their customers to fix problems as they arise. If the conversation breaks down, consumers should contact us, we’re free and here to help,” she added.
During the previous financial year, the TIO said back in September that complaints from small businesses reached a three-year high, with delayed or no action by providers being the most-complained about issue by the cohort.
