Bloody Hell Vodafone: 180% Rise Telco Complaints

Mobile phone service issues have driven the number of consumer complaints to the Telecommunications Ombudsman (TIO) to “record” highs. The Ombudsman received almost 200,000 new complaints in 2010-11, an increase of almost 18 per cent on last year, it said today.
197,682 Australians contacted the telecoms ombudsman complaining mainly about mobile service,  which rose a whopping 180 per cent to 56,475 new complaints.

Poor coverage and service drop-outs were the main service issues cited.

More than half of all new complaints received (over 112,000) were about mobile phone services, an increase of 51 per cent  on last year.

Almost one quarter of all new complaints were about Vodafone, who experienced well publicised network outage problems earlier this year. However, the report noted the level of complaints slipped over the year since January as Voda got to grips with its issues.

Vodafone’s complaints sky rocketed 222.1% to over 35,000, while VHA which includes the 3 network, were subject to a further 19, 046 – a 40.5% increase. 

But Optus, Telstra et al are not off the hook either, the TIO 2011 report indicates.

“However, Vodafone was not alone in receiving more complaints. We observed growth in mobile complaints more generally and many of the issues we have seen appear to be related to the growth in the market.”

But that was nothing compared to Telstra’s Bigpond which was subject of  78,949 complaints – however, this was a 3.2% drop on 09-10, the report noted. 

Landline, mobile and Telstra Big Pond internet service were the top 3 issues of discontent.

The number of Optus complaints was the lowest among the ‘Big 3’  at 28,323 a jump of 4.9%, mostly to do with mobile services.

Virgin, TPG and iiNet all recorded just several thousand complaints a piece.

However, it wasn’t just service that provoked ire of telco consumers – the way complaints were dealt with by carriers was also a major issue, Ombudsman Simon Cohen said.

The ombudsman also met with Telstra during the year to discuss its complaint handling process, it confirmed.

There are 29 million mobile subscriptions in Australia and about half of the mobile handsets are smartphones, according to research by Kantar Worldpanel, making us the second largest buyers of smartphones in the world.

The TIO attributed the huge rise to mobile service faults to increased smartphones use.

“The record number of complaints made to the TIO is disappointing. Customers who have complained to us have been frustrated not only by mobile telephone problems, but also by deficient customer service and complaint handling,” Ombudsman Simon Cohen said.

Other complaints related to to inadequate information provided to consumers about the costs associated with smart phones and related billing disputes, with a a 26 per cent increase (to 4,222) in disputes about internet charges on mobile service.

“There has also been an alarming increase in the number of consumers with high debts because they could not monitor their usage adequately, the majority using mobile phones,” Mr Cohen said.

One  consumer called ‘Thomas’ was charged $2000 while using a GPS app overseas, that his telco told him was free.

Complaints about landline, internet and mobile premium services (MPS) all reduced and MPS complaints halved due to regulatory crackdown.