CONSUMER COMPLAINTS – AUSTRALIA

Telcos get slower at resolving problems

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Original article by Joseph Lam
The Australian – Page: 17 : 2-Oct-24

Data from the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman shows that it received 56,718 complaints about telcos in the 2023-24 financial year, which is 14.6 per cent lower than previously. Mobile services accounted for about 43.5 per cent of complaints, while 39.4 per cent of complaints concerned internet services. Meanwhile, about 63 per cent of complaints were made by customers whose telco had failed to address issues in a timely manner or had taken no action at all. Telstra attracted 27.1 per cent of complaints, compared with 23.5 per cent for Optus.

CORPORATES
TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY OMBUDSMAN LIMITED, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD

Scams help drive unsustainable increase in complaints about banks, finance firms to AFCA

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Original article by Loretta Florance, Leonie Thorne
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 9-Jan-24

The Australian Financial Complaints Authority has advised that it received over 100,000 complaints in 2023, the most in its five-year history. 8,987 related to scams, up from 4,611 in 2022, and AFCA CEO David Locke says he hopes that 2024 will be the year that anti-scam initiatives by industry and government finally disrupt what he contends is a "serious and organised crime". AFCA’s dispute resolution scheme is intended to be a last resort for consumers, if they cannot get a solution by dealing directly with their bank, but Locke claims the volume of complaints escalated to AFCA is increasing at an "unsustainable rate", and that financial service firms need to do a better job of resolving customer complaints.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL COMPLAINTS AUTHORITY

Coverage by ABC favoured Yes vote

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Original article by Sophie Elsworth
The Australian – Page: 2 : 5-Dec-23

The ABC has released its 2023 Voice to Parliament Referendum report, with editorial policies manager Mark Maley concluding that the public broadcaster’s coverage of the referendum favoured the Yes vote. The report revealed that ABC Ombudsman Fiona Cameron had received 382 complaints relating to the referendum coverage, with 82 per cent relating to claims of bias or lack of balance. 121 of the complaints were investigated, but only four were found to have breached editorial standards.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

Complaints over super funds soar

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Original article by Hannah Wootton
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 8-Nov-23

Data from the Australian Financial Complaints Authority shows that there was a surge in complaints about some superannuation funds during 2022-23. The number of complaints about AustralianSuper rose by 127 per cent year-on-year to 1,750; this includes more than 1,000 complaints about the administration of customers’ accounts. AustralianSuper has acknowledged that its customer service has not met expectations, but says it is taking action to address the issue. The Australian Retirement Trust, Cbus and Hostplus are among the super funds that also attracted a large increase in complaints.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL COMPLAINTS AUTHORITY, AUSTRALIANSUPER PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN RETIREMENT TRUST PTY LTD, CONSTRUCTION AND BUILDING UNIONS’ SUPERANNUATION FUND, HOST-PLUS

Super complaints soar 32pc: watchdog

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Original article by Hannah Wootton, Lucy Dean
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 9 : 2-Nov-23

Data from the Australian Financial Complaints Authority shows that the number of complaints it received about superannuation funds rose by 32 per cent in 2022-23. This includes a 136 per cent increase in complaints regarding delays in processing insurance and death benefit claims. Super Consumers Australia director Xavier O’Halloran notes that some super fund members have had to wait for more than a year to have these claims paid out, and he has called for regulatory action to force super funds to process claims more promptly.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL COMPLAINTS AUTHORITY, SUPER CONSUMERS AUSTRALIA

What ABC viewers complained about

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Original article by Calum Jaspan
The Age – Page: Online : 16-Aug-23

The ABC’s ombudsman Fiona Cameron has revealed that the public broadcaster received a total of 11,440 complaints during the first half of 2023. Some 13 per cent related to the ABC’s editorial standards; this compares with 15 per cent across the previous three calendar years, when the ABC received an average of 23,767 complaints in total each year. Meanwhile, the proportion of complaints that were upheld rose to eight per cent in the first half of 2023, compared with an average of five per cent across the previous three years.

CORPORATES
abc (aus tv) see AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

Qantas complaints reach sky-high levels

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Original article by Ayesha de Kretser
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 2-Aug-23

An published draft document from the Airline Customer Advocate shows that it received a total of 6,918 complaints from airline customers in 2022, including some 4,000 complaints about Qantas. However, just 1,426 of the total number of complaints received were deemed to be eligible. The ACA says the 138 per cent increase in complaints year-on-year was to be expected, given that passenger numbers surged in 2022 after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. The number of complaints in 2022 was also well above pre-pandemic levels; the ACA received 2,135 complaints in 2018, including 1,410 that were found to be eligible.

CORPORATES
AIRLINE CUSTOMER ADVOCATE, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN

Optus complaints up nearly 40pc after data hack

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Original article by Joseph Lam
The Australian – Page: 16 : 8-Feb-23

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman’s report for the December quarter shows that it received 17,903 complaints during the period, which is 9.9 per cent higher than the September quarter. Complaints about Optus rose by 39.3 per cent quarter-on-quarter, in the wake of the data breach that affected some 11 million customers. The TIO received a total of 6,346 complaints against Optus, which accounted for 36 per cent of all complaints against the nation’s 10 biggest telcos. Telstra received the most complaints overall (6,819); however, this was lower than the previous quarter.

CORPORATES
SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY OMBUDSMAN LIMITED, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS

Senate shoots down Bragg’s ABC complaints inquiry

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Original article by James Madden
The Australian – Page: 4 : 24-Nov-21

A motion to suspend a Senate committee’s inquiry into the complaints handling processes of the ABC and SBS has been passed by one vote in the upper house. Three independent senators backed the motion that had been put forward by Labor and the Greens. The inquiry had been launched by Liberal senator Andrew Bragg, who says the ABC’s own independent inquiry into its complaints system is not as strong as the proposed Senate probe. The inquiry will be put on hold until after the federal election.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS), AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

‘ABC’s $150k legal costs move flawed’

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Original article by Sophie Elsworth
The Australian – Page: 3 : 19-Oct-21

Auditor-General Grant Hehir has found that there is no documented advice within the ABC to support the public broadcaster’s decision to pay the legal costs of journalist Louise Milligan in the Andrew Laming defamation case. The Liberal MP’s lawsuit ended up costing the ABC about $150,000 in total. Meanwhile, John McMillan and Jim Carroll have been appointed to head an independent review of the ABC’s in-house complaints unit, which has come under growing scrutiny in recent times. McMillan is a former federal and New South Wales ombudsman, and Carroll has previously worked for SBS and the Ten Network.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE AUDITOR-GENERAL, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS), TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED