CONSUMER COMPLAINTS – AUSTRALIA

CBA tops complaint list for third straight year

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Original article by Michael Read
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 12-Oct-21

Data from the Australian Financial Complaints Authority shows that it received a total of 67,613 complaints from customers of financial services providers in 2020-21. This follows a record 76,874 complaints in the previous financial year. About 25 per cent of all complaints were about the nation’s four major banks, with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia topping the list with 5,815 complaints. A CBA spokesman says the number of complaints it received fell by 11 per cent in 2020-21, while it resolved almost two-thirds of complaints without needing to refer them to the ACFA.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL COMPLAINTS AUTHORITY, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA

Credit cards, home loans lead bank disputes lodged with ombudsman

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Original article by David Ross
The Australian – Page: Online : 5-Jul-21

Preliminary data from the Australian Financial Complaints Authority shows that it handled fewer disputes with financial services providers in 2020-21. The AFCA received more than 70,000 complaints during the financial year, compared with 80,500 in 2019-20. Credit cards accounted for 14 per cent of disputes in the last financial year, ahead of home loans (nine per cent) and personal transaction accounts (eight per cent). The AFCA also received 8,303 coronavirus-related complaints in 2020-21, compared with 5,013 in the last four months of 2019-20.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL COMPLAINTS AUTHORITY

Class action threat against travel providers over coronavirus vouchers

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Original article by Alison Xiao
abc.net au – Page: Online : 5-May-20

Slater & Gordon has announced plans for a class action against travel providers over the treatment of customers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Andrew Paull from Slater & Gordon claims travel providers have pressured customers into accepting limited travel vouchers as a result of cancellations caused by the pandemic, when in fact customers were entitled for a full cash refund. The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission has received over 6,000 complaints from customers of travel companies regarding cancellation fees and refund policies.

CORPORATES
SLATER AND GORDON LIMITED – ASX SGH, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, FLIGHT CENTRE TRAVEL GROUP LIMITED – ASX FLT

ABC eclipses rivals on bias inquiry list

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Original article by Leo Shanahan
The Australian – Page: 23 & 25 : 24-Feb-20

Of the 40 published reports produced by the Australian Communications & Media Authority between July 2015 and June 2019 that were prompted by complaints, 25 related to the ABC. ACMA found four breaches as a consequence of its published reports, with three relating to the ABC in regard to issues of fairness, impartiality and reply, including one relating to a report on former prime minister Tony Abbott. The revelations regarding the ABC come at a time when ACMA is conducting a review into commercial influence on free-to-air and subscription television news.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA AUTHORITY, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

Telcos cop fewer complaints but take longer to solve them

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Original article by Supratim Adhikari
The Australian – Page: 20 : 25-Sep-19

Data from the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman shows that it received 132,387 complaints about telephone and internet services in 2018-19, which is 21.1 per cent lower than previously. The figures also show that just 47 per cent of escalated complaints were not resolved within 60 days, compared with 77 per cent in 2017-18. Meanwhile, 32.6 per cent of complaints received by the TIO were about fixed-line broadband services, while 30.3 per cent concerned mobile phone services.

CORPORATES
TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY OMBUDSMAN LIMITED, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS

ASIC to rank companies by complaints

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Original article by Michael Roddan
The Australian – Page: 20 : 16-May-19

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission aims to increase the financial services industry’s accountability with regard to the handling of customers’ complaint. It will rank banks, insurers and superannuation funds on their performance on this issue, with the first data expected to be released by mid-2021. The move to increase the sector’s transparency has been welcomed by David Locke, the CEO of the Australia Financial Complaints Authority; it has received around 6,000 complaints per month since it was established in late 2018.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL COMPLAINTS AUTHORITY, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN CONSUMERS’ ASSOCIATION

Westpac, CBA flooded with new customer complaints

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Original article by James Eyers, James Frost
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 9-Mar-19

There are now nearly 1,000 outstanding customer complaints against the Commonwealth Bank, with new complaints surging in the wake of the banking royal commission. The number of such complaints against Westpac is 1,800. Westpac CEO Brian Hartzer has suggested one of the reasons for the surge in complaints has been publicity concerning the new Australian Financial Complaints Authority. Both Hartzer and CBA CEO Matt Comyn are supportive of moves that would assist consumers and community lawyers to take actions against banks.

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL COMPLAINTS AUTHORITY

Banks receive the most gripes at new complaints authority

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Original article by Elouise Fowler
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 6-Dec-18

The Australian Financial Complaints Authority has received some 6,522 complaints from consumers and small business owners since it was established on 1 November. Banks were the source of 2,367 complaints during AFCA’s first month of operation, ahead of insurers with 1,159 complaints. AFCA replaced the Financial Ombudsman Service, the Credit & Investment Ombudsman and the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL COMPLAINTS AUTHORITY, FINANCIAL OMBUDSMAN SERVICE LIMITED, CREDIT AND INVESTMENT OMBUDSMAN, AUSTRALIA. SUPERANNUATION COMPLAINTS TRIBUNAL

Bad bankers to be named and shamed

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Original article by Jeff Whalley
Herald Sun – Page: 26 : 1-Nov-18

Australian Financial Complaints Authority CEO David Locke says the new agency expects to handle 55,000 complaints from consumers and small businesses in its first year. The AFCA has been formed via the merger of the Financial Ombudsman Service, the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal and the Credit & Investments Ombudsman. Locke says he will be more open to "naming and shaming" wrongdoers in the financial services industry than the FOS, noting that the latter was restricted to doing so in annual reports. The number of complaints received by the FOS rose by 10 per cent during its last year of operation.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL COMPLAINTS AUTHORITY, FINANCIAL OMBUDSMAN SERVICE LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. SUPERANNUATION COMPLAINTS TRIBUNAL, CREDIT AND INVESTMENTS OMBUDSMAN, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY

Upset customers, get sacked: Optus

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Original article by Jennifer Duke
The Age – Page: 11 : 30-Oct-18

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman recently reported that the number of complaints from Optus customers increased by 35 per cent in 2017-18. Optus CEO Allen Lew has warned that employees who are found to have upset customers will be sacked, while staff who observe colleagues who appear to have upset customers are being urged to report them via Optus’s independently-run whistleblower phone line. Lew has told staff that customers are their "boss", not him.

CORPORATES
TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY OMBUDSMAN LIMITED, SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, VODAFONE HUTCHISON AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, TPG TELECOM LIMITED – ASX TPM, MYREPUBLIC PTE LTD