The Australian Communications and Media Authority has had enough being called a toothless tiger and has taken a big bite into the Australian telecommunications industry. After completing a rather lengthy review of the industry, they concluded that there were major problems with how often consumers were being fleeced by the telcos. Issues such as overcharging unsuspecting customers with data or call charges also known as bill shock have been addressed in a number of recommendations. These recommendations include:
- Better complaints management—all providers must have a standard complaintshandling process that meets good practice standards and includes timeframes for dealing with a complaint.
- Tools to monitor usage and expenditure—all providers must offer a way to help customers track how many calls they make and how much data they download during a billing period, to help reduce the risk of bill shock.
- Comparisons between providers—industry will be asked to provide more information on how good their customer care is, particularly how quickly they resolve their customers’ enquiries.
- Clearer pricing information in advertisements—all providers must clearly disclose pricing information in their advertisements in a way that will make it easier for consumers to compare plans.
- Better information about plans—all providers must give customers a simple, standard explanation of what is included in a plan, how bills are calculated and what other essential information they need to know about the plan (similar to a ‘product disclosure statement’)
The industry will be given the next 12 months to voluntarily introduce these measures before the remaining intransigent telcos will be dragged into the reforms by the ACMA next year. Should be interesting to see how the industry changes from this.
No comments:
Post a Comment