How to complain to your telco the right way (and get the problem actually fixed)

People don’t like their telcos, and we get it. All of our major devices are connected to our telco in some way. Is the internet down? Well there goes gaming or watching TV. No reception? Ditto, and you can’t chat with your friends.

If you’re having real problems with your telco, just whining to your friends isn’t going to fix anything. You’re going to have to make a formal complaint. 

Just like every formal situation, there is etiquette to making a complaint with your telco. Of course you’re not obliged to follow these guidelines, but if you do you’re more likely to see results, and make the process less terrible for everyone else involved.

What not to do

Complain on social media

We’ve all seen companies called out on Twitter, or barraged in the comments on Facebook. Complaining on social media is the modern day equivalent of being tarred and feathered, and made to trudge down the main drag. It’s public, it’s humiliating, but does it really fix the issue?

We wouldn’t recommend jumping straight to social media to make your complaint. Go through the proper channels first, after all social media manager’s aren’t trained in conflict resolution in the same way complaints specialists are.

If you’ve tried everything else and haven't gotten a response, then by all means warm up the tar and stack the feathers.

Take it out on call centre or in-store staff

It’s awful that we even have to say this, but remember that the person on the other side of the desk is an actual person. 

Even though you may be frustrated with your service, making another person’s day worse won’t solve the problem any faster. Chances are your issue has nothing to do with the customer service staff, they didn’t cause it but they can probably help you fix it. 

Assume that it is all your telco’s fault

When it comes to tech, there can be a lot of human error involved. Before picking up the pitchfork it can be helpful to do some basic troubleshooting at home first. 

Here are some common telco related issues and how you can fix them yourself.

How to make a formal telco complaint

Once you’ve established that there isn’t any way for you to fix the problem, and it definitely needs to be escalated then it is time to make a formal complaint.

Gather your evidence, and know your rights

Before you make the complaint it is best to have documented evidence of the issue you’re complaining about. This may be speed test results, screenshots of low reception and the location where this is happening, any misleading information (such as advertised typical evening speeds), or notes on past conversations you’ve had with the organisation.

Remember that while you’ve been living this story, the person on the other end of the call may be hearing about it for the first time. Talk them through the issues, give specific examples, and be ready to answer more questions.

It is also worth reading your Customer Information Statement, and getting up to speed on what your rights are as a consumer. Your CIS outlines what you can expect for your plan, including things like typical evening speeds for NBN, or additional charges on mobile phone bills. The answer you’re looking for may be found in this document.

However it is worth having a few choice phrases from Australian Consumer Law under your belt as well. While the complaints department should be fully aware of what you’re entitled to as a consumer, if you don’t know your rights it’s hard to advocate for them.

Note that according to the ACCC, services must:

• be provided with acceptable care and skill or technical knowledge and taking all necessary steps to avoid loss and damage
• be fit for the purpose or give the results that you and the business had agreed to
• be delivered within a reasonable time when there is no agreed end date.

If your service is not performing as advertised then you may be eligible for a remedy from your telco.

Calm thyself

You know the saying, “you catch more bees with honey than with vinegar.” Channel this. While it can be incredibly frustrating dealing with complaints services, it always pays to be kind to the person handling it for you. Calm yourself before picking up the phone or heading in store.

Decide on an amicable solution

Keep in mind that just because you’ve got poor reception in your area and that’s a bummer, a telco isn’t likely to deploy a new tower just because you complained about it. An amicable solution should be achievable by your telco, and should satisfy your immediate problem.

For example if you’re not achieving the proper advertised speeds for your NBN plan, an amicable solution could be to have an engineer come out and diagnose the problem, or help you work through what the issue might be. 

You should also know what outcome you want and what it is that will happen if this outcome isn’t achieved. To continue with our example, if you’re after download speeds of 50Mbps (as advertised) on your NBN 50 plan, and the engineer comes out and says that 48Mbps is the fastest you can get, will you be cancelling your plan, asking for a discount on your bills, or something else entirely.

Follow up

Schedule follow ups to your complaint and monitor performance in between. It’s unlikely that a complaint can be resolved immediately, there may be some background monitoring that needs to happen beforehand in order to fix the problem.

Set a follow up time and be sure to note any issues that happened in the interim. If, after this follow up your issue persists, and you can’t come to an amicable resolution then it may be worth escalating the problem further to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.

Anula Wiwatowska

Offsite Editorial Lead | Instagram

Anula is the Off-Site Editorial Lead for WhistleOut Australia, and an award winning tech journalist. She has been writing about the Australian telco industry, and consumer technology for over five years, and has been known to tell her Uber driver which phone they should upgrade to next.

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