Sales and support · Mon–Fri, 8am–5pm
A&S Total CommsComms made simple.Check your address

Complaints

If something isn’t right, tell us. Making a complaint is free, and here’s exactly how we handle it and how long each step takes.

You have the right to make a complaint about any of our services, our bills or how we’ve dealt with you. It’s free, and we’ll help you make it if you need a hand. This is a summary of our complaints handling process. You can ask us for the full process at any time.

How to make a complaint

Tell us what happened, the service or account it’s about, and the outcome you’d like. If you’re not sure whether something is a complaint, just tell us you’re unhappy and we’ll ask. You can nominate someone, such as a family member, adviser or advocate, to make and handle the complaint for you.

Need help to communicate? Call the Translating and Interpreting Service on 131 450 and ask them to call us, or use the National Relay Service.

What happens next

  1. We receive it. We try to fix the problem the first time you contact us. If we can, we confirm the outcome with you and close the complaint with your agreement.
  2. We acknowledge it. Complaints made by phone are acknowledged straight away. Complaints made by email, online, by letter or by voicemail are acknowledged within 2 working days, with a reference number.
  3. We assess and investigate. We check whether it’s urgent, work out what went wrong and keep you updated. If we need more information, we’ll ask.
  4. We propose a resolution. We give you a proposed resolution within 15 working days of receiving your complaint. If it will take longer, we tell you why, give you a new timeframe and, if the delay is more than 10 working days, let you know you can contact the TIO.
  5. We put it in place. Once you accept the proposed resolution, we complete everything needed within 10 working days, unless we agree a different timeframe with you.
  6. We close it. We confirm when the complaint is resolved, and only close it with your agreement. You can ask for any of these confirmations in writing and we’ll send them within 5 working days.

Urgent complaints

We treat a complaint as urgent if:

  • you’ve applied for, or receive, help under our payment assistance policy, and the issue is making your financial situation worse;
  • your service is about to be, or has been, disconnected and the proper process wasn’t followed; or
  • it’s about a priority assistance service.

We give you a proposed resolution for an urgent complaint, and put it in place if you accept it, within 2 working days. If you think your complaint should be urgent, tell us and we’ll explain how we prioritise it within 2 working days.

How we sort complaints

We record each complaint against a category so we can fix the underlying cause: billing and payments; faults and service quality; connections, moves and transfers; contracts, sales and plans; customer service; privacy. Urgent complaints go to the front of the queue; others are handled in the order we receive them.

If you’re not happy with how it’s going

Ask us to escalate your complaint at any time and we will. An escalated complaint is reviewed by a senior member of our team. If you’re unhappy with our response times, we’ll explain our prioritisation and escalation processes within 5 working days.

Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman

If you’re not satisfied with how we’ve handled your complaint, you can contact the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO). The TIO is free and independent.

We won’t cancel your service because you took your complaint to the TIO. While we’re handling your complaint, for 7 working days after we tell you the outcome, and while the TIO is investigating, we won’t start legal action against you about the same matter.

While we look into a disputed bill

If your complaint is about a charge on your bill, tell us. We’ll resolve a billing error no later than the end of your next billing period, and you can talk to us about the disputed amount while we investigate.