Brisbane residents lodged more complaints with the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) in last financial year than any other area in Australia.
The TIQ annual report showed it received 2243 complaints out of Brisbane, in a national total of 56,718.
Ombudsman Cynthia Gebert said New South Wales and Victoria had the highest volumes of complaints, but Brisbane recorded the most complaints of all Local Government Areas.
Ms Gebert said there were 10,297 complaints made across Queensland, with the south-east of the state home to the majority. Gold Coast and Moreton Bay residents lodged 1373 and 1115 complaints, respectively, while the Sunshine Coast (909) and Logan (648) rounded out the State’s top five.
She said, nationally, residential consumers accounted for 88.3 percent of all complaints.
“Although the total number of complaints decreased by 14.6 percent compared to the previous financial year, the nature of the complaints indicated ongoing consumer frustration with telcos.”
Ms Gebert said in 2023-24, the main issues facing consumers were:
- No or delayed action by a provider: 35,748 complaints (63 percent of total complaints).
- Service and equipment fees: 19,178 complaints (33.8 percent of total complaints).
- No phone or internet service: 6730 complaints (11.9 percent of total complaints).
“It’s pleasing to see overall complaints declining, however, the data shows that consumers remain frustrated by the same issues: poor customer service, delays in fixing problems, and service and equipment fees.”
Ms Gebert said complaints about inadequate fault testing, where a customer reports a fault that was not properly addressed, increased by 36 percent.
She said mobile services were the most complained about (43.5 percent), followed by internet services (39.4 percent).
“Common issues for both mobile and internet users included ‘no or delayed action by provider’ and ‘service and equipment fees’.”
Ms Gebert said her office received 1373 complaints related to financial hardship, a 20.4 percent decrease from the previous year.
She said Telstra, Optus, and Vodafone were the top three telcos for overall complaints, though all three experienced a decline in complaints from the previous year.
“Uniti Retail entered the top 10 providers by complaints, with a 159 percent increase from the previous year.”
