The number of complaints about phone companies spiked by two-thirds in the year to June to a new record.

The Telecommunications Dispute Resolution, a free service that seeks to resolve consumers’ gripes about their
home phone, mobile phone or internet service, fielded 3725 complaints in the 12 months to June 30 this year, from 2271 in the year to June 30, 2022.

There is one qualifier: the TDR ran two awareness campaigns over the period, including its first TV advertising, paid for by the TDR’s members, who include Spark, One NZ and 2degrees.

The TDR’s 2021/22 annual report said it was “vital to raise awareness”. Many punters simply didn’t know they could have a dispute over a bill or service levels heard by the disputes body.

But that excuse only goes so far with one consumer advocate.

“It’s really disappointing to see the increase in cases being handled by the disputes process, especially when we see the opposite trend happening in Australia,” Technology Users Association (Tuanz) head Craig Young says.

“While it might be a case here of more visibility through the TDR publicity campaign, it still shows that there are problems with the level of service among our providers, as can also be seen by the Commerce Commission’s new retail service quality rankings.

“What I would say is that I applaud the new transparency from the likes of TDR and the Commission, but also things like the move by One NZ to publish current service levels on their website. All this helps users make better choices on which provider to sign up with.”

Last month, the Commerce Commission began to publish “league tables”, ranking the customer service offered by telcos, and power companies that offer broadband and mobile.

Telecommunications commissioner Tristan Gilbertson told the Herald he would like the telcos to prominently display the league tables on their websites and in their stores.

None did, but One NZ has taken to publishing a selection of daily customer service stats on its site (here). The Tuesday, October 10, installment read: “Yesterday, we helped 8880 customers through our inbound call queues. On average, customers waited 37 seconds to speak to us. 5 per cent of callers ended the call before it was answered. In September, 80 per cent of customers told us we fixed their issue on the call.”

Gilbertson said he would consider regulation if no telco displayed the ComCom’s rankings.

While Spark’s budget brand Skinny topped a number of the ComCom’s service rankings, which included areas like speed of resolution and staff knowledge, Gilbertson said the bigger picture was that all contenders were falling short in nearly all of the categories measured.

“What we’re seeing here is really underwhelming,” Gilbertson said.

The biggest increase in complaints – a 257 per cent jump – was in the area of installations.

In April, Chorus apologised for 10-week delays for new installs, saying it was 200 staff short. The UFB network operator recently updated that it had now cleared its backlog, or at least brought the wait time down to its usual 15 days. It helped that in March, skilled telco technicians were added to the green list for fast-track visas.

The TDR said nearly all of the complaints it fielded were “resolved or closed” by a provider after “initial assistance” by the TDR; 1.7 per cent went to TDR adjudication.

TDR refuseniks leave 100,000 customers with ‘a harder road to complain’

Not quite all telecommunications customers can use the TDR.

In some cases, their provider does not belong to the service.

Contact Energy, which offers power and broadband bundles, is the largest provider on a Commerce Commission “naughty list” of TDR holdouts.

The other holdouts are Elon Musk’s Starlink (which, according to Gilbertson, has 2 per cent NZ market share and rising), InspireNet, Lightwire, Wireless Nation and Seeby Woodhouse’s Voyager.

The ComCom said around 100,000 consumers were not covered by the TDR, giving “a harder road to complain”.

“While all of our energy customers have access to an independent energy dispute resolution process through Utilities Disputes, we acknowledge there is a gap when it comes to managing dispute resolution when it comes specifically to our broadband customers,” Contact Energy chief retail officer Matt Bolton told the Herald.

“For Contact customers, broadband is offered as an addition to an energy account and we continue to actively review the best forums for dispute resolution services for our broadband customers.”

Inspire Net managing director James Watts said, “As a small, high-quality service provider that prides itself on good service, and at a time of high inflation and people struggling, it seems bizarre that the Commerce Commission would try to enforce a levy of over $20,000 per annum on us to join a scheme that in our opinion we do not need.”

Voyager’s Woodhouse said most of his customers were business accounts, who fell outside the TDR. The remainder could seek a remedy through the Disputes Tribunal (formerly the Small Claims Court), where resolution fees start at $45.

“It’s disappointing that the ComCom has effectively chosen to smear and savage us for their pet scheme,” Woodhouse said.

Contact the TDR

Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.