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iiNet fares best in TIO complaints

Complaints against the Perth-based ISP drop but not for its subsidiaries

Perth-based ISP, iiNet, has gone against the tide by becoming the only major carrier to experience a drop in the number of consumer complaints lodged to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO).

The TIO's January to March statistics showed customer complaints increased within the telecommunications industry as a whole.

But iiNet received 13.7 per cent less complaints overall compared to the last quarter – down from 1093 in the October-December 2010 quarter to 943.

“We don’t pretend we always get it right, so we’re continually looking for new ways to improve the customer experience with a commitment to manage customer credit issues on a personal level,” iiNet chief customer officer, Maryna Pienaar, said in a statement.

The ISP’s subsidiary, Westnet, however, has experienced a 33.3 per cent increase in complaints from 73 late last year to 160 early this year. Its other subsidiary, Netspace, also saw a rise in complaints from 54 to 61, a 13 per cent increase.

The statistics are broken down into different categories including Internet, fixed-line and mobile services.

Telstra received a total of 22,506 in the first quarter of 2011, a 12.7 increase, while its rival Optus recorded a 21.4 per cent jump in complaints across all services – up 6966 from 5737.

Internode complaints were up 16.7 per cent, from 84 to 98, and Primus Telecom jumped 13.3 per cent.

The worst offenders were TPG with a 49.1 per cent surge in complains, 3 under Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA), up 58.6 per cent and sister company Vodafone with a whopping 96.1 per cent increase.

The three telcos received 1384, 5913 and 14,670 complaints the first quarter of 2011, respectively.

Despite the staggering numbers, VHA CEO, Nigel Dews, saw the results as a positive since complaints have dropped gradually from February onwards.

Nominations for the 2012 ARN IT Industry Awards open on Tuesday, June 12.

More about: Hutchison, iiNet, Internode, iPrimus, Netspace, Optus, Primus, Telstra, TPG, VHA, Vodafone
References show all

Comments

1

Trevor

Thu 05/05/2011 - 09:34

Good for iinet although iinet really needs to do something about their woeful performance degration of late or else it will negate their lowest tio complain percentage.

If they don't fix it soon I might have to go to the TIO and I would hope it would never come to that............

2

Mike

Thu 05/05/2011 - 12:03

@Trevor.

While I did experience some performance degradation on international links it was only for a day or two at most and I have had no issues since.

Perhaps you would like to elaborate on how you are being affected? Alternatively you could read the whirlpool post on the degraded international traffic and see if any information there relates to your situation.

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Tags: iinet, iprimus, netspace, optus, Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO), Telstra, TPG, Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA), westnet
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