Complaints against telcos jump 54 percent

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman’s annual report has revealed that complaints against the telecommunications industry rose 54 percent in the 2008/09 financial year.

The ombudsman, Deirdre O’Donnell released her annual report in Melbourne this morning, which found 230,065 complaints had been lodged by consumers and small business in the 2008/09 financial year.

Market leader Telstra recorded the most complaints of any carrier with a total of 80,983 complaints, while Optus had 30,000 complaints against them.

The main areas of concern were billing and payment of telephone and internet services, however complaints against mobiles phones experienced the biggest rise at 79 percent.

O’Donnell said 90 percent of complaints were resolved after a referral back to the service provider.

O’Donnell called on telcos to be a lot clearer with their terms and conditions, while urging consumers to read the fine print.

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