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Communications Alliance Relaunches Fact Sheets |
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Written by Adam Gosling
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Thursday, 24 May 2007 |
The Communications Alliance is relaunching three industry fact sheets
in the hope that service providers will understand their obligations in
relation to the TIO Scheme and promote industry best practice behaviour
in complaints handling.
This comes in response to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) issuing a direction to Prodigy Telecom Pty Ltd to join the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) Scheme.
All carriage service providers (including internet service
providers) that provide services to residential and small business
customers are required to join the TIO Scheme. According to a statement
from the ACMA, both it and the TIO made repeated attempts to encourage
Prodigy to voluntarily join the TIO Scheme, without success, so the
company was given 21 days to join the Scheme.
"Membership of the TIO Scheme is a core obligation on all
telecommunications service providers, it's non-negotiable because it's
that important," said Chris Chapman, ACMA Chairman.
"The TIO Scheme is an essential consumer protection mechanism which
provides consumers with an independent avenue for resolving disputes
with their communications provider. The failure of this provider to
join the scheme means that its customers do not currently have the same
level of protection as other consumers, the fostering of such
protections being a core deliverable for ACMA," he said.
The
TIO Scheme was established to investigate complaints from small
business and residential customers about telephone, mobile &
Internet services. Communications Alliance wants to ensure that all
carriage service providers [CSPs] (including Internet service providers
and providers of VoIP standard telephone services) are aware that TIO
membership is mandatory and that there are distinct benefits that can
be gained from being a TIO member.
The
fact sheets, first issued by Communications Alliance in September last
year, remind CSPs and VoIP providers of their obligations to the TIO
Scheme, promote best practice behaviour in handling customer
complaints, explain the Complaint Handling Code and set out the rules
and timeframes for dealing with various types of complaints.
"We
are committed to promoting best practice behaviour in the
telecommunications industry. The TIO Scheme plays an invaluable role
in fostering this, which is why membership is essential," said Anne
Hurley, CEO Communications Alliance.
The
Ombudsman, John Pinnock, added, "It is vital that all service providers
understand their customer obligations to increase customer
satisfaction. With over 1,100 Australian service providers, the fact
sheets and the TIO Scheme ensure that CSPs are well equipped to handle
customer complaints processes properly."
Chris Chapman, ACMA Chairman, said, "The
TIO Scheme forms an important component of the regulatory framework of
the communications industry and membership of the scheme is crucial to
ensuring the ongoing integrity and effectiveness of the framework.
These fact sheets provide guidance on who must be a member of the TIO
and the various benefits of TIO membership".
The fact sheets can be downloaded from the Communications Alliance website: www.commsalliance.com.au/about_us/factsheets
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