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36,095
disputes in 2011-12
up 19% from 2010-11
An FSP has 45 days to resolve a dispute brought by a customer, or by the FOS on behalf of a customer, before the FOS will consider officially taking on a case.
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197,682
complaints in 2010-11,
up about 18% from 2009-2010
52,231 complaints were received between January-March 2012, almost two-thirds of which were about mobile phone services.
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Funded by
12,853 financial services providers (FSPs) who
are FOS members. ASIC requires that all FSPs have
an external dispute resolution process, although
not all are FOS members.
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Funded by
1214 telcos. All businesses that provide or re-sell
telecommunications services to consumers or small
businesses are legally required to join the TIO. Providers
are charged by the TIO per complaint if it investigates.
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Call them for disputes about
- Credit cards or loans
- Insurance claims
- Banks, credit unions and building societies
- Financial planners/investment managers
- EFTPOS, foreign currency transfers, loyalty
programs, gift cards
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Call them for disputes about
- Landlines
- Mobiles
- Internet services
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Don't call them about
-
Level of a fee, premium,
charge or interest rate unless
it's incorrectly applied or
inadequately disclosed
- Methods used to assess credit
risk or the amount of security
required for a loan
- How insurance premiums
are determined or the
premium amount
- Investment performance
unless there is an issue of nondisclosure
or misinformation
- Super fund management
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Don’t call them about
- Equipment supplied by a telco
- Cabling beyond the network
termination point except to the
first telephone
- Commercial activity by telcos
outside of connection services
- Tariffs and rates
- Anti-competitive behaviour or
restrictive practices that may
breach the Competition and
Consumer Act
- Content provided by a telco
- Matters that are or have been
under consideration by
ACMA, the ACCC or any
court or tribunal
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Report card
- 3012 of the 28,826 resolved
disputes in 2010-11 (out of 36,095
received) required an FOS
decision. Those remaining were
worked out between the customer
and provider
- 1170 decisions were in favour of customers, 1529
favoured the FSP (in 313 cases the FOS approved
an FSP's offer to customers)
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Report card
-
177,047 of the 2010-11 complaints
were resolved by mutual consent
between the provider and customer
after the TIO was contacted
- 17,863 required the TIO to conciliate
a resolution
- 2772 were considered for a binding decision or
direction by the TIO
- 39,928 enquiries required the TIO to direct the
customer to contact the telco in the first instance
or the issue was outside the TIO's jurisdiction
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Dispute deadlines
- For issues that fall under the National Credit Code,
customers have two years from the end of the
credit contract or the end of any internal dispute
resolution process with the provider to complain
to the FOS
- For other issues, consumers have six years
from when they became aware of the issue, or
two years from the end of any internal dispute
resolution process with the provider
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Dispute deadlines
- Customers have one year from the time they
become aware of the issue to make a complaint,
though the timeframe may be extended to two
years in some cases
- The TIO will allow 10 working days for the telco
to respond to the dispute before it becomes
formally involved
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Powers
- As a first step toward resolution, the FOS makes
a recommendation that is binding if both parties
agree to it within 30 days
- If the FSP doesn't agree but the customer does,
the FOS can make a determination that is binding.
If the customer doesn’t agree, they can take the
matter to court
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Powers
- There are four complaint levels: at level three the
TIO can make binding decisions for up to $1200
- For level four complaints made since July 2012, the
TIO has the power to make binding decisions up to
$50,000 and recommendations up to $100,000
- For level four complaints made before July 2012, the
limits are $30,000 for binding decisions and $85,000
for recommendations
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