Complaint Handling Policy
About this policy
This document is our Complaint Handling Policy (policy). In this policy the words ‘we’, ‘our’, ‘us’ and ‘Swoop’ are all references to Swoop Telecommunications Pty Ltd ABN 87 109 931 731 and its related bodies corporate.
This policy is accessible on our website and is distributed to customers and former customers (together, ‘customers’) and our staff.
Our Chief Executive Officer (or equivalent) has approved this policy and is responsible for ensuring its implementation, operation and compliance with any applicable regulations and industry codes.
Our principles
Our customers have the right to make complaints. We take complaints seriously and always strive for improvement where needed. Our aim is to find a resolution that our customers are satisfied and that resolves their complaints. A proposed resolution must be accepted by a consumer before we are required to implement it.
The standards requires Swoop Broadband and other carriage service providers to:
- establish appropriate complaint handling processes that are accessible, transparent and free of charge
- manage and resolve complaints in an effective and efficient manner in accordance with the minimum requirements for consumer complaints handling
- treat customers who make a complaint with fairness and courtesy; and
- classify complaints in accordance with our processes.
This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of our customers’ rights and obligations under the standard and should be read in conjunction with the standard. A copy of the standard can be downloaded from the Federal Register of Legislation website at https://www.legislation.gov.au/
What complaints are dealt with under this policy?
Complaints handled under this policy aim to resolve dissatisfaction made to us in about:
- our telecommunications products
- the complaints handling process itself, where a response or resolution is explicitly or implicitly expected by the customer (complaints).
For the purpose of this policy, complaints do not include an initial call to request information, support or to report a fault or service difficulty unless a customer tells us they want that call treated as a complaint and does not include an issue that is the subject of legal action.
How to make a complaint
If you wish to make a complaint about our telecommunications products or our complaints handling process, telephone, email of send a letter to our Complaint Handling Representative or make a complaint online:
- Complaints Handling Representative
Carol Turner
Customer Experience
PO BOX 296, Warragul VIC 3820 - 1300 66 55 75
- [email protected]
- Contact us online.
Representatives and extra help
You can nominate an authorised representative and/or advocate to make and handle a complaint on your behalf. We can also help customers draft, lodge and progress a complaint including to customers with disabilities, suffering financial hardship and/or from non-English speaking backgrounds.
How we process complaints
We assess validity and possible impact and determine who from Swoop Broadband is best suited to deal with all complaints. We make sure that the team member allocated to resolved your complaints has the authority and capacity to determine and resolve complaints. We will always do our best to resolve a complaint on first contact.
We investigate complaints appropriate to the seriousness of the complaint, where it is not possible to resolve a complaint to the satisfaction of a customer at first contact or without an investigation.
We handle complaints in the following sequence:
- Clarify if a customer wishes to make a complaint: our personnel are required to clarify with customers if they wish to make a complaint, where a customer has made contact and expressed dissatisfaction with us, and our personnel are uncertain if the customer wishes to make a complaint.
- Receive complaint: complaints are received by us when made via one of the methods set out in this policy.
- Acknowledge complaint: on complaint receipt by a customer, we will open a file for the complaint and will, within two (2) working days of complaint receipt, acknowledge the complaint in writing (where the complaint is made by email, through our website, by post or by a recorded telephone message). Where a complaint is made by telephone we will acknowledge the complaint immediately during the telephone call.
- Initial complaint assessment: after we acknowledge the complaint we will assess if the complaint Is urgent and plan proposed resolution.
- Address urgent complaint aspects: after we receive an urgent complaint, we will confirm the proposed urgent aspects complaint resolution, and if accepted by the customer we will implement those urgent aspect resolutions within two (2) working days (if we believe the resolution can be implemented within that timeframe)
- Proposed non-urgent aspects complaints resolutions: within 15 working days from the date a complaint is received, respond to a complaint and advise the customer of the proposed resolution.
- Notify complainants about delays: if we do not believe the complaint can be resolved in 15 working days (or within 2 working days for the urgent aspects of an urgent complaint), we will notify the customer before working day 15 (or working day 2 for urgent complaints) about the reasons for the delay, as well as the resolution timeframe. If the delays are anticipated to be more than 10 further working days for urgent aspects and is not the result of a notified mass service outage, we will advise the customer of their options for external dispute resolution, including the TIO.
- Discuss proposed resolution: we will discuss our proposed resolution with any customer who makes a complaint.
- Implement resolution: we will complete all necessary actions to implement a resolution of a complaint within 10 working days after a customer accepts our proposed resolution (unless otherwise agreed with the customer, the actions are contingent on the customer’s actions which have not been completed or the complaint is urgent, and the customer has accepted our proposed resolution). We will implement urgent aspects of an urgent complaint within 2 working days of our proposed implementation being accepted (if we believe the resolution of the urgent aspects can be implemented within that timeframe).
How we prioritise complaints
Urgent complaints are prioritised over non-urgent complaints. We categories urgent complaints and non-urgent complaints, as follows:
Urgent complaints
- child safety on the internet
- criminal use of a carriage service or use of a carriage service in breach of any applicable law
- non-receipt of bills and incorrect bills
- fraudulent usage of a carriage service
- security breaches
- telecommunications equipment safety
- special telecommunications services for disabled customers
- privacy breach
- cabling and infrastructure installation safety
- damage to property caused by cabling and infrastructure installation and maintenance
- land access, including unauthorised access, for cabling and infrastructure inspection, installation and maintenance.
Non-urgent complaints
- network congestion
- service quality and disruption
- service maintenance
- entering into a contract for a new service or establishing a service
- about debt management
- our responsiveness
- baseless, frivolous, and vexatious complaints
Complaint escalation
If you reasonably want your complaint to be treated as an urgent complaint, you can request that we escalate your complaint by emailing [email protected]
Any issue can be escalated internally by the member of our staff assigned to deal with a complaint. This will be done if the staff member feels that further resources are required to resolve the complaint in a timely manner in line with this policy and the complaints handling standard.
After a customer has requested that a case be escalated, the assigned member of our staff will listen closely and log the customer’s concerns. If the request to escalate is reasonable, we will escalate it as follows:
- The complaint will be assigned a higher priority so that it is dealt with before less urgent complaints.
- Where reasonably necessary, the complaint will be escalated again by us assigning further human resources to the complaint to shorten the resolution time.
- Where reasonably necessary, the complaint will be escalated to the support team leader.
- Where reasonably necessary, the complaint will be escalated to the Chief Executive Officer.
Complaints about property damage or safety are automatically escalated to managing director and will be dealt with as urgent.
Your rights
During the investigation of a complaint, we will keep complainants advised of timeframe delays and the complaint’s progress. Complainants may telephone us on business days (Monday – Friday) during normal business hours to enquire on the progress of their complaints or contact our complaints handling representative via the contact details set out above. There will be no charge imposed in respect of a complaint and we will not cancel a customer’s telecommunications service only because, being unable to resolve a complaint with us, the customer pursued their options for external dispute resolution.
Complaints about confidentiality
We will comply with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) with personal information that we collect in connection with a complaint, when subject to the requirements of that legislation. If we are not subject to the Act, we will not disclose personal information except as required to manage a complaint to the TIO or the Australian Communications And Media Authority, with the express consent of the customer or where disclosure is otherwise required or authorised by law.
Complaint outcomes
We will consider all relevant information related to a complaint and either escalate the complaint or make a final binding decision which concludes the complaint for the purposes of this policy. Each case will be decided on its merits.
If, after careful consideration and appropriate escalation, we dismiss a complaint as frivolous or vexatious, we will inform the customer of the reasons and their external avenues of recourse. We may respond to complaints by providing refunds, replacement, repair/rework, substitutes, technical help, information, referral, apology or in other ways, depending on the complaint circumstances and as determined by us.
We will identify recurring or systemic problems and prevent recurrence by implementing processes, procedures, or systems to facilitate this, by classifying and analysing complaints, and by addressing areas requiring attention as soon as practical, as required by the complaints handling standard.
Dissatisfied complainants
If a customer indicates to us that they are dissatisfied with the outcome of a complaint, we will advise the customer of our internal escalation process and external avenues of recourse.
Customers may escalate complaints to the telecommunications industry ombudsman Although customers can refer their complaint to the TIO at any time, we encourage customers to contact us first to discuss any issues that they may have with how we are handling their complaints.
TIO contact details
Post: Po Box 276, Collins Street West Vic 8007
Telephone: 1800 062 058
National relay service: call on 1800 555 677 then ask for 1800 062 058
Fax: 1800 630 614
Online complaints: https://www.tio.com.au/making-a-complaint
Website at https://www.tio.com.au
Swoop Broadband’s commitment
We are committed to efficient, fair and courteous complaints resolution. Accordingly, we:
- acknowledge all complaints
- try our best to resolve all complaints on first contact
- identify and manage urgent complaints
- recognise the need for fairness to all parties involve
- make sure t staff are aware of the potential remedies available to resolve a complaint, tailoring remedies offered to address the root cause of complaints, individual customer circumstances and resolving billing errors in current bills
- resolve complaints about alleged billing errors no later than the end of the billing period immediately following the customer’s current billing period;
- make sure that we seek to resolve seek to resolve the main cause of that problem or issue when complaints that indicative of a broader problem or systemic issue
- provide appropriate and systematic record keeping of complaints and their outcomes, including those resolved at first contact; record, action and monitor actions made to resolve a complaint
- advise customers of any delays to promised resolution timeframes
- provide a means to monitor the complaint progress
- escalate complaints under our internal escalation process if requested by a customer
- advise customers complaint resolutions as soon as practicable after we complete our investigation of the complaint
- complete all necessary action to deliver a complaint resolution within 10 working days of the accepted resolution by the member of the resolution (except where otherwise agreed or the actions are contingent on actions of the member that have not been completed and except in respect of urgent complaints
- only close complaints in line with the complaints handling standard;
- provide written resolutions confirmation in line with the complaints handling standard;
- otherwise comply with the complaints handling standard in relation to complaints.