Just Internet has a customer-base of around 15,000 subscribers. The 1,747 complaints received included claims that the provider had debited customers' bank accounts when no service was delivered, failed to cancel services on request and had offered a service so poor that it was inaccessible to many subscribers.
The TIO bills its members on the number of complaints received. Just Internet owed the TIO AU$61,271.92 in October last year, while another AU$106,000 was added to that figure in February.
The TIO's communications manager, Rebecca Fredericks, described the bill as being "quite moderate" in the context of the provider's overall woes, and says that although the amount may have contributed to the company's problems, it was by no means the sole cause.
"Certainly it would have contributed to it, [but] we weren't responsible for the appointment for the administrator," she said.
The TIO took action against Just Internet in the Supreme Court of Victoria last week, seeking to wind up the company over its failure to pay the invoices.
Although the TIO took the provider to court, Fredericks told ZDNet Australia that there was a fairly long list of creditors.
Another creditor, network provider Flow Communications, appointed a receiver to the company, prompting the Just Internet board to appoint the administrator, business recovery specialist Grant Thornton partner Paul Billingham.
Billingham says he's yet to properly investigate the company's affairs, but in situations like this liquidation is the most likely outcome considering that a receiver has also been appointed to represent the interests of Flow Communications.
"When a receiver and an administrator are involved it typically leads to liquidation," he told ZDNet Australia.
A short note posted by the receiver on the justinternet.com.au web site indicates that it's business as usual for their subscribers:
"Just Internet services are being supplied as normal and will continue to be supplied. We are working to improve the Just Internet service and you will continue to see the improvements," it said.
I could see this one coming a mile away , but unfortunately for some people they didn't.
This is not a slap in the face to those who were shafted btw , as it's fair to expect what you were promised if it was advertised as what you paid for.