"In the three months from June to September 2003, the TIO received nearly 2,400 credit related complaints from residential and small business partners," said the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, John Pinnock. "More than 1,600 of these complaints were related to the debt recovery practices of providers, their agents, and more recently, debt recovery companies to whom telephone debts have been sold."
Investigations by the ombudsman have revealed that customers are being inappropriately default listed, previously waived debts have been factored and are being pursued, some customers have been unable to obtain itemised accounts showing total amounts owed and dates incurred, and a number of debt recovery companies acting as agents are routinely failing to comply with the telecommunications industry guidelines for handling customer complaints.
The Shadow Minister for Communications, Lindsay Tanner, jumped on the news and claimed that Labor called on the government to enquire into the practices of debt recovery firms in June. He said Labor would introduce a consumers' charter in telecommunications to clean up poor credit practices in the telecommunications industry.
