Cases of mobile phone dealers misleading customers are on the rise in Australia with some consumers being told they've won competitions or have a credit limit when they have not.

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman has issued its "strongest public criticism yet" of the conduct of mobile phone dealers.

-I regard this as concerning," Ombudsman John Pinnock said in a statement.

-This is the second consecutive quarter in which calls regarding misleading information about mobile phone contracts have been at over 30 percent of all mobile phone complaints and in terms of actual numbers, this is the highest figure we've seen."

Consumer complaints about misleading advice given by mobile phone salespeople now account for 31 percent of all complaints the TIO receives about mobile phones, compared to 24 percent at the same time last year, according to the Ombudsman.

Recuring themes
"People are telling us they have been told they are a guarantor when they're not, or that there is a credit limit when there isn't, or that they have won a phone when they haven't, or that they were going to get free extras and they didn't."

Whilst Pinnock says this highlights the need for people to read contracts thoroughly before signing them, he acknowledges that consumers should be able to trust a mobile phone dealer.

"Is it wrong for consumers to believe that they can trust at least some of what a mobile phone dealer tells them? From our statistics it appears the answer is 'yes', and this is a very unflattering reflection on the telecommunications industry at present," he said.

The TIO charges telecoms carriers for complaints it receives about them, which range from AU$18 to AU$1200.

"Hopefully this is a disincentive for companies to have complaints made about them," a TIO spokesperson said.

"Hopefully by feeding this back to companies they take the chance to rectify some of the issues causing complaints amongst customers," she added.

Billing complaints
In other TIO statistics, billing complaints increased to 31.2 percent of telephone service complaints after averaging around 25 percent for the last 12 months.

Complaints specifically about ISP billing accounted for 41.6 percent of all complaints about Internet services in the March quarter, compared to 34.3 percent in the previous quarter.

On the other hand, the TIO said it had seen "a marked decrease" in complaints about the unauthorised transfer of customers from one phone company to another -- a practice known as slamming.

Complaints about customer transfers dropped to 13.5 percent from an average of around 18 percent throughout 2000.

The TIO said overall complaints were up by 12.5 percent compared to the previous quarter.

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