Appendix 5
CUSTOMER SERVICE GUARANTEE STANDARD [1]
The Australian Communications Authority (ACA) has made a performance
standard to give effect to the Customer Service Guarantee scheme established
under the Telecommunications Act 1997. The scheme, which commenced on
1 January 1998, provides for financial compensation to customers, where
the performance requirements set out in the standard are not met. In short,
phone companies are now legally required to meet standards on the time
taken to connect a new service, repair a fault or service difficulty and
attend appointments made with customers. Importantly, if your phone company
offers to provide you with service levels within the minimum timeframes
set, it is also required to keep those commitments. The standard covers
the supply of the standard telephone service (which to most customers
is the plain old telephone service) and certain enhanced call handling
features (such as call waiting, call barring and calling number display)
but does not apply to mobiles services or customer equipment (such as
the telephone handset).
Phone companies are required to pay an amount equal to the monthly rental
fee for the standard telephone service for each day of delay in connecting
or repairing the standard service beyond the minimum timeframe set out
in the standard or the date agreed with the customer (e.g. Telstra $20.00
business, $11.65 residential). For each day of delay in connecting or
repairing an enhanced call handling feature, the amount of compensation
payable is equal to 50% of this fee.
Minimum service levels for connection of service
The minimum service levels for the connection of a new service depend
on whether the request is to a site which already has an 'in-place' connection
and what access exists to telecommunications cabling at that site. In
circumstances where the site does not have an 'in-place' connection, the
service levels also depend on the size of the community in which the site
is located. Details of the minimum service levels for connection are summarised
as follows -
| TYPE OF CONNECTION |
CONNECTION TIME |
| In-place connection |
| All sites that have an 'in-place connection |
Within 3 working days of customer request |
| Close to available cabling
or other infrastructure |
| Community of more than 10,000 people |
Within 1 week of customer request |
| 2,500 to 10,000 people |
Within 2 weeks of customer request |
| Less than 2,500 people |
Within 8 weeks of customer request |
| Not close to available cabling
or other infrastructure |
| More than 2,500 people |
Within 4 weeks of customer request |
| Between 200 and 2,500 people |
Within 26 weeks of customer request |
| Less than 200 people |
Within 27 months of customer request |
Minimum service levels for repair of service
Following the report of a fault by a customer and provided the fault
is not located in another phone company's network, a phone company must
repair a service fault before the end of the next full working day in
metropolitan areas. This timeframe is extended by another full working
day in rural areas and a further full working day in remote areas. In
a limited range of circumstances, faults in rural and remote areas must
be rectified before the end of the next working day. These circumstances
include when a fault occurs due to an administrative error by the company
eg. Disconnection, or if the fault can be rectified without the phone
company attending customer premises or undertaking external plant work.
Appointments to connect or repair service
All agreed appointments at customer premises to connect or repair a phone
service are required to be kept unless the phone company changes an appointment
by giving reasonable notice to the customer. An appointment is deemed
to have been missed when the phone company does not attend the premises
within 15 minutes of the appointment time agreed with the customer. These
times can be a specific time agreed with the customer, an agreed part
of the day (i.e. a morning or an afternoon) or on a specified day. A phone
company is only allowed to offer an all day appointment if it also offer
the customer the choice of a morning or an afternoon appointment. The
financial penalty for a missed appointment is equal to the monthly rental
fee for the standard telephone service for each missed appointment.
Footnotes
[1] Submission No. 30 (Department of Communications
and the Arts), Appendix C, pp. 207-208.