High bills and poor coverage lead the list of mobile phone-related complaints to the Telecommunications Ombudsman. Picture: ThinkStock Source: Supplied
UNREASONABLY high phone bills and poor network coverage continue to plague Australian mobile customers, according to the Telecommunications Ombudsman.
General mobile phone complaints increased by more than nine percent over the last year, according to the TIO report released this morning.
Within that figure, complaints regarding mobile internet charges complaints increased by 150% over the last year, which was attributed to an increase in smartphone uptake.
Nineteen mobile phone complaints made over the last year were for bills of $20,000 or more and 49 were for bills of $12,500 and over.
Mr Cohen said these were "extraordinary figures".
The report showed telcos were not doing enough to alert customers when they had an unusallly high phone bill or had reached their data limit for the month.
More than 15,500 complaints made over the last year had to do with inadequate credit management tools - almost double last year's figure.
Almost 14,000 complaints related to bill disputes - a 33 per cent increase from last year.
And more than 4000 complaints were made about disputed roaming charges - a 69 per cent increase from 2011.
Telecommunications Ombudsman Simon Cohen said the TIO consistently received "very simple complaints that took hours, weeks and months and a number of different departments to resolve".
"(Customers) have either not been able to solve the problem or if they can, having the promise to solve it broken," he said.
"It's a consistent problem we see in literally tens of thousands of complaints every year."
Mr Cohen said consumers were very confused when it came to understanding all the charges on their mobile phone bill.
"They don't understand the charges beyond the minimum spend on their plan, how much data they are downloading and its potential cost, and as a result, they are getting unexpectedly high phone bills," he said.
TIO spokeswoman Mirjana Jovetic told News Ltd that from September next year, the major telcos will be required to notify customers when they are exceeding their bill limits.
"They'll need to notify them at different perfentages - 50, 75, and 100 per cent, to give them some warning so people can better plan for how they will use the remainder of their data allowance," she said.
The new Telecommunications Consumer Protection (TCP) Code enacted by the Australian Communications and Media Authority also requires telcos to notify customers about the TIO up front at the beginning of complaint handling processes.
The new code will bring greater awareness about what customers can do to have their complaints resolved.
NSW took out the top spot for the number of complaints with 60,398 issues logged between 2011-2012.
Victoria took out second place with 56,785 complaints, followed by Queensland with 34,077.
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