Complaints

It matters to us that all disputes and complaints are resolved to your satisfaction quickly and effectively.
We have several types of dispute mechanisms available to wholesale customers to resolve these disputes and complaints. The mechanisms chosen depends on the type of complaint. These mechanisms are:

• Non-Price Equivalence Complaints under the SSU via the Accelerated Investigation Process
• Price Complaints
• General Management of Customer Interactions
• General Customer Complaints
• Billing Disputes
• Reporting Faults
• Independent Telecommunications Adjudicator

Non-Price Equivalence Complaints under the SSU
Under the SSU, Telstra has established an Accelerated Investigation Process (AIP) in order to expeditiously investigate any non-price Equivalence Complaints received from wholesale customers. 

In essence, an Equivalence Complaint is a complaint that:

• relates to a Regulated Service; and
• concerns a non-price complaint or issue that relates to or is likely to have been a system or process issue affecting Telstra’s compliance with the SSU; or
• concerns a non-price complaint in connection with a TEBA order or process.

The operation of the AIP is overseen by Telstra’s Director of Equivalence. 

Telstra’s commitment is to:

• investigate the matters raised in the Equivalence Complaint; and
• issue a report (Rectification Plan) to the wholesale customer within 5 business days of receiving the complaint.

Telstra has developed an Equivalence Complaint web form to allow wholesale customers to submit these complaints to Telstra to initiate the Accelerated Investigation Process. Wholesale customers wishing to have the benefit of the Accelerated Investigation Process and have their Equivalence Complaints dealt with in an accelerated manner will need to submit their Equivalence Complaints via Telstra’s web form. 

Rectification Plan
Wholesale customers can propose amendments to the Rectification Plan within 5 business days of receiving it from Telstra.  Telstra may accept any or all of the proposed amendments and reissue a Revised Rectification Plan within 5 business days of receipt of receiving the wholesale customer’s proposed amendments. In the case that Telstra doesn’t accept the proposed amendments we will notify the wholesale customer and include an explanation for Telstra’s decision to reject the proposed amendments.

Wholesale customers have 5 business days from receipt of the Rectification Plan (or modified Rectification Plan) to accept or reject the Rectification Plan. If the wholesale customer does not provide a response within this time it will be deemed to accept the Rectification Plan.  If the Wholesale customer rejects the Rectification plan (or modified Rectification Plan) within 5 business days of receipt, they can escalate the matter to the Independent Telecommunications Adjudicator.

For more information on the Equivalence Complaint process, you can download our guide to Equivalence Complaints below.

Equivalence Complaints under Telstra’s SSU (PDF, 200KB)

Lodge an Accelerated Investigation Process Equivalence Complaint here

Lodge an Equivalence Complaint with Telstra

Price Complaints
Telstra’s standard dispute resolution mechanisms for resolving disputes are found in

• paragraph 10 of the Standard Terms; and
• the Billing and Payment Annex of the Customer Relationship Agreement (Standard Dispute Provisions).

The Standard Dispute Provisions are used to resolve a range of disputes including disputes concerning the price of products and services.

Under the SSU, all Wholesale customers who don’t have these Standard Dispute Provisions in their customer contracts can ask to have them inserted as Price Equivalence Dispute provisions.

In essence, the Price Equivalence Disputes provisions in the SSU are Telstra’s Standard Dispute Provisions.

Telstra made a public commitment to offer these Price Equivalence Dispute provisions to any of its wholesale customers who did not have a Customer Relationship Agreement or any other customer contract with these dispute mechanisms.

For more information on the Price Equivalence Disputes process, please download our guide to Price Equivalence Disputes below.

Price Equivalence Disputes under Telstra’s SSU (PDF, 200KB)

General management of customer interactions
Our customer service teams are fully trained to manage day-to-day operational and escalated issues about faults, service, billing, churn and other performance concerns.

Our Business Operations Managers will deal with escalated or critical issues about faults, service, billing, churn or other performance issues where normal and agreed escalation processes have failed to resolve your issue. Your Business Operations Manager can also facilitate resolution of issues or enquiries raised in Service Reviews where the agreed escalation processes have not resolved your issue.

If an issue is not resolved by a Business Operation Manager or one of our customer service representatives, a formal complaint can be lodged via a simple webform on Telstra Wholesale's Customer Portal.

Download the Complaint management policy (PDF, 141KB)

Telstra Wholesale’s complaints policy is currently under review.  The revised policy will be made available as soon as we complete the review. In the meantime, if you have any concerns please contact your Business Operations Manager.

General customer complaints
A general customer complaint is any dissatisfaction or grievance about our performance that can’t be resolved under routine customer service and operational processes or your customer agreement. This may include a complaint made by you on behalf of your end users.

Lodging a complaint online is easy. The Telstra Wholesale Customer Portal allows you to submit a complaint via a simple webform and track its progress online.

Go to the Telstra Wholesale Customer Portal

You can be assured that your complaint will be addressed at the highest level necessary. Once you have lodged a complaint, the Telstra Wholesale complaint team will:

• log the complaint into our complaint handling system and ensure that it is investigated
• acknowledge the complaint within five working days of receiving it and give you a reference number
• forward the complaint to the responsible area within Telstra for clarification and response, and
• inform you of the outcome of our investigation once it is complete.

Billing disputes
We have a formal process in place to handle billing disputes.
For more information go to Billing

Reporting faults
Faults can be reported 24 hours a day, seven days a week online via LinxOnline Service f the Telstra Wholesale Customer Portal or over the phone.
For more information go to Faults/Assurance.

Independent Telecommunications Adjudicator (ITA)
Telstra and the ACCC must jointly appoint an individual with appropriate independence and technical and industry experience to act as the ITA.

The establishment of the ITA requires ACCC approval of an ITA Constitution, a Charter of Independence and of the appointment of an individual to the role of the ITA Adjudicator. The ITA has power to resolve escalated non-price Equivalence Complaints under the SSU in certain circumstances, and can also provide independent expert technical advice to the ACCC, including by responding to matters referred to the ITA by the ACCC and disputes raised by wholesale customers under the Migration Plan.

For non-price equivalence concerns raised under the SSU, the ITA is available in certain circumstances where wholesale customers are dissatisfied with the outcome of their Equivalence Complaint under the Accelerated Investigation Process or a complaint or dispute under the Migration Plan. If a wholesale customer requests, the ACCC can act as an alternative adjudicator to the ITA in resolving these non-price complaints. 

For more information on the ITA consultation process please visit the ACCC website here .

For more information on the ITA process, please download our guide to the Independent Telecommunications Adjudicator below.

Independent Telecommunications Adjudicator (PDF, 102 KB)