Complaint Handling Process

Introduction

Voice Connect aims to provide our customers with the best possible service. If you haven’t received the service you expected, you have the right to make a complaint.

A complaint means an expression of dissatisfaction made to us in relation to our products or the complaints handling process itself, where you expect a resolution. Contacting us to request technical support or to report a service issue is not necessarily a complaint. Where it’s not clear to us, we’ll ask you to confirm that you wish to make a complaint.

In dealing with your complaint, we will treat you with fairness and courtesy. Voice Connect believes that this Complaint Handling Process is the most effective and quickest way to resolve issues and we will use our best efforts to resolve your complaint efficiently in accordance with this process.

Let Us know If You Need Help

Please let us know if you need assistance with understanding this process or making a complaint.

You may nominate an authorised representative or advocate to deal with us on your behalf but to protect your privacy, we will first need you to provide your permission to do so, either over the phone or in writing. Please note that if you’re appointing an authorised representative, you are giving that person authority to contact Voice Connect on your behalf and authorise Voice Connect to discuss account related information such as billing, contract and technical issues and to make account changes except for account cancellation. In contrast, if you appoint an advocate, that person can only act on your behalf and have access to your information while you are also present to agree to such actions.

If you have a hearing or speech impairment, you can contact us by using the National Relay Service.

If you’re from a non-English speaking background, you can contact us via a language interpreter service or nominate someone to deal with us on your behalf. Please note you may incur fees from any third party services you engage to assist you.

If you have other special needs or a disability, please let us know and we will do our best to assist where we can.

If you are suffering financial hardship, please see our Financial Hardship Policy to learn more about how we can assist you.

What Happens When We Get Your Complaint?

We will acknowledge your complaint and provide you with a reference number:

  • immediately, if you contacted us by phone, or
  • if you contacted us by any other means, within 2 working days for complaints

We aim to investigate and resolve all complaints within the following timeframes:

  • for complaints, within 5 working days, except where the complaint involves complex matters, in which case we will aim to resolve these within 15 working days.

If we reasonably believe that resolution may fall outside of the timeframes above, we will contact you directly to discuss the reasons for the delay and advise a new timeframe as well as your avenues for external resolution (if the delay is expected to exceed 10 working days).

Should we be unable to contact you via known methods we will write to you and advise you that you have 10 working days to respond before we close the complaint.

Upon receiving your complaint, it will be classified into one of the following categories as appropriate:

  • Billing or Contract Dispute – Complaints about billing, invoices, charges, fees, contract term and other monetary disputes.
  • Cancellation – Complaints about service suspension or termination.
  • Equipment order – Complaints about the ordering, delivery or return of equipment such as modems or phone hardware.
  • Point of Sale – Complaints about the sales or registration process.
  • Privacy Issue – Complaints about the handling of customer information, spam or unwelcome calls.
  • Provisioning – Complaints about service activation or porting.
  • Service changes – Complaints about plan changes, service relocations or reconnections and change of account ownership.
  • Staff – Complaints about service received from Voice Connect representatives.
  • Technical issue – Complaints about the performance of Voice Connect services or equipment, including faults and speed.
  • General/Other – Complaints which do not fit into other complaints categories.

How To Lodge An Urgent Complaint

Please advise us if your complaint is urgent. Complaints will be considered as urgent if:

  • you have applied for or have been accepted as being in Financial Hardship under Voice Connect’s Financial Hardship Policy and it’s clear to us that the nature of your complaint will directly contribute to or worsen that hardship, or
  • disconnection of a service is imminent or has already occurred and where due process has not been followed.

Voice Connect does not offer Priority Assistance. If you require Priority Assistance, Telstra is an alternative carriage service provider which does provide Priority Assistance.

Urgent Complaints will be given priority over other complaints. We will acknowledge your Urgent Complaint immediately if you contacted us via phone or otherwise within 2 working days of receiving your Urgent Complaint.

We aim to resolve Urgent Complaints within 2 working days. We will contact you directly to advise and discuss a new timeframe in the event that a resolution is likely to fall outside of this timeframe.

If your complaint has not been considered urgent based on the above criteria and you reasonably believe it should be, please let us know as soon as possible.

Options For External Dispute Resolution

It is our aim that the majority of complaints can be successfully handled under this Complaint Handling Process and we do ask that you first allow us the opportunity to exhaust all avenues in resolving your complaint.

However, if you are not satisfied with our handling of your complaint and you have escalated this within Voice Connect, you may seek complaint mediation or further assistance from the;