Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Saturday, 16 February 2008 08:41
IT Policy -
Regulation
Page 1 of 2
ACMA, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, has issued a
‘direction’ to Australian telco and ISP ‘Dodo’ to sharpen up their act
when it comes to consumer complaints and billing processes, or face
Government wrath - which could lead to their extinction.
Well known for inexpensive offers for telco and Internet services, and for widely advertising on Australian television,
Dodo Australia Pty Ltd has earned the ire of Australia’s communications regulator ACMA over rising levels of complaints to Australia’s Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO).
ACMA, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, say they have issued a “direction” to telecommunications provider “Dodo Australia Pty Ltd for it to comply with industry codes of practice relating to complaints handling and billing”.
This followed a ‘formal referral’ by the TIO, gravely concerned about the “rising number of complaints it was receiving about Dodo’s complaints handling policies at that time”.
Chris Chapman, ACMA Chairman, said in a statement that: “In directing Dodo to comply with the codes, ACMA is using its formal enforcement powers in order to ensure that customers of Dodo are offered the same level of consumer protection as customers of other telecommunications providers. Failure to comply with the direction may attract civil penalties.”
Unfortunately for Dodo, this isn’t their first run-in with regulator ACMA, with negotiations originally taking place in September 2007.
But negotiations didn’t go smoothly, with ACMA reporting that they, and Dodo, were “unable to reach agreement on the time required to rectify breaches of the Billing Code”.
ACMA then decided to issue a “Direction under section 121 of the Telecommunications Act 1997 in December 2007”. But Dodo wouldn’t take no no for an answer, and instead sought a “reconsideration of the decision”.
So, what happened? Please read onto page 2.
