Telstra has been ordered to pay an $18 million fine by the Federal Court for misleading nearly 9,000 customers on its low-cost brand, Belong, by downgrading them to a lower-speed internet plan without notice.
8,897 Belong customers were migrated from their 100 megabits per second (Mbps) download and 40Mbps upload NBN plan to a 100Mbps download and 20Mbps upload NBN plan without their knowledge or consent in October and November of 2020. While the plan’s maximum download speed did not change, the maximum upload speed was halved.
On top of the fine, Telstra has to pay customers $15 for each month they were on the slower speed tier. This will cost Telstra over $2.3 million and will be paid directly to affected customers.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)’s Anna Brakey said “The $18 million penalty sends a strong message to all businesses that they cannot mislead consumers by making changes to key aspects of a service without informing customers of those changes.“
The ACCC has made it clear that it is a priority to ensure telcos are not making misleading claims about their pricing and services, which is a direct breach of Australian Consumer Law.
This ruling comes months after the telco was fined nearly $400,000 in January for failing to check if over 3,800 customers’ maximum internet speeds would be matched following the change from legacy internet networks to the NBN. This left a number of customers paying for internet speeds that they weren’t receiving.
These fines should serve as a great reminder for customers to make sure they are receiving the service they are paying for and to speak up if they aren’t.
How telcos are still misleading customers
Too often, customers put speaking to their service provider or switching providers in the ‘too hard’ basket. Most people you know have likely experienced less than ideal service and just accepted it.
Recently my parents had to speak to their internet provider after noticing their 5G internet was much slower after moving house. Originally they thought their internet usage must have increased and that it would be easier to ‘just deal with it’ than fix it.
They brought it up to me after several months, fed up with the lagging and buffering. I offered to help them find a new internet plan or see if I could fix the issue. I figured the first step would be to check their new address on the provider’s website to see what plans they had available and could switch to. When the result showed that there were no 5G plans available in their area, I was shocked. It was no wonder they weren’t experiencing the speeds they were used to at their old home.
When I explained this to my parents, they were, understandably, a little frustrated. Despite speaking to their provider to change their address and reconnect their internet, they weren’t told that they wouldn’t be able to access 5G speeds. Although the plan still technically worked, albeit poorly, my parents were paying for a service that wasn’t possible for them to receive.
They contacted their provider’s customer service team, who apologised and took them through their options for a new plan. But a new plan wasn’t enough. My parents stood their ground and inquired what they were entitled to for overpaying. In doing so, they received a discounted price on their new NBN plan, a free NBN modem and a credit for each month’s bill they overpaid.
The discounted new plan was cheaper than a lot of other equivalent plans and my parents even came away with some freebies — all because they knew they deserved to be compensated.
How to ensure you’re getting the service you pay for
A lot of Australian telcos have come under fire for misleading customers and underperforming this year and Telstra’s fines aren’t an exception. There is a history of large corporations getting away with poor service, simply because they think their customers won’t fight back. This is one of many reasons the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is cracking down on telcos to better protect customers.
If you are concerned about your internet service, there are quick and easy ways to make sure that you are getting everything you should out of your plan.
- Do a speed test: A speed test is an online tool that checks your upload and download speeds. This is the quickest way to see if your internet speed is how it should be. Keep in mind the speed test results may not be 100% accurate and your internet speed will likely not be exactly the numbers on your plan.
- Look at the typical evening speeds: Every internet plan will come with advertised numbers of what speeds you can expect during peak usage times of 7pm and 11pm. These speeds will likely differ slightly from the maximum speed of your plan. The typical evening speed is the best indicator of what you can expect to receive from your internet plan.
- Know your connection type: In Australia, there are many different ways that houses are connected to the internet. Different connection types will affect how fast your internet connection is and the plans available to you.
If you’ve checked your internet and know something is wrong, then it is time to take it to your provider. It can feel difficult to talk to a company about an issue, so here are some quick tips on how to handle it:
- Have evidence: Do your research into what you think the problem is and take notes. This evidence can be as simple as screenshots of an online speed test combined with your bill. Use the tests you did at home as proof.
- Talk in person when possible: If you’re wary of heading into a store or using the online chat function, calling and speaking directly to customer service is usually more likely to succeed. In-person conversations remove the thinking and editing time, which tends to make people more inclined to help you out. While it’s likely you may be on hold for a while before speaking to customer service, it removes the risk of speaking with a chat bot or AI.
- Stand your ground: By this, I don’t mean to be unnecessarily harsh to customer service workers. Simply understand your right to receive what you pay for and stick to your guns. Having the evidence from tip #1 helps in backing you up and giving you confidence. It is also important to remember that the customer service representative you speak to will often try to sell you a product you may not need. Be wary of sales tactics and remember that as a customer, you deserve to access what you are paying for. However, keep in mind that these people are simply doing their job and they are not directly responsible for causing any issues you may have experienced. While they might be there to sell products and services, they are also there to help you — be understanding but firm.
If you’re concerned about a service you’re receiving, it’s easier than you think to let your internet provider know. It might seem daunting and scary at first, but you have the right to receive the standard of service you are paying for.
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