The proposed TCP Code improves on the current code, but it falls short of meeting community expectations for an essential services sector. Significant changes are required to ensure a strong consumer protection framework that will benefit both consumers and the telco industry.
The TIO's submission adds to feedback provided in our June 2023 submission and to the TCP Code Review Committee in 2024. At a minimum, the areas that must be reconsidered before the TCP Code will be fit-for-purpose include:
- Sales practices - rules prohibiting poor sales practices and available remedies need to be clearly defined and enforceable to protect vulnerable consumers
- Credit assessments - strong protections must be in place to prevent consumers from being sold products they cannot afford, including comprehensive obligations to assess a consumer's capacity to pay
- Billing - all consumers should be entitled to receive bills that are itemised and easy to understand
- Credit management - clearer rules to inform consumers about unpaid debt and to prevent restrictions that lead to service loss except as a last resort.
As stated by Ombudsman Cynthia Gebert:
"The TIO is still concerned about gaps in the TCP code that could have significant unintended consequences for consumers. We want to see consumers and telcos reap the benefits of clear and fit-for-purpose consumer protections."
"Consumers need purchasing and using telco services to be simple, because these services are so important for living everyday life. Consumers need to know they will be treated fairly, in line with appropriate minimum standards."
"What we want to see is telco consumer protections that can enhance trust and confidence in the telco sector. We see telcos out there doing the right thing, operating in line with the very protections we are calling for, and they should not be painted with the same brush as the telcos who repeatedly fail consumers."
