How to make a complaint, what happens next, and what to expect if a network outage affects your service.
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You have a right to make a complaint. This is a summary of how we handle complaints. Our full Complaints Handling Policy is available free of charge on request — just ask us and we will send it to you in a form that suits you.
Making a complaint is free. You can contact us in any of the following ways. We do not accept complaints through social media.
| Method | Details |
|---|---|
| Telephone | 03 5246 8888. Calls are answered directly by a member of our team. Available 8:30 am to 5:00 pm, Monday to Friday. |
| complaints@connecttel.com.au. You can email us at any time. | |
| Online | Enquiry form at www.connecttel.com.au, available at any time. Tell us in your message that you wish to make a complaint and we will treat it as one. |
| Letter | 41-43 West Fyans Street, Newtown VIC 3220 |
| In store | 41-43 West Fyans Street, Newtown VIC 3220, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm Monday to Friday. No appointment is needed. You can also contact us about an existing complaint during these hours. |
You can nominate someone else — a family member, friend, financial counsellor, community worker or legal representative — to make and handle a complaint for you.
If you contact us and tell us you are unhappy, and we are not sure whether you want to make a complaint, we will ask you. Our team will help you formulate, make and progress your complaint, including if you have accessibility requirements or a disability, are from a non-English speaking background, or are a financial hardship customer.
Contact us through the National Relay Service and ask for 03 5246 8888.
| Service | Contact |
|---|---|
| Voice Relay | 1300 555 727 |
| TTY | 133 677 |
| SMS Relay | 0423 677 767 |
| Website | www.accesshub.gov.au |
We will give you a unique reference number when we acknowledge your complaint. Quote it when you contact us by phone, email or in store and we will tell you what stage your complaint has reached.
Wherever possible we resolve complaints at first contact, and we work to minimise waiting times, call transfers and the number of people you deal with. If we cannot resolve it straight away, these are the steps.
| Step | What happens | Timeframe |
|---|---|---|
| Acknowledgement | We confirm we have received your complaint, give you a unique reference number and tell you how to monitor it. | Immediately if by phone or in store. Within 2 working days if by email, online form or post. |
| Initial assessment | We review your complaint, decide whether it is urgent, and classify it so we can identify recurring issues. | On receipt |
| Investigation | Where we cannot resolve it at first contact, we investigate to an extent that matches the seriousness of the complaint, and may contact you for more information. | As soon as practicable |
| Proposed resolution | We tell you what we propose to do and why. We tailor the remedy to the cause of your complaint and your circumstances. | Within 10 working days of receipt. Within 2 working days for an urgent complaint. |
| Implementation | We complete the actions needed to carry out the resolution you have accepted. | Within 5 working days of your acceptance |
| Written confirmation | We confirm in writing that your complaint has been resolved. | Within 5 working days after we complete our investigation |
| Closing | We close your complaint with your consent. | On your consent |
Urgent complaints are prioritised. If your complaint is urgent we will confirm a proposed resolution and, if you accept it, carry it out within 2 working days. A complaint is urgent if you are receiving or have applied for financial hardship assistance, if it concerns a service for which you receive Priority Assistance, or if we have disconnected or are about to disconnect your service without following the correct process.
Complaints about alleged billing errors are resolved by the end of your next billing period or within 30 calendar days, whichever comes first.
If we cannot meet a timeframe we will tell you within that period, explain the cause and give you a new date. If the delay is expected to be more than 10 working days beyond it, we will also tell you about the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.
We will confirm in writing that your complaint has been resolved within 5 working days after we complete our investigation. We will only close your complaint with your consent.
If you are not satisfied with how your complaint is progressing or with what we have proposed, you can ask us to escalate it and we will do so at your reasonable request. An escalated complaint goes to a senior member of our team who was not involved in handling it originally. They will review it from the beginning, tell you when you can expect to hear from them, and remain your contact until it is closed.
If you tell us you are dissatisfied with our response times, want your complaint treated as urgent, are dissatisfied with progress, or ask what further options you have, we will explain our prioritisation and escalation processes and your right to go to the Ombudsman within 24 hours. Once you ask for priority or escalation we will assess your complaint within 5 working days.
If we have had a reasonable opportunity to resolve your complaint and you are still not satisfied, you can take it to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, which is a free and independent service.
| Contact | Details |
|---|---|
| Telephone | 1800 062 058 |
| Website | www.tio.com.au |
| Post | PO Box 276, Collins Street West, Melbourne VIC 8007 |
We will not cancel your telecommunications service for the sole reason that you were unable to resolve a complaint with us directly and pursued external dispute resolution. We will not start legal proceedings against you about the same subject matter while we are handling your complaint, for 7 working days after we tell you the outcome, or while the Ombudsman is investigating it.
We review this summary at least annually and whenever our contact details, hours or processes change, so the information here stays accurate and up to date.
What to expect if a network outage affects your service.
Read our Network Outage Communications Procedures View current outage status
This process explains what happens when you contact ConnectTel because your phone or internet service is not working and we have reason to suspect a network outage is the cause. It sits alongside our Complaints Handling Process above, which covers all other complaints.
It is made in accordance with Part 2A and Part 3A of the Telecommunications (Consumer Complaints Handling) Industry Standard 2018. It is free of charge for you to use.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Service outage report | Your contact with us telling us that your voice or internet connection is not working — that you cannot establish or maintain a connection to use your service. |
| Network outage complaint | A service outage report where we determine there is reason to suspect a network outage is occurring and that you are affected or likely to be affected by it. |
| Default resolution | Restoring your access to the carriage services affected by the network outage. |
| Urgent network outage complaint | A network outage complaint where you receive Priority Assistance for the affected service, or you tell us there is a risk to your personal safety or a serious health risk. |
This process applies where the network outage affecting your service is a major outage or a significant local outage, as defined in the Telecommunications (Customer Communications for Outages) Industry Standard 2024.
| Type | Threshold |
|---|---|
| Major outage | Lasts longer than 1 hour and affects, or is likely to affect, at least 100,000 services, or all services in a State or Territory. |
| Significant local outage | In a regional area, likely to affect at least 1,000 services for at least 6 hours. In a remote area, likely to affect at least 250 services for at least 3 hours. |
Where the sole or predominant cause of a network outage is a natural disaster, this process does not apply. We will instead consider whether your report should be handled under our Complaints Handling Process above.
If we determine your service problem is not caused by a network outage, we will also consider whether it should be treated as a complaint under our Complaints Handling Process above.
You can contact us using any of the methods below. If a network outage means one of these methods is not available, please use another.
| Method | Details |
|---|---|
| Telephone | 03 5246 8888, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm Monday to Friday |
| complaints@connecttel.com.au, at any time | |
| Online | www.connecttel.com.au, at any time |
| In store | 41-43 West Fyans Street, Newtown VIC 3220, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm Monday to Friday |
| During an outage | Outage assistance line 03 5246 8887, available outside business hours during a major or significant local outage |
There is no charge for making a service outage report or a network outage complaint.
Our current outage contact details are published on our outage status page and we will update them within 2 hours of making any new contact method available.
You may nominate a representative to make a service outage report and handle a network outage complaint on your behalf.
When we receive a service outage report we determine whether there is reason to suspect a network outage is occurring, and if so whether you are affected or likely to be affected by it. We take all reasonable steps to make that determination, and to acknowledge your complaint, on first contact.
ConnectTel supplies services over networks operated by our wholesale suppliers. Those network operators are required to tell us when a major or significant local outage is occurring and give us information about it. We may also make our own enquiries if we are receiving more service outage reports than usual.
To help us decide, we may ask you for information such as:
If we determine your report is a network outage complaint, we will confirm the following to you, verbally or in writing:
Quote your reference number when you contact us and we will tell you the current status of your complaint.
We will also send you a link to this process on our website using a method you can receive while your service is affected. If we cannot send a link, we will tell you how to find it.
| Step | Time period |
|---|---|
| Determining whether your report is a network outage complaint | On first contact, taking all reasonable steps |
| Acknowledging your network outage complaint | On first contact, where relevant |
| Implementing the default resolution | As soon as reasonably practicable |
| Status updates during the outage | As soon as practicable after any material change. Otherwise at least every 6 hours for the first 24 hours, then at least once every 24 hours |
| Notifying you that services have been restored | As soon as practicable after we consider all affected services have been restored |
| Written notification of your options after restoration | As soon as practicable after the restoration notification |
| Seeking your confirmation, urgent complaints only | Within 2 calendar days of sending that written notification |
| Acting where you tell us the resolution has not worked, urgent complaints | No later than 2 working days after receiving your response |
| Closing an urgent network outage complaint | Not until your service has been restored |
| Closing any other network outage complaint | Not less than 3 working days after the written notification, unless you have told us your service is working |
We publish information about major and significant local outages on our outage status page and attempt to provide updates directly, in accordance with the Customer Communications for Outages Standard. Our Network Outage Communications Procedures set out what information we provide, how we provide it and how often we update it.
The default resolution of a network outage complaint is to restore your access to the affected services. We will complete all necessary actions within our capacity to achieve this as soon as reasonably practicable.
Because the underlying network is operated by our wholesale suppliers, restoring the network itself is generally within their control rather than ours. We will pursue restoration with them and keep you informed.
Your network outage complaint is resolved when the affected services have been restored, we have notified you of that, and we have written to you confirming:
We will send that written notification as soon as practicable after telling you that services have been restored.
We treat a network outage complaint as urgent if you receive Priority Assistance for the affected service, or if you tell us there is a risk to your personal safety or a serious health risk because of the outage.
If your complaint is urgent we will make all reasonable efforts to help you stay connected during the outage, including considering alternative or interim options where available. Depending on what is available, that may include temporarily redirecting your phone service to another number you can access, or arranging an interim service for a lengthy outage. These arrangements are not intended to continue after your service is restored.
We will check with you. Within 2 calendar days of sending you the written notification described in section 10, we will contact you to confirm whether your service is working again. If you tell us it is not, we will take steps to restore it no later than 2 working days after receiving your response.
Contact us using any of the methods in section 4 and tell us your service is still not working. We will work with you and our suppliers to restore it. For urgent network outage complaints we will act within 2 working days of your response.
| Complaint type | When we will close it |
|---|---|
| Urgent network outage complaint | Not until your service has been restored. |
| Any other network outage complaint | Not less than 3 working days after we send you the written notification described in section 10, unless you have already told us your service is working again. |
This gives you a reasonable opportunity to contact us for help before your complaint is closed.
If you are not satisfied that restoring your service adequately resolves the matter and you are seeking a more tailored outcome, you can make a complaint. We will handle it under our Complaints Handling Process above, starting from the day we become aware of it, and we will link it in our records to your original network outage complaint.
If you are not satisfied with how we have handled your complaint, you have a right to take it to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, which is a free and independent service.
| Contact | Details |
|---|---|
| Telephone | 1800 062 058 |
| Website | www.tio.com.au |
| Post | PO Box 276, Collins Street West, Melbourne VIC 8007 |
This process is free to use. Our team will help you make and progress a service outage report or a network outage complaint, including if you have accessibility requirements or a disability, are from a non-English speaking background, or have other special needs. Interpreter services are available on request through the Translating and Interpreting Service.
Contact us through the National Relay Service and ask for 03 5246 8888.
| Service | Contact |
|---|---|
| Voice Relay | 1300 555 727 |
| TTY | 133 677 |
| SMS Relay | 0423 677 767 |
| Website | www.accesshub.gov.au |
We keep the outage contact information published on our website accurate and up to date, and will update it within 2 hours of making any new contact method available. We review this process at least every 12 months.
