Telstra to refund 42,000 customers for slow NBN speeds
<p>Telstra will refund 42,000 customers who experienced slow National Broadband Network speeds, following an investigation by the consumer watchdog.</p>
<p>The telco has admitted it breached consumer law by promising NBN speeds that it was not capable of delivering.</p>
<p>They have offered remedies to customers who purchased internet services through both Telstra and Belong brands between September 2015 and November this year.</p>
<p>“All businesses have a responsibility to ensure that claims about the performance of their products or services are accurate,” Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims said today</p>
<p>“This is particularly important in cases where consumers sign long-term contracts to acquire a service. Telecommunications contracts are typically 12-24 months in duration and this can represent a serious financial commitment.”</p>
<p>“Our investigation revealed many of Telstra’s FTTN and FTTB customers could not receive the maximum speed of their plan. Even worse, many of these customers could not receive the maximum speed of a lower-speed plan</p>
<p>“In essence, people were paying more to get higher speeds that they just weren’t able to get.”</p>
<p>In addition to refunds, Telstra will allow people affected to change their internet plans, or leave their contracts without paying a fee.</p>
<p>The ACCC said that the telco had come forward to notify the watchdog of its problems, but warned that it was an industry-wide problem.</p>
<p>“We are pleased that Telstra proactively reported this serious problem to the ACCC and has co-operated in creating a remediation plan for affected customers,” Mr Sims said.</p>
<p>“However, we are mindful this is not just a Telstra problem; it is an industry problem where consumers are often not getting the speeds they are paying for.”</p>
<p>“We will continue to investigate other retail service providers selling broadband plans over the NBN and take enforcement action where appropriate.</p>
<p>“As we’ve said previously, we expect RSPs [retail service providers] to provide consumers with accurate information upfront about the internet speeds they can expect to receive, and then deliver on those promises.”</p>
<p>“The ACCC is keen to separate out two issues affecting customers’ broadband speeds. First, and the subject of today’s action, is the situation where the connection is not capable of delivering the speed that has been sold.”</p>
<p>“Telstra has undertaken that, where it advertises or otherwise represents to potential customers that they will receive a particular speed, it will, within four weeks of connecting a new service, check each customer’s attainable speed. If it is below the advertised speed, Telstra will notify the customer and offer remedies.”</p>
<p>Telstra executive for Consumers and Small Business, Vicki Brady, said the telco had taken the industry lead in proactively providing refunds for disgruntled NBN customers.</p>
<p>“Providing a great customer experience is our number one priority and that includes giving customers as much choice as possible as they connect to an NBN service,” Ms Brady said.</p>
<p>“As it is not possible to accurately determine what speed the nbn can deliver to a customer prior to connection, we have been reviewing the speeds of customers who take up a speed boost on their FTTN or FTTB nbn services after connection. We have been undertaking this review since May 2017 and, where we identify they cannot attain the benefit of the speed boost, we have been contacting them to provide refunds.”</p>
<p>Telstra said it will contact customers affected over the coming weeks.</p>
<p>If your Telstra customer with concerns, contact the <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.telstra.com.au/">telco directly.</a></span></p>
