15th October 2021 : Submission on the Improving Retail Service Quality; Draft Baseline Report

On the 15th October 2021 we submitted to the Commerce Commission in relation to their draft baseline report as part of their worksteam on improving retail service quality.

In our submission we agreed that the Commission had identified a strong list of retail service quality matters which need improving.  We participated in the consumer group workshops and shared out own list of issues that we want to see addresses.  Specifically we support the those that are in the areas of:

1. Billing – customers experiencing errors, struggling to understand their bill and some still experiencing bill shock from unexpected charges.
2. Customer Service – long wait times and long wait for resolution
3. Product Disclosure – providers use confusing marketing, service does not match the information, and product disclosure is inadequate
4. Switching – there is an element of inertia due to consumers believing it to be difficult and time consuming

Our submission specifically provides commentary and possible solutions around Product Disclosure and Switching.  As part of our concern over these two topics  we commissioned the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) to review and update an earlier report provided to the Commerce Commission in 2019 entitled “Addressing inertia and complexity in New Zealand’s telecommunications market”.  We will be releasing the report in it’s entirety as part of our contribution to work to be undertaken in developing industry codes in this area and advertising of alternative services.

You can read our submission here.