Following on from yesterday’s reporting of Communications Minister Stephen Conroy’s reaction to the initial results, there is now more information available to delve more deeply into how each telecommunication company is perceived by their customers.

The connect.resolve campaign was developed by the TIO to improve "the experience of the customer, according to Deirdre O’Donnell, the Ombudsman.  "For two years in a row, more than a third of TIO complaints were about poor customer service or complaint handling experiences, which typically left customers feeling that their phone or internet company did not really care about them, or did not follow through on actions promised.

"The overall aim of the connect.resolve campaign, through highlighting such customer experiences, was to encourage the telecommunications industry to re-focus on customers and their experiences.

"The connect.resolve campaign was the TIO’s call to action to the industry – all indications are that it has heard that call. However much remains to be done if consumers are to be convinced their voices are also being heard."

The report offers an overall summary of the state of the industry for the first half of 2009 and also homes in on the performance of a large number of specific companies – specifically AAPT, Dodo, GoTalk, Hutchinson 3G, Optus, Primus, Soul, Telstra, Virgin Mobile and Vodaphone.

So, how do they fare?

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Following an increase in complaints of around 46% during 2008, the period of the connect.resolve campaign (January to June 2009) showed an increase of just 1.8%.

Primarily, there were increases in the rate of "incorrect or inadequate advice" and of "failure to action request;" while there were reductions in "lengthy wait time," "Discourtesy" and "unable to contact."

The report is littered with actual customer complaints that describe the kinds of frustration that customers are experiencing in the way they are dealt with and thus the reason for their complaint to the TIO.  This one for instance is indicative of the general tome of complaint.  "You will see in the pages of notes I’ve taken over 4 months that I have made hundreds of calls and spoken to approximately 70 customer service representatives. On one occasion, I was on the phone to different departments from 9.30am until after 5pm.

"But to this day we still do not have the landline service that is so paramount, given our child’s situation. I have received conflicting information from [telco’s] representatives. Conversations have ranged from, 'That staff member is not trained appropriately...' 'They shouldn’t have told you that…’ 'Why did they do that?’ to comments such as, 'Don’t panic, there is no reason why we can’t connect you today.’ At one stage I was on a conference call with two [telco] staff from two different departments, both disagreeing about the information they were giving me."

There is a summary of the complaints received for each company, along with a "right of reply" statement from the CEOs of many of these organisations.

It seems that the ten included companies have a commitment to improve, let’s see where the rest of 2009 takes us.  It can’t be worse that 2008.