Network Outage Complaints Handling Process

How to report a service outage

A service outage report is you telling us that you cannot establish or maintain a connection to your service. You can use the contact details below to make a service outage report, or to make an enquiry about a network outage.

• Phone 1800 718 449 (9 AM to 6 PM AEST, Monday to Friday)
• Email [email protected]
• Online checknetworks.com.au/contact/

If a network outage means you cannot reach us by one of the methods above, you can also use the contact details on our complaints handling process, or the contact methods listed with each outage on our network status page.

You can nominate a representative to make a service outage report for you and to deal with us about a network outage complaint on your behalf.

What we will do: the default resolution

What happens after you report an outage

1. We decide whether your report is a network outage complaint. When you contact us 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. If you are, we treat your report as a network outage complaint. If not, we consider whether to treat it as an ordinary complaint under our complaints handling process. We take all reasonable steps to make this decision on first contact.
2. We may ask you for information to help us decide. For example: your service address or service number, the equipment you are using, what the lights on your modem or router are doing, when the problem started, whether it affects all your services or only some, and whether anyone nearby is affected too.
3. We acknowledge it. Where your report is a network outage complaint, we tell you so, in writing or verbally, on first contact where we reasonably can. The acknowledgement confirms that it is being handled under this process, that the outcome of the default resolution is to restore your service, how to contact us about the outage, that we will try to notify you when your service is back, and where on our website to find this process, a summary of the communications we will send you, what is known about the outage, and any other remedies we are offering.
4. We give you a unique reference number. Quote it whenever you contact us and we can tell you where your complaint is up to. You can check progress using any of the contact methods above.
5. We keep you updated. Information about known outages, where and what is affected, the cause where we know it, and our best estimate of restoration, is published on our network status page and updated as the situation changes, in accordance with the Telecommunications (Customer Communications for Outages) Industry Standard 2024.
6. We restore your service and tell you. Restoring your access is the default resolution. Once the affected services are restored we notify you that they are back.
7. We confirm in writing. As soon as practicable after that notification we send you a written notice telling you: how to make a complaint seeking a resolution tailored to you if the default resolution does not satisfy you; what to do if you believe our attempt to restore your service has not worked; how to easily request further assistance from us if your service is still not restored; and, if we are making a bulk resolution offer, what it is and by when you can accept it.
8. Urgent network outage complaints. See below. These are handled on shorter deadlines and cannot be closed until your service is restored.
9. If our attempt has not worked, tell us. If you respond to the written notice, or to our request for confirmation, saying that the default resolution has been unsuccessful, and your complaint is an urgent network outage complaint, we will take steps to implement the default resolution no later than 2 working days after receiving your response. For any other network outage complaint, contact us using the details above and we will continue to work on restoring your service.
10. We close the complaint. A network outage complaint is resolved once your affected services are restored, we have notified you of that, and we have sent you the written notice. We will not close an urgent network outage complaint until your service has been restored. We will not close any other network outage complaint less than 3 working days after sending you that written notice, unless you tell us before then that the default resolution has been successful.
11. If you are not satisfied with the default resolution. You can ask us for a resolution tailored to your circumstances by making a complaint under our complaints handling process. That page sets out how to make a complaint, how we handle it, how long each step takes, and your right to take the matter to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, a free and independent service.

Urgent network outage complaints

We treat a network outage complaint as urgent if:

• you tell us there is a risk to your personal safety, or a serious health risk; or
• you are a priority assistance consumer and the outage affects the service you receive priority assistance for.

If your network outage complaint is urgent:

• we make all reasonable efforts to help you stay connected during the outage, including considering alternative or interim options where they are available to us;
• within 2 calendar days of sending you the written notice, we ask you to confirm whether restoring your service was successful;
• if you tell us it was not successful, we take steps to implement the default resolution no later than 2 working days after receiving your response; and
• we will not close your complaint until your service has been restored.

How long each step takes

• Determination and acknowledgement. We take all reasonable steps to determine whether your report is a network outage complaint, and to acknowledge it, on first contact.
• The default resolution. Carried out as soon as reasonably practicable. Restoring your service is the priority and we do not hold it to a fixed clock.
• Restoration notification. Sent when the affected services are restored.
• Written notice. Sent as soon as practicable after the restoration notification.
• Urgent: confirmation sought. Within 2 calendar days of the written notice.
• Urgent: further steps if unsuccessful. No later than 2 working days after your response.
• Closing a non-urgent complaint. Not less than 3 working days after the written notice, unless you confirm success sooner.
• Outage communications. Notifications about the outage itself, the initial notification, updates while it continues, and the restoration notification, are sent on the timing required by the Telecommunications (Customer Communications for Outages) Industry Standard 2024 and published on our network status page.

Our network outage communications procedures

How we tell customers about network outages, who we notify, what we tell them and when, is set out in our network outage communications procedures.

Keeping these contact details accurate

The contact details on this page are the details we hold as current for reporting a service outage, and we keep them accurate and up to date. If we make a new contact method available for reporting an outage, we publish it here as soon as practicable, and no later than 2 hours after it becomes available.

Natural disasters

Where a service outage relates to a network outage whose sole or main cause is a natural disaster, the network outage complaint requirements in the Standard do not apply to that report. We will still consider your report as an ordinary complaint under our complaints handling process, and we will still work to restore your service as soon as we can and keep you informed through our network status page.