Telstra fined by watchdog for overcharging Australians

Thousands of Telstra customers have received refunds after the communications watchdog fined the telecommunications giant for overcharging Australians over an 11-year period.

An investigation by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) found that 6,532 customers were charged an average of $2,600 for idle internet services between April 2012 and August 2023.

Telstra has since shelled out a whopping $24 million in penalties and refunds over the “significant” billing error.

The figure included a fine of $3,010,320 and more than $17 million in refunds to customers who were mistakenly overcharged.

Another $3.4 million will be repaid at the end of the year.

It is the third time in three years that Telstra has been found to have mistakenly overcharged its customers.

In a scathing statement issued on Wednesday, ACMA president Nerida O’Loughlin said the media watchdog had “lost patience” with Telstra after the latest billing debacle.

In September 2020, the ACMA found that Telstra had overcharged more than 10,000 customers by almost $2.5 million over a 12-year period.

A separate investigation in 2022 found that Telstra overcharged more than 11,000 customers by around $1.7 million.

“It’s just not good enough,” O’Loughlin said.

‘At a time when many small businesses are facing economic pressures, unaccounted costs can create very real financial stress and hardship.

‘All telecommunications companies must have robust billing systems in place to ensure that consumers, including small businesses, pay only for active and agreed services.

‘Telstra is a major player in the Australian telecommunications sector and needs to continue to prioritize billing compliance and get its systems in order.

Telstra attributed the billing problems to the company’s failure to follow the steps in the process of deactivating ADSL internet service after customers switched to NBN.

In a statement to Daily Mail Australia, Telstra says it reported the issue to ACMA and refunded most customers, along with interest.

The telecommunications company is contacting the remaining customers.

“It is not acceptable to make a mistake on something as important as billing and it is clear that this is not the experience we want to provide our customers,” said Dean Salter, group executive of global business services.

We have let these customers down. We apologize for this and it is clear that we must do better.

‘We have contacted our customers to explain what went wrong and what we are doing to fix it, including refunding the incorrect charges with interest.

New processes have been implemented to prevent this from happening again.

“These ADSL billing errors occurred because we did not follow the proper deactivation process, including when some customers migrated to NBN, resulting in some customers being charged for inactive services,” Mr Salter added.

“We have implemented new controls to prevent this issue from happening again, including monthly checks whether customers are using ADSL services before they are billed.”.

The company will report to ACMA within six months on the effectiveness of the new controls.

ACMA has threatened to take further action, including launching proceedings in the Federal Court if there are further breaches of billing accuracy rules.

Customers who suspect they have been billed incorrectly are urged to address the issue with the provider and contact the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman if it cannot be resolved.