What does an Ombudsman do?
The ombudsman’s office is a resolution service that is independent and impartial. It will assist you in resolving problems you cannot resolve with government, public & private organisations.
How to contact the Ombudsman?
Depending on your issue, you may need to contact a specific Ombudsman. For example if your problem relates to a phone or internet service, you will typically contact the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.
Who is the banking Ombudsman?
If your issue relates to a financial provider, like a bank you must direct your complaint to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority. The AFCA is the banking ombudsman as well as the ombudsman for other financial institutions or organizations like Paypal.
What complaints does the ombudsman deal with?
The Ombudsman can deal with several complaints. It’s essential, however, to understand that you should only seek the assistance of the Ombudsman when all negotiations have failed or when you are not receiving a response in a reasonable amount of time. (Delays in claim handling are one of the top reasons consumers resort to the Ombudsman when dealing with Insurance companies) You must show that you have made every effort to contact or resolve your issue with the organisation before you get the Ombudsman.
Some complaints that the Ombudsman deals with:
- Complaints about government (including councils)
- Banks, Credit Card Providers, Insurances, Superannuation Funds
- Fair Work Ombudsman for workplace complaints
- Gas, electricity, and water services
- Lawyers or Legal Professionals
- Internet Services and Phones
- Police
- Universities
- Aviation – A new aviation industry ombudsman will be introduced to Australia and the full framework will be completed by 2026.
What happens when a complaint goes to the Ombudsman?
It depends on the complaint and its complexity. You should check with the specific ombudsman about their time frames and processes.
There are some instances where the Ombudsman may refer the matter directly to determination. This can occur if complaints need to be finalised urgently.
Here are some of my examples and outcomes:
My case with the Energy & Water Ombudsman
In 2009 I walked into my house only to find that my electricity and gas had been mysteriously disconnected. My first point of call was to my neighbours to ascertain whether it was an area or street issue.
Next in line was my retail provider, who confirmed that these services were disconnected due to some mix-up with the same street and house number address – in a different suburb.
After a few phone calls back and forth, endless waiting times and utter incompetence in resolving this issue, I was left days without power and gas in my own home. That meant a pitch-dark house with no heating, no hot water, no cooking, no TV, and everything else that comes with the joy of absolute darkness.
One of my employees suggested I contact the Ombudsman. It was the best possible advice I received not only for the home issue I was having but for the future issues that were to come both in a personal setting and, more importantly, in a business setting.
For the specific issue I was having at home, I was directed to contact the Energy and Water Ombudsman.
How long did it take for the Ombudsman to Investigate?
They bought a resolution to the problem within 24 hours and awarded me financial compensation for every day that I had been left disconnected. You can imagine how fast I was connected!
In a data snapshot of the 2020-2021 annual report, the Energy & Water Ombudsman tells us the following:
19,542 cases were received (electricity 60%) (Gas & LPG 31%) (Water 8%) (dual Fuel & Other industry 1%)
17,285 cases were finalised
$1,657,047 million was provided to consumers through the dispute process
My case with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority
If you ever had the pleasure of dealing with PayPal, you would probably know that they are almost impossible to get a hold of when things go wrong. Worse, they can freeze your accounts and put a hold on your money while stating that they are ‘investigating’.
In 2018 I received that dreaded email that many of you will have seen at one point, letting me know that my account was ‘temporarily’ suspended. A few days later, I received another “template looking” email that informed me that after reviewing it further, a decision was made to ‘permanently’ suspend it because of some violation of their acceptable use policy. Under this scenario, they also told me they would not release my funds for 60 or 180 days if they determined.
The standard PayPal complaints email that the PayPal complaint department monitors did not work. My emails to them were met with more “template” responses, and my phone calls were getting me nowhere. I had a business to run, and they had just shut off one of my primary sources of online payments AND were holding onto my hard earnt money!
I could not believe this faceless financial institution had so much power over my business.
I had no choice but to seek help from the financial ombudsman.
How long did it take for the Ombudsman to Investigate?
I put forward my complaint in April 2018, and we reached a favourable resolution by July 2018 (3 months). This whole process involved mediation & negotiations through emails (that belonged to people), phone calls and a final phone conciliation with PayPal and the ombudsman’s office.
In a data snapshot of 2022, the AFCA tells us the following:
72,358 Complaints were received
71,152 complaints were closed
A whopping $207.73 million in compensation was provided to consumers who went through the ACFA’s dispute resolution.
An average of 72 days to resolve a complaint.
My case with the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman
In 2019 Telstra made an error and suddenly disconnected our business line and number that we had for 12 years. Any business owner would understand the importance of their phone number remaining the same throughout their business life. However, trying to communicate with Telstra is a whole new level altogether. Communicating the issue to their offshore customer service centre took hours and days. Untrained staff without proper knowledge of how to deal with the problem and no idea whom to escalate it to.
You must do a specific meditation before you get on the phone with Telstra to keep your nerves in order!
Having the above and previous experience with big corporations, there was no other way to navigate through this mess, so I called on the help of the Telecommunications Ombudsman.
This complaint was escalated to Telstra and dealt with through emails. It took approximately one month to resolve.
The TIO provides a summary of the following complaints for the fiscal year 2021-2022.
Is the Ombudsman Free?
Yes, in Australia & the UK, the Ombudsman is a free service.
In general terms, in all three cases where I have had to deal with an Ombudsman, the process was swift, and the outcome was fair. Always stay factual, composed, and polite – the Ombudsman is there to assist you in reaching a favourable outcome.
Don’t waste valuable time back and forth with corporations unwilling to resolve issues. I believe their systems are designed so that you become so frustrated that you eventually give in and go away. If you have reached a dead end, it’s time to take charge of your sanity and call on the Ombudsman. If your matter is urgent, pick up the phone and call them. They are very responsive and will direct your complaint through the proper channels.
