Complaints

Guide to making a complaint about communication and postal services - what you can do if you want to complain about your home phone, mobile phone or a postal service.

Complaining to your service provider

This guide tells you about your rights if you are making a complaint about communications or postal services, including premium rate services.  Most consumers are unsure about how to complain to their service provider and this guide will help consumers to structure their complaint.  It also outlines ComReg’s role in the complaints process.
In this guide we:
• explain what the service provider must do when dealing with your complaint;
• list the points to consider when making your complaint;
• list the steps to take if you are not happy with how your service provider has dealt with your complaint;
• explain the role of ComReg and how we can help you;
• provide a full list of consumer organizations; and
• provide contact details for Postal Service Providers

How should the service provider deal with my complaint?

Telecommunications and postal service providers are required to have a code of practice for handling complaints.  This code contains all the details you need if you want to complain, including;
• who to contact with your complaint;
• how long it will take to respond to your complaint;
• what the procedures are for resolving your complaint.  This will include a timeframe (up to 10 working days) for referring to ComReg if you need to; and
• what you are entitled to in terms of refunds, payments of compensation and payments to cover any loss you had.
Premium rate service providers must also establish and operate a complaints policy.

About ComReg
We are responsible for regulating the electronic communications (fixed and mobile phone markets, premium rate telecommunications, radio communications and broadcasting transmission) and postal sectors.

How can I get a copy of my communications, postal or premium rate service provider’s complaints policy?

You can get a copy of your phone or postal service provider’s complaints policy on their websites or by calling their help lines.  The An Post complaints code is also available at post offices.

Points to note when making a complaint to the communications, postal or premium rate service provider

• Be clear about the problem and give details.
• Give the service provider a chance to resolve your complaint.
• Keep a record of the date and time that you make your complaint.
• Ask for a reference number for your complaint.
• Make a note of any promises that were made by the service provider.

What happens if I don’t feel my complaint is being handled properly?

If you are not happy with how your complaint was handled, you can ask for your complaint to be ‘escalated’. This means your complaint is brought to a higher level within the organisation.  Generally, this means that your complaint is passed to the service provider’s ‘second-line support teams’. This might be a team leader or manager who will help with more complicated consumer complaints.

What happens if my service provider doesn’t resolve my complaint?
If you still feel that your complaint has not been dealt with properly after using the service provider’s complaint procedures, ComReg may be able to help you.

How can ComReg help?
We will try to help by explaining what the service provider’s obligations are, and we will give you a realistic idea of the likely outcome of your complaint.

Will ComReg investigate my complaint?
If your complaint relates to a service provider’s consumer protection obligations, we will ask the service provider to re-examine your complaint.

Who resolves the complaint?
When we refer your complaint to the service provider, it is up to them to keep in contact with you to resolve the issue. We will keep track of the progress of your complaint and when the service provider lets us know that the issue is resolved, we will examine the resolution and check to see that all your issues have been dealt with.

How long should it take to resolve my complaint?
Normally, service providers aim to resolve complaints between 3-10 working days.  If your complaint is more complicated, it might take a bit longer; if that is the case, you should be kept informed about what is happening with your complaint.  Postal services should acknowledge receipt of a complaint within 3 working days.

Checklist when contacting ComReg about a complaint

Before you bring your complaint to ComReg, you should check the following:
• Have you already taken your complaint to the service provider? If not, please contact your service provider, outline the matter to them and inform them that you wish to lodge a formal complaint.
• Are you making your complaint in time? The problem  you are complaining about must have occurred:
o for communications issues, within the previous 9 months; and
o for postal issues*, the problem you are complaining about must have occurred:
- within 1 month of receiving a mail item;
- within 3 months of posting a mail item within Ireland; and
- within 6 months of the date of posting of international items;
o for premium rate service issues, within 3 months of making the call or unsubscribing from a subscription.
• Are you the person affected by the problem? Generally, you should be the person who has experienced the service problem (either the account holder for communications and premium rate complaints, or the sender or recipient of mail for postal complaints). In some cases, however, ComReg will work with other people or organisations.

*This applies to An Post, the designated postal Universal Service Provider (USP), and other postal operators offering a universal service.  For all other postal operators, please refer to their terms and conditions. Operators’ details are available on ComReg’s website www.comreg.ie