Telecommunications Dispute Resolution (TDR) wants New Zealanders to know that it’s ok to complain.
If you are overcharged, see errors on your account, or experience any kind of billing issue, it’s really important that you let your provider know so they can look into it. If you continue to have billing issues or if the matter remains unresolved after talking to your provider, you can get in touch with TDR. We’re a free and independent complaint service for phone or internet disputes.
We decided to highlight unknown charges in our recent awareness campaign because billing is the top cause of complaints that we see. From 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2022, 965 consumers got in touch with us about an issue with their phone or internet bill. Amongst those enquiries, 51.5% related to account errors such as unknown charges or being over charged.
Our first step is to help you (and your provider) sort it out together. When you contact TDR, we’ll listen, and we’ll explain how we can help. We’ll let your provider know about your complaint so you can work together to resolve it. Most complaints are closed at this stage, 97.6% of all billing enquiries last year were resolved or closed after initial assistance and referral by TDR. A little help from us can often make a big difference.
The remaining 2.4% (23 billing matters) in this period required more formal dispute resolution assistance. That's why TDR has a team of skilled facilitators and mediators who can support you to communicate and collaborate on a resolution. Alternatively, our adjudicators can make a decision if you are unable to reach an agreement together.
Here is a selection of comments that we received from happy consumers who contacted TDR to help resolve their billing issues:
“It was prompt and enabled me to get a refund with [Telco].”
- September 2022
“[Telco] corrected it's billing mistake.”
- August 2022
“Company responded by providing a full refund.”
- August 2022
“[Telco] finally responded to my multiple emails and refunded the incorrect charges.” - July 2022
“I had tried several times to get a resolution from [Telco] (double billing) without success. Once TDR was involved it was resolved. So much appreciated.”
- July 2022
“I had been disputing a bill for over a year I contacted TDR & within a few weeks it was resolved, it was great to have the help.”
- April 2022
Whether it’s a broadband, mobile and home phone billing issue, it’s free to resolve your complaint with TDR. It’s easy too – you can contact us online, by email or by phone – and we’ll start working with you and your provider.
How to get in touch
Free phone: 0508 98 98 98
Email: contact@tdr.org.nz
Use our online form