Customers receive $21 million repayment from Telstra due to overcharging
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If you're a Telstra customer, you might want to pay attention to this important news.
Telstra, one of Australia's largest telecommunications companies, has been caught overcharging customers for inactive internet services. This is the third time they’ve been called out since 2020.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has been keeping a close eye on Telstra's billing practices.
After discovering the company's latest breach, ACMA has imposed a hefty $3 million fine on Telstra for violating customer billing accuracy rules and failing to comply with its code.
This comes on top of the company's obligation to refund customers who were wrongly charged.
The overcharging scandal spanned between 2012 and 2023—an 11-year period—affecting 6532 customers, most of whom were small businesses.
On average, each customer was overcharged by about $2600 around this period. This is a significant amount, especially for small businesses that often operate on tight budgets.
This isn't the first time the company has been in hot water for such practices.
In 2020, Telstra overcharged customers for almost $2.5 million across a 12-year period and another $1.7 million in 2022.
Some customers have already revealed their fair share of frustrations and anger with the telco’s fees.
A few months ago, Telstra increased the fee for paying bills in physical stores from $1 to $2.50, leaving customers with a bitter pill to swallow.
One customer ranted on social media about this exorbitant fee, saying, ‘Have to pay $2.50 extra with Telstra because I pay cash at the post office. I’ve not been charged this fee before.’
ACMA's chair, Nerida O’Loughlin, expressed her frustration with Telstra's repeated breaches and said her organisation had ‘lost patience’ with this recent breach.
'Telstra has a history of incorrectly billing customers, and it’s just not good enough,' she said.
'At a time when many small businesses are facing economic pressures, unaccounted costs can create very real stress and financial hardship.'
Telstra's overcharging issue stemmed from a failure to follow the proper deactivation process for its ADSL internet services.
The company has since implemented controls to prevent such issues from recurring and will report back to ACMA in six months about the effectiveness of these measures.
Dean Salter, a Telstra Executive, acknowledged the company's mistake as it ‘isn’t acceptable’ and apologised to the affected customers.
‘These ADSL billing errors occurred because we didn’t follow the proper deactivation process, including when some customers migrated to the NBN, which resulted in some customers being charged for inactive services,’ he said.
'We’ve reached out to our customers to explain what went wrong and what we’re doing to fix it, including refunding them for the incorrect charges with interest...we’ve let these customers down, we apologise for this, and it’s clear we need to do better,' he said.
Telstra has already refunded more than $17 million of the $21 million it owes to customers. The remaining $3.4 million will be refunded by the end of the year.
Have you ever been overcharged by your telco provider? Share your experiences in the comments below.
Telstra, one of Australia's largest telecommunications companies, has been caught overcharging customers for inactive internet services. This is the third time they’ve been called out since 2020.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has been keeping a close eye on Telstra's billing practices.
After discovering the company's latest breach, ACMA has imposed a hefty $3 million fine on Telstra for violating customer billing accuracy rules and failing to comply with its code.
This comes on top of the company's obligation to refund customers who were wrongly charged.
Telstra will repay $21 million to its customers. Credit: Shutterstock
The overcharging scandal spanned between 2012 and 2023—an 11-year period—affecting 6532 customers, most of whom were small businesses.
On average, each customer was overcharged by about $2600 around this period. This is a significant amount, especially for small businesses that often operate on tight budgets.
This isn't the first time the company has been in hot water for such practices.
In 2020, Telstra overcharged customers for almost $2.5 million across a 12-year period and another $1.7 million in 2022.
Some customers have already revealed their fair share of frustrations and anger with the telco’s fees.
A few months ago, Telstra increased the fee for paying bills in physical stores from $1 to $2.50, leaving customers with a bitter pill to swallow.
One customer ranted on social media about this exorbitant fee, saying, ‘Have to pay $2.50 extra with Telstra because I pay cash at the post office. I’ve not been charged this fee before.’
ACMA's chair, Nerida O’Loughlin, expressed her frustration with Telstra's repeated breaches and said her organisation had ‘lost patience’ with this recent breach.
'Telstra has a history of incorrectly billing customers, and it’s just not good enough,' she said.
'At a time when many small businesses are facing economic pressures, unaccounted costs can create very real stress and financial hardship.'
Telstra's overcharging issue stemmed from a failure to follow the proper deactivation process for its ADSL internet services.
The company has since implemented controls to prevent such issues from recurring and will report back to ACMA in six months about the effectiveness of these measures.
Dean Salter, a Telstra Executive, acknowledged the company's mistake as it ‘isn’t acceptable’ and apologised to the affected customers.
‘These ADSL billing errors occurred because we didn’t follow the proper deactivation process, including when some customers migrated to the NBN, which resulted in some customers being charged for inactive services,’ he said.
'We’ve reached out to our customers to explain what went wrong and what we’re doing to fix it, including refunding them for the incorrect charges with interest...we’ve let these customers down, we apologise for this, and it’s clear we need to do better,' he said.
Telstra has already refunded more than $17 million of the $21 million it owes to customers. The remaining $3.4 million will be refunded by the end of the year.
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