Review the rules on complaint escalation to Ombudsmen/ADR in all industries
We think the review should consider whether businesses with "No resolution" offered to customers should pay a lumpsum for complaint escalation to the Ombudsman/ADR; and whether the time frame for businesses for complaint handling should be reduced to 4 weeks.
Signatures
19
signatures
Government response threshold (10,000) · 19/10,000
Debate threshold (100,000) · 19/100,000
- 04 AUG 2025Petition closedFinal total: 19 signatures
- 04 FEB 2025Petition opened for signatures
Background
The review should also consider and whether the rule of rejection of repeat complaints should be demolished.
We feel some businesses take large advantage on the existence of Ombudsmen/ADR and do not properly deal with complaints, leaving customers in a disadvantageous position with a lot of distress. We think the timeframe for businesses’ complaint handling, which is usually 8 weeks, is also very unreasonable to wait for "no viable outcomes". Currently if a problem is a repeat issue, Ombudsmen/ADR would reject dealing with the complaint, which we think causes further distress to customers. With a lumpsum paid to the Ombudsman/ADR by businesses each time, we think they would think twice.