In March 2023, the Commission engaged Perceptive to undertake Billing Clarity Research to determine what the current issues consumers are faced with when trying to understand their broadband and mobile bills. This qualitative research was completed in June 2023.
We publish research papers to share our understanding of consumer issues and demands with industry and consumer stakeholders. Any next steps taken in relation to this research will be communicated in advance.
Key points from the research for stakeholders to consider
While most consumers believe their bills are calculated accurately this is largely due to a level of trust in their provider and as long as the bill amount ‘looks within zone’ they will often not check whether they have been billed correctly.
Despite ‘general’ confidence in the final amount, there are still some charges/items that can cause confusion including roaming/overseas charges and provider jargon / abbreviations without any explanatory detail.
Consumers who do find small errors or unexplained charges on bills find them confusing but consider that it takes too much effort to query with their provider.
Most consumers feel simple summary information should be on the first page of a bill with more detailed information on subsequent pages. However, any excessive advertising on bills detracts from any billing information.
Bundled bills for energy and telecommunications services tend to be energy dominated and telco information is minimal in comparison to information provided by traditional telecommunications providers.
Vision impaired consumers who manage their own household bills expressed frustration over the format and layout of their telco bills. Telco bills sent to vision impaired people are no different to the bills received by other consumers. What works for other consumers does not necessarily work for vision impaired consumers. This includes layout, format, colours, and tables.
If you have any questions or feedback about this research, or any of our Improving RSQ in telecommunications work, please email Market Regulation, market.regulation@comcom.govt.nz, with “Improving RSQ” in the subject line.
