Financial Hardship Policy
The Telecommunications Consumer Protections Code defines Financial Hardship as a situation where a customer is unable to discharge their financial obligations in relation to the supply of services due to a reasonable cause but where the customer expects to be able to do so if payment arrangements are changed.
Are you experiencing Financial Hardship?

This policy may apply when you tell us you are experiencing Financial Hardship, or when we consider you may be eligible for our policy. In order for us to assess whether you are eligible for this Financial Hardship Policy, we may ask you to provide us with certain documents with details of your financial situation, such as your income details, a report from a financial counsellor, a bank, or Centrelink. We may be unable to assess your eligibility for this policy if you do not provide us will sufficient documentation of your circumstances.

To assess your situation we will use your documents together with any other information available to us. Once we have received all required documentation, will inform you within 7 working days whether you are eligible for assistance under our Financial Hardship Policy.

Once we have assessed your situation, we may at our discretion agree to a temporary financial arrangement that is different to your regular payment terms. With any agreed financial arrangement for Financial Hardship, your repayments should be sufficient to cover your expected future use of the service while providing continuing reduction of your current debt at a reasonable level so that you are not be going into further debt under the arrangement.

Once we come to an agreement on a temporary financial arrangement we will confirm this agreement in writing via letter or email.

We will not charge you for assessing your circumstances or administering any temporary financial arrangement.

You must let us know if your circumstances change during our arrangement. Please be aware that if you provide false or incomplete information we may cancel any hardship arrangements.

Other ways to find help
You can talk to a phone financial counsellor from anywhere in Australia by ringing 1800 007 007 (minimum opening hours are 9.30 am – 4.30 pm Monday to Friday). This number will automatically switch through to the service in the State or Territory closest to you.

Alternatively, you can find the financial counselling service nearest to you by visiting https://ndh.org.au/Talk-to-a-financial-counsellor/Find-a-financial-counsellor/.

You may ask us to deal with a Financial Counsellor on your behalf. In order for us to speak to your Financial Counsellor you must be present, or we must have your prior authority. Please contact us for further information.

Contacting us
Please contact us as soon as possible if you are experiencing any difficulties paying for your services. You can call 1800 10 10 50 between 9am and 5pm weekdays if you would like to discuss any Financial Hardship matters with us.

Complaints Process
We are dedicated to providing excellent customer service. Our complaints handling process aims to ensure all complaints are handled fairly and effectively.

We will:

  • provide a quick, fair and structured mechanism for handling customer complaints
  • keep customers informed about the progress of their complaint and the expected timeframe for resolution
  • inform customers about their options for external dispute resolution (eg, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman)
  • regularly review our complaints handling process to improve our standard of customer service

How to make a complaint
Please call our customer service on 1800 10 10 50 between 9am and 5pm weekdays to discuss your complaint as soon as possible. You can also make a complaint by using any of the contact methods on our website.

You can choose to have an authorised representative or advocate to make a complaint on your behalf.

Free of charge
Making a complaint is generally free. We may only charge you a fee in specific circumstances and we will not impose a fee without discussing this with you.

We may charge you a fee where your complaint requires us to retrieve archived records that are more than 2 years old, or where you ask us for information that is not free under our Standard Form of Contract or Critical Information Summary. You can choose not to pay the fee and discontinue your complaint. If we resolve your complaint in your favour we will refund you the full amount of any fees charged within 30 days.

What happens next
Upon receiving your complaint, we will confirm that we are investigating your complaint by telephone or writing within 2 working days. [We will give you a reference number or similar to allow you to easily follow up on your complaint].

If your complaint is urgent, such as if you are undergoing financial hardship under our Financial Hardship Policy, if your service is about to be disconnected, or if you are receiving Priority Assistance for the service (eg, for medical reasons), we will prioritise your complaint and aim to resolve it within 2 working days. If we cannot, we will explain the reasons why it is taking longer.

If we cannot resolve your complaint immediately, we may need to investigate it. We will keep you informed of the progress of your complaint, proposed actions, and the expected time frame for resolution.

We will generally investigate and resolve your matter within 15 working days. Complex complaints may take longer than 15 working days to resolve. In this case, we will keep you updated on the reason for the delay and likely time frame for resolution. In the event that the anticipated delay is longer than a further 10 working days and is not the result of a declared mass service disruption, we will advise you of your options for external dispute resolution including the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman. We will always advise you of the outcome of your complaint. [Where we need to fix your problem, we will agree with you on how this will be done]. Where you have requested us to do so, we will advise you in writing.
If you are unhappy with our complaints handling process

If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint, you may ask us to escalate your complaint to our senior management team. We will also inform you about external dispute resolution options, for example the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.

Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman
We encourage you to contact us first if you are unhappy with your services from us. Alternatively, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) provides a free dispute resolution scheme for residential and small business telecommunication consumers. You can contact the TlO by:

Phone: 1800 062 058
Fax: 1800 630 614
Online: http://www.tio.com.au/making-a-complaint

Mobile Terms and Conditions
By submitting an application for a Carbon Comms Mobile Service, you are agreeing to acquire services from Carbon Comms Pty Limited, ACN 625 111 202. Once we have accepted your order some aspects of the service may be performed by our agents and you agree to deal with those agents as if they were us. You agree to comply with and be bound by the terms and conditions herein.

Application Declaration
The Customer (“You”) apply to Carbon Comms Pty Ltd for the supply of Telephone Services for the service numbers listed in your application. You acknowledge that: Mobile Services as listed in this application are subject to our Standard Form of Agreement which is a Standard Form of Agreement for the purposes of Part 23 of the Telecommunications Act 1997 (Cth). By submitting this application you agree that you have read and agree to abide by these terms and conditions. This application is accepted by us at the earlier of the time your mobile Services are activated or your SIM card is delivered. If you agree to a minimum term contract then the following early termination charges will apply if you terminate during that minimum term: Mobile Services and Mobile Broadband Services – $250 including GST. By submitting this application, the person submitting this application warrants that they are duly authorised to execute this application on behalf of the Customer.

Privacy
We will collect personal information about you or information about your company, including but not limited to your electronic contact details such as email address and telephone numbers for the purpose of administering the services for which you apply, and as set out in our privacy policy. Please see our website for a copy of our privacy policy. If you would prefer that we do not use your personal information and/or business information for direct marketing and/or for sending commercial electronic messages, please contact us.

Credit Checks
Prior to accepting your application, you have provided to us all information relevant to our assessment of your credit rating. You consent and acknowledge that you: Understand that the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) allows us to give a credit reporting agency certain personal information about you; The information we disclose to a credit reporting agency includes 60 days overdue and for which debt collection action has started, information that in our opinion you have acted fraudulently or shown an intention not to comply with your credit obligations, and cheques drawn by you for $100 or more which have been dishonoured more than once; Agree to our obtaining from a credit reporting agency a credit report containing information about your personal credit worthiness for purposes of assessing your application and assisting in collecting overdue payments, and to our obtaining information about your commercial activities or commercial credit worthiness from any business which provides information about the commercial credit worthiness of persons, your accountant or any other supplier to you; Agree to our giving to and obtaining from any credit provider named in your application or in a credit report on you issued by a credit reporting agency, information about your credit arrangements for the purpose of assessing your application, notifying a default by you, allowing another credit provider to ascertain the status of your arrangements with us where you are in default with one or more other credit providers and generally assessing your credit worthiness; and Understand the information exchanged can include any information about your business, personal and/or commercial credit worthiness, credit history or credit capacity which the Privacy Act allows credit providers to give to or receive from each other.

Direct Debit Terms & Conditions
1. We agree to be bound by this agreement when we receive your Direct Debit details complete with the particulars we need to draw an amount under it. 2. We only draw money out of your account in accordance with the terms of your agreement with the Company. 3. On giving you at least 14 days’ notice, we may: Change our procedures in this agreement; Change the terms of your Direct Debit; or Cancel your Direct Debit. 4. When contacting us, you may ask us to cancel your Direct Debit. Please be aware that if direct debit or card charge is required for your service and you ask to cancel or alter the terms of your Direct Debit, this may also involve cancellation of your service with us (and may result in costs and charges to you). 5. You may dispute any amount we draw under Direct Debit by contacting us, detailing your customer reference details and your bank account or credit card number as applicable. You must provide a detailed explanation of the basis for the dispute to assist in a resolution. 6. We deal with any dispute by the following procedure: We will investigate the dispute, and where necessary you are expected to provide your cooperation. This cooperation may include contacting your bank, providing account statements, or other means of substantiating a dispute. While a dispute is being investigated, you may request that we suspend pending payments until a resolution is reached and we may suspend your telephone service/s until a resolution is reached. Please note that we will keep written record of dispute proceedings to assist in dispute resolution 7. If the day on which you must make any payment to us is not a business day, we will draw on your account under your Direct Debit on the following business day. If your financial institution rejects any of our attempts to draw an amount in accordance with your Direct Debit, we may continue to seek that payment and recoupment of any fees incurred by us as a consequence of that rejection until all amounts due are paid. 8. We will not disclose to any person any information you give us on your Direct Debit, which is not publicly available, unless you dispute any amount we draw under your Direct Debit and we need to disclose any information relating to your Direct Debit or to you or your financial institution to resolve the dispute. 9. To contact us in accordance with the above, please use the contact details available on our website by clicking on the link titled “Contact Us”.

Term
This Agreement commences upon the later of (i) the date you submit this application; or (ii) the date this application is accepted by us, our acceptance is shown by us accepting this application in writing or by us issuing you an invoice for the Services; or, by providing the Services or products, and continues for the Minimum Term.

Mobile Porting Authority
Porting hours: 8am to 6pm Mon-Fri and 10am to 6pm on Sat (AEDST/AEST), except national public holidays. Porting must take place within 30 days of the submission date of this application. You authorise: Your mobile service numbers to be ported to us. The mobile service numbers, the identity of your new service provider (us) and network type to be disclosed to other network providers and portability service suppliers for the purpose of complaint handling, network fault management, and the routing of calls and SMS messages to your mobile service number after porting activity has taken place. You acknowledge and agree that: You are authorised to request the porting of the mobile service numbers listed in this application. You have been advised that by porting the mobile service numbers listed in this application, the service and/or related services associated with that number may or may not be disconnected from the existing mobile service provider. There may be costs and obligations associated with your existing mobile service and with porting your mobile service numbers. You may or may not have an existing contract with your existing mobile service provider; and your current contract may or may not include an obligation to make an early termination payment to your existing service provider.

Acceptance and Authorisation
1. All prices are quoted inclusive of GST. 2. Full pricing can be viewed on the Critical Information Summaries for the specific plan. 3. Mobile Broadband plans are data only plans, with no capability to receive and send calls (including emergency calls), SMS and MMS. 4. Excluded (non-standard) call types are: Call forwarding (Nano and Mini only), directory services, international voice including calls to fixed lines or mobiles that switch/divert or recalling, international roaming, Premium Calls, Premium SMS, VoIP services and 19xx services. 5. When the included call value amount on a plan is reached all calls will be charged at the standard rates. 6. Fair Usage policy applies to all mobile plans in relation to call usage, SMS, MMS, and data. 7. Calls are charged in 60 second increments. 8. A set amount of mobile data is included each month as part of the mobile plan. Unused monthly data allowance cannot be rolled over. 9. Upon exceeding the monthly included data allowance, you will be charged excess data as per the rates listed in the Critical Information Summaries for the specific plan. 10. Data usage will be metered in kilobytes, where 1024 bytes = 1 Kilobyte (KB) and includes both uploads and downloads. 11. Carbon Comms uses part of Telstra’s 4G and 3G mobile network. 12. The mobile product of Carbon Comms Pty Ltd (ACN 625111202) with Nano, Mini, Standard, Super, Max, Small Medium and Large mobile plans using parts of Telstra’s 4G and 3G mobile network with a 4G coverage footprint of 96.5% and a combined 4G and 3G coverage footprint of more than 98.8% of the Australian population covering 1.62 million square kilometres. 13. Handsets not capable of 4G will only receive 3G coverage. 14. Check your area at https://www.telstra.com.au/coverage-networks/our-coverage. 15. An Early Termination Fee (ETF) of $250 (including GST) applies if you change plans, porting your number away or cancel your service. The total amount owing will be the cost of any usage incurred up until the time of cancellation plus the minimum monthly charge and the respective ETF. 16. Telstra Retail Customer Service numbers 132000, 132203, 132674 and 132999 are billed as Excess Usage on Nano and Mini plans. 17. Mini, Standard, Super and Max PROMO T&Cs;: 1.Promotions valid from 16 April 2018 to 30 September 2018. 2. Not to be used in conjunction with any other offer and/or promotion. 3. Discount applies for the duration of the contract term to eligible sales (Mini, Standard, Super and Max Promo) activated between 16 April 2018 to 30 September 2018. 4. Only Prima Mobile services contracted for a 12-month period are eligible. 5. Promotional pricing is forfeited if a service is cancelled, ported out, is suspended for 3 months or more and/or changes plan to a lower spend service (including to another Promo plan). 6. A full ETF of $250.00 including GST applies at any time. 7. Carbon Comms Pty Ltd reserves the right to vary the terms of these promotions at any time.

Overdue Accounts Incur Debt Collection Processes & Fees
Any accounts not paid by 30 days of the due date, will have all services barred.
Accounts in arrears 60 days or more will see the services terminated with all outstanding moneys becoming due and payable immediately.
Further, you will indemnify us and will be liable for, all loss and damage, out-of-pocket expenses and all other reasonable expenses and disbursements incurred by us in this matter, including but not limited to legal costs on a solicitor/own basis, Search fees and debt collection costs (as if the debt had been collected) and any other contingent expenses incurred by us for the enforcement of any obligations we are at liberty to take against you, for the recovery of moneys owed by you to us.

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