Hardship Policy
Summary of financial hardship policy
"Financial hardship" occurs when a customer is unable to pay financial obligations due to illness, unemployment or other reasonable causes, and the customer reasonably expects to be able to clear the outstanding amounts if payment and or service arrangements were changed. It is due to an inability of the customer to pay bills rather than electing not to pay or pay when convenient.
It can arise through:
- Loss of employment of the customer or family member
- Family breakdown
- Illness, including physical incapacity, hospitalization, or mental illness of the customer or family member
- A death in the family
- Other factors resulting in unforeseen change in the customers capacity to meet their obligations
When deciding if a customer is facing financial hardship or simply seeking to defer payment TSN may seek evidence such as:
- A statutory declaration from a person familiar with the customers circumstances (family doctor, clergy, bank officer, etc) or
- Evidence of the customer having consulted with a recognised financial counsellor or a booking to see a financial counsellor.
TSN will endeavour to ensure that any continued service in hardship cases will be at a level that allows reasonable debt reduction payments without worsening the customer’s financial position. This may include limiting access to services that incur additional charges such as long distance, mobiles calls, any value added services etc.
Customers should direct hardship inquiries to the Financial Hardship Case Manager by calling 131486 or writing to:
Financial Hardship Case Manager
TSN Communications
PO Box 5293
Port Macquarie NSW 2444
There are many other options for managing telephone expenditure and financial hardship, including support and counselling, and these are set out in the ACMA fact sheet at:
http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_2939