Photo: Unsplash/ Nathan Dumlao
The country's big mobile providers have taken a step backwards when it comes to their transparency with customers, a consumer watchdog says.
Consumer NZ's annual review with the Commerce Commission, released on Tuesday, showed Spark, One NZ and 2degrees all scored poorly.
Consumer NZ product test writer Nick Gelling said 2degrees' new app was "significantly less helpful than its old one" in terms of how it showed data used.
"Usage data is now only available in a daily view, instead of the monthly view that was previously offered. Spend data also used to be presented as a chart - now it's just a list of transactions," he said.
Spark had stopped sending annual 'Made For You Review' summaries showing customers' calls, texts and data use.
"Last year, we were really stoked about that because it offered a personalised suggestion for each customer to either stay on their current plan or switch to a better one, better suited to their usage. We thought that was great. But that's gone this year, so it's a real shame," he said.
One NZ had not made any changes at all, Consumer NZ said.
While it still had the most comprehensive annual summary email, One NZ's app continued to only show customers the latest two to three months of their history, meaning they were "unfairly limited to viewing stats by the season", Gelling said.
"One NZ's excellent annual summary shows it's collecting really useful information. We'd like to see that communicated in the customer app, too," he said.
It was the first time since the review began in 2022 that there had been no improvement with any company, Gelling said.
"Consumers have a right ... to know their own usage, their own information, so that they can make good choices. The providers seem to be going backwards on some of this," he said.
Telecommunications providers already held that information, he said.
"You deserve to have easy and clear access to that information, too, so you can switch plans or providers to get the best deal for your specific needs," he said.
Only about 10 percent of customers switch mobile providers each year, Gelling said.
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