TIO – Tricks of the trade: Part 2
We learned how to approach and assess a TIO complaint in the first part of this series.
in this second part, we look at how to effectively respond to the TIO and achieve the best outcomes.
In the first part we determined who the complainant is and what the complaint is. Now it’s time to respond to that TIO complaint. The way you respond can have a significant impact upon the final outcome.
The TIO isn’t quite a level playing field
Although the TIO scheme is an impartial alternative dispute resolution process, many of the investigators assume the telco / ISP is at fault, and use a number of techniques to trap unsuspecting telcos / ISPs and effectively force a complainant-friendly resolution. Much of the time telcos / ISPs enable this because of the way they respond.
Rule Number 1
Answer the question. Not only questions posed by the TIO but questions raised by the issue itself.
Too often we see CSPs who have responded to the TIO only to receive 6 page replies, asking further questions and repeating questions that they asked in the first place. The cause of this is the nature of the response. Having determined what the complaint is, a response needs to address the questions in issue and those posed by the TIO.
A proper response the first time can save a lot of correspondence going back and forward.
Rule Number 2
Keep it simple.
Too often we see responses that have been drafted, which detail the history of the Roman Empire. It is these responses, which more often than not, raise more issues for the TIO to investigate – leading to an adverse finding against the CSP.
The best way to respond is to keep it simple. The skill of drafting is being able to write less – less really is more.
Address the questions and claims made by the complainant in a systematic and methodical way. It is best to support a response with a copy document attached, instead of trying to copy slabs of a document into you response.
State the point, or the response, and then refer to Exhibit A or Exhibit B and so on. This not only makes your response more credible, but makes it easier for the TIO to easily understand the point you are trying to make.
Besides, we have seen many situations where the TIO has not properly read responses, because of their length. This only resulted in further questions being asked, even though the response actually addressed them.
Food for thought
In summary, handling a TIO complaint should be dealt with by using a simple process and remembering basic rules:
- Determine the complainant
- Determine the complaint
- Answer the question
- Keep it simple
With these things in mind, the results you achieve should speak for themselves.
Comments
Leave a Reply