Zero3 - Payment Assistance

Zero3 Telecom

Payment Assistance Policy –Summary    

1               Battling to pay your telco bill?

If you’re a financial hardship customer, you have a right to apply for short term financial hardship assistance (up to three billing cycles)
or long term assistance (more than three billing cycles).  
Assistance is free of charge.

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2               What counts as financial hardship?

Financial hardship is when you can’t pay what you owe us because of things like:
·        personal or household illness;
·        unemployment;
·        low or insufficient income, including reduced access to income;
·        being a victim survivor of domestic or family violence;
·        a death in the family;
·        a change in personal or family circumstances;
·        a natural disaster;
·        unexpected events or unforeseen changes that have impacted your income or expenditure; or
·        other reasonable causes,

but you think you could pay if we had an agreed arrangement for one or more of the financial hardship assistance options we offer.

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3               What assistance options do we offer?

If you’re a financial hardship customer, we may agree to:
·        allow you more time to pay a bill  
·        accept a payment plan tailored to your ability to pay  
·        discount a bill
·        apply a credit to your account
·        match payments that you make
·        give you credit in exchange for payments you make
  ·      put controls on you incurring charges e.g. spend controls
·        put restrictions on your service
·        remove non-essential service features, without any cost penalty to you
·        transfer you to a different product that better suits your circumstances
·        adjust internal threshold limits so that you are not disconnected
·        offer you a free non-automatic payment method.

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4               How to apply for assistance

Apply by filling out an application form, available online at https://zero3.net.au/paymentassistance or
by calling our helpdesk on 1300 01 03 03 or emailing us at paymentassistance@zero3.net.au.

If you need help with an application, just call our help desk.

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5               You can complain about financial hardship matters

(a)           You can complain to us –  see our Complaint Handling Process here (https://zero3.net.au/complaints).

(b)          If you’re still not happy, you can complain to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO):

TIO website: tio.com.au
phone: 1800 062 058
email: tio@tio.com.au
fax: 1800 630 614
post: PO Box 276, Collins Street West, VIC 8007

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6               Other places to get help

You can also get information and advice from:
(a)           TIO – details above; and
(b)          financial counselling services.  
To find and contact a suitable financial counselling service, visit the
Australian Government information page at moneysmart.gov.au/managing-debt/financial-counselling

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