The Customer Service Guarantee sets the maximum time we may take to connect your phone service, repair a fault and keep an appointment — and it entitles you to compensation if we miss those times. This document explains what is covered, what is not, what happens if you agree to waive your rights, and how to get it sorted out if something goes wrong.
01 · What the Customer Service Guarantee is
The Customer Service Guarantee (CSG) is a legal protection for people who use a standard telephone service. It is created by the Telecommunications (Customer Service Guarantee) Standard 2011, made by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) under the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999 — the Act allows the rules to be made, and the Standard is where the obligations actually live.
Most Pear services are not covered by the CSG. The Customer Service Guarantee applies only to a standard telephone service — a traditional fixed voice line that meets the legal definition. Most of what we sell, including Hosted-X and our business VoIP services, is not a standard telephone service, so the CSG timeframes and compensation in this document do not apply to them. If you are not sure whether a particular service of yours is covered, ask us and we will tell you plainly. Your other protections — our Complaint Handling Policy, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman and the Australian Consumer Law — apply either way.
It applies to Pear Australia Pty Ltd (Pear) as your provider. You never have to sign up for it or ask for it: where it applies, it applies automatically, and so does any compensation. Full details of your rights and our obligations are published by the ACMA at acma.gov.au.
WHAT'S COVERED
02 · What the guarantee covers
The CSG covers:
- A standard telephone service — an ordinary fixed voice line — and the line it runs over.
- Certain enhanced call handling features: Call Waiting, Call Barring, Call Divert, Calling Number Display and Calling Number Display Suppression.
- Connecting those services, repairing faults on them, and appointments made for either.
It does not cover:
- Mobile, internet and data services.
- Equipment you own — handsets, routers and the cabling on your side of the network boundary point.
- Accounts with more than five telephone services.
- Services where you have waived your CSG rights (see section 5), and periods covered by a declared Mass Service Disruption (see section 6).
03 · The timeframes we must meet
The timeframes below come from the CSG Standard and depend on where your service is. Working days exclude weekends and public holidays in your state or territory.
Connecting a service
- Where a working line is already in place and we only need to switch the service on — 2 working days, anywhere in Australia.
- Where new work is needed — 5 working days in urban areas, 10 working days in rural areas, 15 working days in remote areas.
Repairing a fault
- Urban areas — by the end of the next working day after you report the fault.
- Rural areas — by the end of the second working day; remote areas, by the end of the third.
Appointments
- If we make an appointment to connect a service or repair a fault, we have to keep it. If we miss it, or turn up outside the agreed window, compensation is payable.
- If you cannot make an appointment, tell us early and we will rebook it. If you are not there for one you agreed to, the delay that follows is not counted against us.
04 · What you get if we miss a timeframe
If we miss a CSG timeframe, you are entitled to compensation for each working day of delay. The CSG Standard sets a daily amount for the first five working days, a higher daily amount after that, and a cap on the total for any one incident. The current amounts are published by the ACMA at acma.gov.au.
You never have to claim
CSG compensation is not a claims process. We work out what is owed and credit it to your account, normally on your next bill, with a line showing what it is for. If a credit looks missing or wrong, call us and we will check it.
05 · Waiving your CSG rights
You can agree to give up — waive — some or all of your CSG rights. Some of our pricing is built on that: a lower rate on a service, in exchange for the CSG timeframes and compensation not applying to it. Our application form asks you to make that choice, and we would rather you made it knowing exactly what you are trading away.
A waiver only counts if all of this is true:
- It is express. You have to actually agree. Silence, an unticked box or a line buried in fine print is not a waiver.
- It is informed, and informed beforehand. Before you agree, we must give you what the CSG Standard requires: the timeframes, the compensation you would otherwise get, and what you are giving up. Telling you afterwards is too late.
- It is specific. A waiver covers only the services and the timeframes it names. It does not roll onto other services on your account.
- It is recorded. We keep a record of every waiver, including what you were told and when, and will give you a copy on request.
- It is not permanent. You can ask us to remove a waiver. If that changes the price of your plan, we will tell you the new price before anything changes.
A waiver affects the CSG timeframes and CSG compensation only. It does not touch your rights under the Australian Consumer Law, your right to complain, or your right to take a complaint to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.
Not sure whether you have waived?
Ask us — it is a fair question and we will answer it in writing. Call 1300 007 327 or email hello@peartelco.com.au and we will tell you which of your services carry a CSG waiver, what each one covers, and what it would cost to remove it.
06 · When the guarantee does not apply
In some situations the CSG Standard allows us not to meet the timeframes.
- Mass Service Disruptions. Large-scale events — floods, bushfires, storms, major network damage — can trigger an exemption that releases Pear from the CSG timeframes for a defined area and period. Our Mass Service Disruptions Policy explains how that works and how to challenge it, and current disruptions are listed at peartelco.com.au/msd.
- Circumstances outside our reasonable control that stop us connecting a service or repairing a fault.
- Where you have waived your CSG rights for that service.
- Where the delay is caused at your end — access could not be arranged, an agreed appointment was not kept, or the fault is in your own equipment or cabling.
- Where you have more than five telephone services with us.
07 · How to raise it with us
There is one route, and it is short. You will not be passed around a claims department, because we do not have one.
- Talk to us. Call 1300 007 327, email hello@peartelco.com.au, or write to 25 Gordonia Grove, Baulkham Hills NSW 2153. Tell us the service and what happened, and we will tell you what we find.
- Ask us to look again. If you disagree with the answer, ask for it to be reviewed. We will treat that as a complaint, handle it under our complaint handling process, and put the outcome in writing.
- Take it to the Ombudsman. The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman is free and independent. Call 1800 062 058, visit tio.com.au, or write to PO Box 276, Collins Street West VIC 8007. You can go to the TIO at any time — we would simply rather have the chance to fix it first.
- If we have missed a timeframe, tell us. Call 1300 007 327 or email hello@peartelco.com.au. Version 2.0, effective 1 August 2026 — read this alongside our Mass Service Disruptions Policy and our Standard Form of Agreement.
Prefer a copy on file? Download the Customer Service Guarantee as a PDF →
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