Mass Service Disruptions Policy

Sometimes an event nobody can control — a flood, a bushfire, a storm, a cut cable — takes out phone services across a whole area at once. This policy explains what that means for the guarantees we owe you, how we will keep you informed while it is going on, and what to do if you think we have got it wrong.

01 · Who this policy is for

This policy applies to Pear Australia Pty Ltd (Pear) and to the services we supply to our customers. It should be read together with our Customer Service Guarantee, because the two documents depend on each other.

Pear is a reseller. We supply your service over networks that other companies build and maintain. When one of those networks is damaged, our ability to connect a service or repair a fault is affected too — even though the damage is nowhere near our own equipment. This policy is about what we do when that happens on a large scale.

02 · What a Mass Service Disruption actually is

A Mass Service Disruption — an MSD — is a large-scale event that prevents services being connected or faults being repaired within the normal timeframes, for many customers at the same time. It is not an ordinary fault on your line, and it is not a busy week. It is an event big enough that the usual clock stops making sense.

The kinds of events that can cause one:

• Natural disasters and emergencies — floods, bushfires, cyclones.
• Extreme weather — severe storms, lightning strikes, prolonged heat.
• Major damage to network infrastructure — a fibre cable cut by roadworks, a fire or flood in an exchange, a failed power supply serving a whole area.
• Failures in the networks or facilities of the suppliers we buy from.
• Other events outside our reasonable control — for example, an emergency services exclusion zone that stops technicians getting to the site at all.

The Telecommunications (Customer Service Guarantee) Standard 2011 allows a provider to claim an exemption from the CSG performance timeframes while an MSD is in effect. An exemption is not open-ended: it is declared for a defined area, for a defined period, and it ends when the disruption does. The exemption process is set out in the CSG Standard and explained on the ACMA website at acma.gov.au.

03 · What an exemption means for you

When a Mass Service Disruption exemption applies to your area, it releases Pear — us, not our suppliers — from meeting the CSG performance timeframes for the length of the disruption. For the affected services, in the affected area, for that period, we are not required to meet the standard connection and repair times, and CSG compensation does not build up for that delay.

Here is what an exemption does not do:

• It does not stop us working. An exemption changes the clock, not the commitment. We keep chasing the fix, and we keep pressing our suppliers.
• It does not cover your whole account. Services outside the declared area, and faults unrelated to the disruption, stay covered by the CSG in the normal way.
• It does not last a day longer than the disruption. When the disruption ends, normal CSG timeframes resume, and we will tell you when that has happened.
• It does not take away your right to complain. You can raise it with us, and you can take it to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.
• It does not affect your rights under the Australian Consumer Law, or any credit or refund you would otherwise be entitled to for a service you could not use.
• In one sentence An MSD exemption pauses the CSG clock for a defined area and a defined time — it does not pause our work, and it does not pause your right to be heard.

04 · How we will tell you

If an MSD exemption applies to your area, we will publish the details and contact affected customers directly. We do not rely on newspaper notices.

• Our outage page at peartelco.com.au/msd. It lists the disruptions currently declared, the areas affected, what caused them where we know, what we expect to be restored and when. We keep it current for as long as the disruption lasts.
• SMS or email to affected customers, where we hold contact details that the outage itself has not knocked out.
• A recorded message on our support line, 1300 007 327, so you hear the current status before you spend time waiting to speak to somebody.
• Updates as the picture changes — including when the estimate moves, which is the update people most want and least often get.
• A clear message when the disruption is over and normal CSG timeframes apply again.

05 · What we owe you during an outage

The Telecommunications (Customer Communications for Outages) Industry Standard 2024 sets out what a provider must do to keep customers informed during an outage. It is made by the ACMA and it is directly enforceable. We follow it whether or not a Mass Service Disruption exemption has been claimed.

• Tell you directly. Where an outage affects your service and we have a way to reach you, we contact you rather than waiting for you to find out.
• Keep you updated. We tell you what we know, we tell you again when something material changes, and we tell you when your service is back.
• Publish current information. Current outage information stays on peartelco.com.au/msd for the duration, not just at the start.
• Give you a contact point. Call 1300 007 327 or email hello@peartelco.com.au for anything to do with an outage, including a service that is still down after the rest of the area is back.
• Take extra care with customers who need it. If you rely on your phone for medical or safety reasons, if you have a disability, or if you are in an area hit by a natural disaster, tell us — we will record it and factor it into how we contact you and how we prioritise your service.
• Keep records. We keep records of outages and of what we told customers, so the ACMA or the Ombudsman can check what actually happened.

If your service relies on mains power at your premises, or on equipment we or a supplier have installed, it may not work during a power failure. Please keep a charged mobile available for emergency calls, including calls to 000.

06 · If you think an exemption should not apply

You do not have to take our word for it. If you think an exemption has been claimed wrongly, applied to you when it should not be, or kept in place after the disruption ended, here is the path.

Background on the exemption rules and on your CSG rights generally is published by the Australian Communications and Media Authority at acma.gov.au.

Prefer a copy on file? Download the Mass Service Disruptions Policy as a PDF →

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