Payment Assistance Policy
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.
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.
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
- 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
- offer you a free non-automatic payment method.
4. How to apply for assistance
- Apply by filling out an application form, available online on this page or by calling our help desk on 1300 194 529 or emailing us at [email protected];
- If you need help with an application, just call our help desk.
5. You can complain about financial hardship matters
- You can complain to us – see our Complaint Handling Process here.
- If you’re still not happy, you can complain to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO):
- TIO website: https://www.tio.com.au/
- phone: 1800 062 058
- email: [email protected]
- fax: 1800 630 614
- post: PO Box 276, Collins Street West, VIC 8007
6. Other places to get help
You can also get information and advice from:
- TIO – details above; and
- 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
Additional Support
- National Relay Service: If you are deaf or have a hearing or speech impairment, you can contact us through the National Relay Service on 133 677. For more information, visit accesshub.gov.au/about-the-nrs.
- Translation Services: If you need help in another language, call the Translating and Interpreting Service on 131 450 and ask to be connected to Skymesh.
The Payment Assistance Policy applies to customers of Skymesh, Skymesh Connect, Bordernet, and Clear Networks.