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Legal

Complaints Handling

The IT Dept Pty Ltd, trading as Underlay Networks. ABN 12 665 405 505

Making a complaint

Tell us when you are unhappy with a service, bill, support or our handling of an issue and want a response. You do not need to say “complaint”. If we are unsure, we will ask. This process is available to customers buying for their own business and wholesale customers; statutory consumer protections apply where your complaint is in scope.

A routine first request for information or help is not usually a complaint. A report of lost service that may be caused by a major or significant local network outage is treated under the network-outage process below even without an expression of dissatisfaction.

Free contact channels and help

  • Email hello@underlay.au at any time.
  • Call 02 4398 7080, 9am to 5pm Sydney time, Monday to Friday, excluding NSW public holidays, to speak to us about a complaint. Call the same number at any hour for an emergency Underlay network fault.
  • Write to Complaints, Underlay Networks, The IT Dept Pty Ltd, 40 Woolana Ave, Budgewoi NSW 2262.

We do not charge for making or handling a complaint. Your own provider's ordinary call or data charges may apply. Tell us the service or account, what happened, its impact and the outcome you want. You can use an authorised representative or advocate; we will check their authority while taking account of safety needs. We will help you lodge and progress a complaint if disability, language, hardship or another circumstance makes it difficult.

If you are Deaf, hard of hearing or have a speech communication difficulty, use the National Relay Service and ask to contact 02 4398 7080. Tell us your preferred accessible format, language assistance or safe contact method. See our Customer Safety Statement if ordinary account contact could put you at risk.

Acknowledgement and resolution

We give you a complaint reference and a contact for following up. We acknowledge a complaint immediately when you speak with us by phone, or within 2 working days after receiving it by email or post. We try to resolve it at first contact; otherwise we investigate and propose a resolution within 10 working days of receipt. These are complaint-handling deadlines, not a promise that an underlying outage will be repaired within that period.

Once you accept a resolution, we implement it within 5 working days, unless you agree otherwise or an action you agreed to take is outstanding. We confirm implementation in writing within 5 working days. You can ask for a written explanation of the proposed outcome. A working day excludes weekends and applicable public holidays.

We tell you as soon as possible if we cannot meet a deadline, why, and the revised timeframe. For an urgent complaint, we advise of delay within 2 working days and explain external escalation options. For other complaints, we also provide TIO details where a delay extends more than 10 working days beyond the required timeframe, subject to the applicable standard's exceptions. If a complaint remains unresolved after 30 calendar days, we provide TIO information unless already given directly.

Urgent complaints

We prioritise urgent complaints and resolve them, including implementing the resolution, within 2 working days. Tell us if:

  • You have applied for or have a payment-assistance arrangement and the issue could worsen your financial position.
  • The complaint concerns a service for which you receive priority assistance.
  • Disconnection is imminent, or we disconnected a service without following the required process.
  • You are experiencing or may be experiencing domestic or family violence and indicate a threat to your safety or your children's safety.

We also assess other serious safety or health risks promptly. Urgent network-outage complaints have the additional protections below. Do not delay reporting an active network emergency while preparing a complaint. If anyone is in immediate danger, call 000 using a working phone.

Network-outage complaints

For a complaint about loss of service likely caused by a major or significant local network outage, we identify the outage, provide a reference, explain how to get available updates and tell you when restoration is reported. We record any request for a further remedy separately so restoration does not extinguish it.

After restoration, we send written information explaining how to get help if your service still fails, any general remedy offered, and how to pursue a further complaint. An ordinary network-outage complaint is not closed earlier than 3 working days after that notice unless you confirm successful restoration.

If the outage affects a priority-assistance service or creates a personal-safety or serious-health risk, we make reasonable efforts to help you stay connected. We seek confirmation within 2 calendar days of our restoration notice; if you report continued failure, we work to restore your service within 2 working days of that report. We complete the required follow-up before closing the urgent complaint. Available interim options depend on the service and outage; incoming-call diversion does not restore outbound emergency calls.

Internal escalation

Ask your complaint contact for a review by the person responsible for complaints if you are unhappy with progress, the proposed outcome or the urgency assessment. We review the facts, handling and available remedies; where practicable the reviewer is someone other than the original handler. Within 24 hours of a request or expression of dissatisfaction about progress, we explain prioritisation, escalation and TIO options. We assess and act on an escalation request within 5 working days, while preserving any shorter urgent deadline.

External help and the TIO

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman provides free, independent dispute resolution for eligible residential and small-business complaints. Contact the TIO on 1800 062 058, use its online complaint process, or write to PO Box 276, Collins Street West VIC 8007. Contact us first so we have a chance to resolve the issue. The TIO can explain its jurisdiction and assess whether it can assist, including when the supplier's membership position needs checking.

For complaints covered by the consumer complaints standard: if you are not satisfied with how we have handled your complaint, you have the right to take it to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, which is a free and independent service.

A wholesale commercial dispute may fall outside the TIO's jurisdiction. That does not remove contractual or legal remedies. ACMA explains regulatory complaint options. For personal-information concerns, see our Privacy Policy and the OAIC route it describes.

Records, fairness and contact

We record the issue, reference, investigation, communications, agreed actions and outcome, and review recurring problems. We do not pursue a genuinely disputed amount while investigating the relevant complaint under applicable protections. Undisputed bills remain payable, subject to payment assistance.

If we cannot reach you, we make the contact attempts and give written notice required by the applicable complaints standard before closing a complaint for lack of contact. We respect agreed safe-contact arrangements. Raising a complaint does not remove your right to ordinary support or other legal remedies.

A reseller's end customer normally complains to their retail provider. We assist that provider with the Underlay component and act directly where safety, security or law requires it.

Last updated 1 October 2026 · Version 2026-10-01.1