MSD - Melbourne and Surrounding Districts - 29 November 2018

CUSTOMER SERVICE ADVICE FROM OPTUS

Delay due to severe weather events in parts of the Central and North Central Districts of Victoria.

Parts of the Central and North Central Districts of Victoria were impacted by severe weather on or about Thursday 22 November 2018.

An interruption to Optus normal operations has occurred leading to delays in installation and repair activities. As many as 2,250 Optus services are impacted in the area bounded by and including, but not limited to, the area starting at Morning Star Beach following the coastline of Port Phillip Bay northerly past Frankston, Sandringham and St Kilda to Sandridge Lookout. From Sandridge Lookout the area heads northwest to Keilor Downs, north to Bulla, and east to Somerton then north to Wallan. The area turns east to Glenburn, southeast to East Warburton, and south to Tonimbuk then west to Beaconsfield Upper. From Beaconsfield Upper the area heads southwest to Lynbrook, southeast to the North Western Port Nature Conservation Reserve, and west to Moorooduc then northwest back to Morning Star Beach. All suburbs and towns serviced by Optus within these boundaries are encompassed in this exemption.

How will this affect you?

Unfortunately, your service may be affected and we may take longer than normal to fix telephone services or complete connections. Services in the area mentioned above with phone numbers in the following number ranges may have been affected:

We anticipate that the majority of services will be restored by 9 December 2018. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this delay may cause but we can assure you we are working hard to get things back on track.

What else do you need to know?

Information as to the nature of these severe weather events can be sourced from the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM). Damaging winds are referred to in the BOM Severe Weather Warning issued for 22 November 2018 initially at 5:02 pm Thursday, 22 November 2018, reference number IDV21037; all of which were widely reported in the news media after the events.

Due to this event, we're claiming an exemption under section 21 of the Telecommunications (Customer Service Guarantee) Standard 2011, including an exemption from the payment of compensation between 26 November 2018 to 9 December 2018 inclusive for any delays in fixing or connecting services, and the keeping of appointments relating to these activities in the impacted area.

Need more information?

If you have any questions regarding your eligibility for a CSG payment under this notice, or wish to have us reconsider whether the circumstances were a proper basis for claiming an exemption, you can contact Optus on 13 39 37 – quoting CSG exemption reference number 26112018-VIC-S-C-P-MELBOURNE AND SURROUNDING DISTRICTS_RUNL.

You can also view a copy of this notice on our Internet site www.optus.com.au/msd.

If, after calling Optus on the above number, you remain unsatisfied with our response to your query, you have the option of raising the matter with the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO). Information on the TIO and contact details are available on the Internet (www.tio.com.au) and in the White Pages® telephone directory.