Quantitative research report
Use of spend management tools
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- 4. 3G bill-payers’ understanding of their contracts
- Key findings
- Reading the contract
- Understanding the contract
Use of spend management toolsThis section examines the use of spend management tools among 3G bill-payers. The extent to which these monitoring credit services are used provides some indication of consumers’ level of awareness of phone usage prior to receiving a bill and the extent to which they engage in behaviours that may prevent an unexpectedly high bill. Chapter 5 explores possible linkages between the use of spend management tools and the incidence of receiving a higher than expected bill. Just over half of 3G bill-payers use spend management tools, with 47 per cent not using any tools to monitor their mobile usage and costs (Figure 10). The most common tool, used by 18 per cent of 3G bill-payers, was to check usage on the providers’ website. The next most commonly used tools were notification by SMS when nearing credit limit (16 per cent) and checking usage by texting the provider (14 per cent). A significantly higher proportion of 3G feature users (26 per cent) than non-3G feature users (12 per cent) monitor their usage on the providers’ website (Figure 10). This was also higher among younger age groups, reflecting the higher likelihood of usage of 3G features by younger bill-payers in general. Overall, 3G feature users (63 per cent) were more likely to use spend management tools than non-3G feature users (45 per cent). This may be due to the fact that the non-3G users group uses fewer phone features and has less need to monitor usage. Alternatively, it may reflect a different level of awareness of monitoring tools between the two groups.
4. 3G bill-payers’ understanding of their contractsThis section examines the level of understanding of charging and billing arrangements among 3G customers in Australia. Information is presented on the level of overall understanding of the contract as well as specific aspects of charging and billing arrangements. A further aim is to investigate the level of understanding of different aspects of plans and across different consumer groups. Findings are presented for fixed-line customers, 3G feature users and non-3G feature users, and parent and adult 3G bill-payers. A detailed analysis of the extent and nature of bill shock, including a breakdown by the level of understanding of the payment plan, is presented in Chapter 6. Key findingsFindings in this section provide considerable insights into mobile bill-payers’ understanding of billing and charging arrangements:
Reading the contractThe proportion of people who read at least half of their contract is no higher than 51 per cent, regardless of which target group of mobile bill-payers is considered. When comparing differences across customer groups, 3G feature users (19 per cent) are less likely than non-3G users (14 per cent) to read the contract at all.
Understanding the contractA key objective of this study is to assess the level of understanding of charging and billing arrangements among 3G bill-payers in Australia. Bill-payers were asked to rate their overall level of understanding of the contract they signed on a scale where a choice of zero indicated they did not understand the contract at all and 10 indicated that they understood the contract extremely well. A bill-payer was deemed to understand a contract based on a rating of six or higher on this scale. Approximately three-quarters of bill-payers across all groups indicated that they had a reasonable or very good understanding of their contract. There was very little variation in the level of understanding between different bill-payer groups. However, bill-payers were less confident in their understanding of some aspects of billing and charging arrangements. When asked about the parts of the contract that they found most difficult to understand, the language, charging arrangements and consequences of exceeding the cap limit were identified. To compare groups, 13 per cent of adult bill-payers and seven per cent of parent bill-payers identified charging arrangements as the most difficult aspect of the contract to understand.
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