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 - discount a bill - apply a credit to your account - give you credit in exchange for payments you make - transfer you to a different plan 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 at https://orionsat.com.au/legal or by calling our help desk on 1300 880 663 or emailing us at https://orionsat.com.au/legal. - 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: tio.com.au - phone 1800 062 058 - Email tio@tio.com.au - 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.