Customers of telecommunications providers may need to appoint an Advocate or Authorised Representative to communicate with their provider for a range of reasons.
This could include, for example, making use of the services of a financial counsellor, using interpreters for communications with their provider, or having another family member appointed to their account.
These needs can be both short and long term, and may require different levels of access to an account.
Authorised Representative
An authorised representative means the person who has authority from a customer to deal with a supplier, including to discuss or make changes to a customer’s account without that customer being present, on behalf of that customer.
An authorised representative effectively becomes the account holder, with all the same permissions, including the ability to open or close services and add other authorised representatives.
Advocate
An advocate means a person nominated by a customer to deal with a supplier on the customer’s behalf, who cannot make changes on a customer’s behalf to a customer’s account without the customer being present and agreeing to such action.
An advocate may perform the following without the customer being present:
- request account records – such as contract, critical information summary, bills, or other – be sent to an address, email address, or other contact information previously established with the customer
- can discuss specific issues with the supplier on behalf of the customer, but cannot make any decisions or changes to the account. For example, can negotiate a financial hardship arrangement with the supplier, but the supplier should then contact the customer to get their agreement to enter into that arrangement.
- can pay the bill on an account.
- can work with the supplier on troubleshooting for devices or services on the account.
Appointing an Advocate or Authorised Representative
We will need to verify your identity when appointing a new authorised representative or advocate to an account.
If you wish to appoint an authorised representative or an advocate, please download the applicable form below, complete it and return it to us.