Standard Terms for Residential Customers
The following terms normally apply whenever we do anything for our residential customers. Please call us on 123 if you have any questions about these terms.
Different terms may apply to some services we provide for residential customers, as we explain in these standard terms.
- These terms
- Other terms
- Our commitments to you
- Our network
- Our Wiring Maintenance Services
- Your responsibilities to us
- Your responsibilities for services you acquire from other suppliers responsibilities
- Telephone numbers
- Charges
- Our normal charges to you
- 0900 services
- Credit arrangements
- Billing
- Withholding, suspending or restricting services
- Your rights to compensation from us
- Exclusion of all other liability
- Limitation of our liability
- Information about you
- These terms apply at all times
- Changing these terms
- Sending bills and notices
- Meeting our responsibilities through agents
- Transferring our responsibilities
- Each term separately binding
- Giving up or ending services
- Ending the agreement you have with us
1. These terms
If you are one of our existing residential customers, these are the main terms of the agreement you have with us. They replace the existing Standard Terms for Residential Customers and apply from 25 September 2007. If you are not one of our existing residential customers, these are the main terms of the agreement you enter into with us when you ask us and we agree to do anything for you as a residential customer. In these terms we have used "we" for Telecom New Zealand Limited, "you" for our customer and "services" to cover all goods and services of any kind we provide and anything else we do.
2. Other terms
Other terms apply to some of our services. For example, additional terms apply when we provide Smartphone services or we or other service providers approved by us provide directories listing or directories assistance services for you as a residential customer. For further information about these services, please call us on 123. Different terms apply when we provide mobile services to you as a residential customer. Different terms also apply to internet, entertainment, information and other services provided by other Telecom companies. Please call us on 123 for information about how to obtain a copy of the terms applying to those services.
3. Our commitments to you
Providing new connections
We will provide new connections within 24 hours, Monday to Friday (except on public holidays), as long as there is a telephone in your home and a live Telecom telephone line connecting your home to our network, and any credit arrangements required under these terms are in place. Just call us on 123. And if we need to visit your home, we will arrange a time that is convenient to you. If there is no live Telecom telephone line connecting your home to our network, we will discuss with you what needs to be done to provide you with a live line, how long that is likely to take and what our charges will be.
Fixing faults
We will fix at no charge all faults on our network outside your home and in any telephone or other equipment you rent from us. If you are taking our optional standard Wiring Maintenance Service, we will also fix faults in the telephone sockets and wiring inside your home which are covered by the service. (Please see clause 5.) To report a fault call us on 120, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and if we need to visit your home we will do our best to arrange a time that is convenient to you.
Correcting telephone book listings
Telephone book listing services may be provided by us or another service provider approved by Telecom. Please, however, tell us if your telephone book listing is incorrect by calling us on 123. We will arrange for you to be correctly listed on the directory assistance service provided by or for us.
Problems with Calls
If you get cut off, get a bad line or dial the wrong number with a National or International call, hang up immediately and call us on 123. We will give you a one minute credit on your call and assist you as best we can to help you with your call. This does not apply to mobile or payphone calls.
Replacing faulty PhoneCards and Yabba Cards
If you have a Telecom PhoneCard or Yabba card which appears to be faulty, just fill in the complaint form available from any Telecom PhoneCard or Yabba retailer and send the form with the faulty PhoneCard or Yabba card to Telecom's Card Replacement Centre. We will check the card and, if it is faulty, send you a replacement card. If you cannot get a form from a Telecom PhoneCard or Yabba retailer, please call us on 0800 808 242.
Answering our queries about bills
If you have any queries about any part of your Telecom bill, call us on 123. We are available 7 days a week and can answer most queries on the spot. If there is a problem, you do not need to pay the queried portion of your bill until we investigate it and let you know whether or not there has been an error.
Our services
We will always do our best to provide our services but we do not guarantee they will be continuous or fault-free. We may alter our services from time to time. If we alter our services in a way that materially reduces the service offering currently received by you, we will provide you a minimum of 10 working days' notice and wherever possible, one month's notice of such alterations. We will tell you about any such alterations by emailing or writing to you and by publishing the change on our website.
4. Our network
Our network consists of all the communications facilities owned by us and by other Telecom companies which we use to provide our services for you and our other customers. Acquiring our services does not give you any rights in any part of our network. Our network normally ends where our cable enters the outside wall of your home.
5. Our Wiring Maintenance Services
Our optional standard service
We provide an optional standard Wiring Maintenance Service which covers the cost of fixing, during our normal fault service hours, most faults in the telephone sockets and wiring inside your home which are covered by the service. We will provide this service unless you tell us you no longer want it.
Sockets and wiring covered by our standard service
The standard service covers telephone sockets and wiring which meet and are installed to our specifications. For example:
- they must have a Telepermit
- they must be installed in compliance with our codes of practice and must not be mixed with non-complying telephone sockets and wiring or with the electrical wiring, sockets and switches in your home
- older style 3-wire sockets must not be mixed with modern 2-wire sockets and sockets not supplied by us must be designed to accept our standard 6-way telephone plug
- RJ45 sockets are covered by the Wiring Maintenance Service.
The standard service covers telephone wiring inside your home, not external cabling between your home and another building on your property such as a separate garage. Telephone sockets and wiring do not include equipment attached to the sockets such as extension cords or socket adaptors.
Faults covered by our standard service
We will fix all faults in the sockets and wiring covered by our standard Wiring Maintenance Service unless:
- any responsibility of yours relating to our network and equipment supplied by us has not been met; these responsibilities are set out in clause 6 of these terms
- a fault is caused by deliberate damage or interference to wiring or sockets
- the fault is caused by other wiring or equipment connected to the telephone sockets and wiring in your home.
Moving, adding to or changing sockets and wiring which are not faulty is not covered by our standard Wiring Maintenance Service.
Replacing sockets not in our product range
If we need to replace a decorative or other item not from our product range (such as a socket with a wood, metal or coloured faceplate) to fix a fault, we will replace it with something from our product range which performs the same function. If you have a replacement item not from our product range which you want us to install instead, we will install it if it complies with our standards.
Further information about our standard service
Please also call us on 123 for further information about our standard Wiring Maintenance Service, or if you no longer want us to maintain your telephone sockets and wiring. Call us on 120 to report a fault.
Verifying busy lines
We can verify for you whether a busy Telecom line is either off the hook, being used or faulty but we cannot "buzz" a busy line or interrupt the people using it, even if you think there is an emergency. In that situation, you should contact your local police. Nor can we verify busy lines on other network operators' networks. Verifying busy lines is not part of our Wiring Maintenance Service.
6. Your responsibilities to us
General responsibilities
You agree to meet these general responsibilities:
- make sure all information you give to us or to any service provider approved by us is correct and complete
- follow the instructions we provide about using our services and only use them for lawful purposes
- use our services without gaining unauthorised access to or interfering with anyone else's computer or communications equipment
- use our services without annoying anyone and without interfering with anyone else's use of our services.
Responsibilities relating to our network and equipment supplied by us
You also agree to meet these responsibilities relating to our network and to equipment you rent from us:
- never interfere with equipment you rent from us or with any part of our network, even if it is on your property; only people we authorise may work on the equipment or on our network
- let us or any of our agents or subcontractors come on to your property to work on our network or anything connected to it; we will always try to contact you before we do this and the people we send will carry proof of identity. If you do not grant access to your property this may impact on the services you or others receive from us, including our ability to provide you with the relevant service
- make sure nothing is connected to our network unless it has a Telepermit or Telecom label on it; this helps make sure the equipment does not damage our network but does not mean it will always remain compatible with our network
- pay for repairing or replacing any part of our network which is lost, stolen, or damaged by you or anyone you are responsible for
- make sure all telephone sockets and wiring which connect equipment you have to our network meet and are installed to our specifications; a standard telephone line can normally have up to 5 items of equipment directly connected to it
- make sure any additional wiring or equipment in your home, such as alarm systems, does not interfere with equipment you rent from us or with any part of our network
- pay for repairing or replacing any equipment you rent from us which is lost, stolen or damaged
- take any telephones or other equipment you rent from us with you if you change your address and wish to continue renting the equipment
- return any equipment you rent from us when you give up or we stop providing the rental service, unless we agree otherwise. If you don't return the equipment, we may charge you rental for it.
Responsibility for other people
You agree to make sure everyone you are responsible for also meets the responsibilities set out in this clause.
7. Your responsibilities for services you acquire from other suppliers responsibilities
Responsibility for your own equipment
We have responsibilities under these terms only for equipment connected to our network which you rent from us. If equipment supplied to you by someone else does not work properly, you need to contact the equipment supplier or manufacturer, rather than us, about the problem. Any responsibilities we may have for equipment you acquire from us other than by renting it will be covered by a separate agreement.
Responsibility for your own sockets and wiring
You are responsible for any telephone sockets and wiring inside your home and for fixing any faults in them not covered by our optional standard Wiring Maintenance Service. You are also responsible for any other wiring or equipment in your home, such as alarm systems connected to our network or cable television wiring.
If any of it interferes with the equipment you rent from us or with any part of our network, we have no responsibility to pay you any compensation if we have to temporarily disconnect the other wiring or equipment so as to restore our services to you. Our standard Wiring Maintenance Service does not cover fixing faults in such other wiring or equipment.
Transmitting data
The Telecom telephone line into your home is designed principally for transmitting speech. If the line into your home is used for transmitting data to and from equipment such as computers connected to the Internet or home fax machines, we do not guarantee that it will be suitable for all the kinds of data you want to transmit or receive.
Telephone services from other suppliers
You are responsible for your relationship with any other supplier providing telephone services for you. For example, if we provide your local call service but you use another network operator for National or International Calls and you change your address, you need to tell both us (for services we provide) and the other network operator (for services it provides) about your move. And if there is a problem with a service provided for you by another supplier, you need to contact the other supplier, rather than us, about the problem.
8. Telephone numbers
We will allocate one or more telephone numbers for you to use depending on the service you want. Any number that we allocate to you will always remain our property. We may change any number we have allocated and allocate you a new telephone number. We will give you reasonable notice before making any change but we do not have to pay you anything if we change a number. Please call us on 123 if you want to change your Telecom telephone number.
9. Charges
Your responsibility for paying our charges
You agree to pay for the services we provide for you no matter who uses them. For example, you are responsible for the charges for anyone else's use of your telephone. We have services to help customers control the use of their telephones. Call us on 123 for more information about the availability of these services on the telephone line to your home.
The standard charges for our commonly used services are set out in a document called the Telecom List of Charges. Charges begin from the time you are connected to our network. Subject to any other applicable minimum term or notice period, a one month minimum rental charge is payable if you give up any service within the first month after we begin providing the service for you. We may change our charges or plans from time to time. We may also change you to a new plan if we consider that you will be better off. Where we change the standard residential line rental, we will write to you and put a notice in major daily newspapers at least one month before the change takes effect. When we increase charges for any of our other services (including introducing charges for services that are currently free) we will provide you with a minimum of 10 working days' notice or wherever possible one month's notice of these changes. We will tell you about any such changes by emailing or writing to you and by publishing the changes on our website.
10. Our normal charges to you
Our charges to you will normally include:
- a residential line rental
- a wiring maintenance charge for our optional standard Wiring Maintenance Service.
Examples of other charges for commonly used services include charges for:
- local calls if you have selected one of the available alternatives to our standard residential line rental
- installing or making any changes to your sockets, wiring or equipment
- fixing faults in sockets, wiring or equipment not covered by our standard Wiring Maintenance Service
- directory assistance, Telecom National and International Calls, Smartphone services and verifying busy lines
- visiting your home to do anything you ask us to do which is not part of a service we have already agreed to provide for you.
11. 0900 services
We make 0900 numbers available to people who provide callers with information and entertainment services and ways of making charitable donations. You agree to pay:
- call charges for 0900 calls made from your telephone through our network or charged to you, no matter who makes them
- any charitable donations promised during those calls
- any other amounts charged to you by the 0900 service providers.
Your agreement to make these payments also applies for the benefit of the 0900 service providers and may be enforced by them.
12. Credit arrangements
When you become a Telecom residential customer, we may require you to arrange a bond or guarantee. This normally covers 12 months' worth of our charges to you as a residential customer. We may also require a bond or guarantee if you have failed to pay our charges or to meet other responsibilities you have to us, or if you ask us to provide additional services. We may also set a credit limit for your account with us and we may change the credit limit from time to time after giving you reasonable notice of the new limit. If the total charges on your account exceed your credit limit, we will do our best to contact you to tell you the amount you need to pay to get back within your credit limit. You must pay that amount within 24 hours after we contact you. This applies whether or not we have sent you a bill for the charges.
13. Billing
We will send you bills for our charges. The bills will include any charges for directory assistance, enhanced directory listing services and 0900 calls made from your telephone or charged to you, any charitable donations promised during those calls, and any other amounts charged to you by 0900 service providers. They may also include any other amounts you owe for any reason to us or to other Telecom companies. You must pay each bill by the due date for payment set out on it. Call us on 123 to ask about the different ways you can pay.
Our bills are based on our records. Please let us know before the due date for payment if you think there is a mistake in your bill. We will investigate the matter straight away. While you wait to hear from us, you do not need to pay the queried part of the bill by the due date for payment.
If we agree there is a mistake, we will adjust your next bill or, if appropriate provide a refund. If we find there is no mistake, and if the due date for payment has already passed, you must pay the amount outstanding straight away.
If you do not pay a bill by the due date for payment, we may:
- charge you interest on the unpaid amount from that date until you pay it; the interest rate will be the rate set out in the Telecom List of Charges
- require you to pay any costs we incur internally or pay to our agents in recovering the money you owe or in exercising our other rights, including commissions and our legal costs on a solicitor and client basis
- withhold, suspend or restrict any service we provide for you.
14. Withholding, suspending or restricting services
If you are becoming a Telecom residential customer, or if you ask us to provide additional services, we may restrict the services we provide for you until a satisfactory payment history is established. For example, we may put a toll bar on your telephone. If you do not meet a responsibility you have to us or to any other Telecom company, we may withhold, suspend or restrict any service at any time. We would always do our best to contact you before doing this.
If you do not pay for 0900 calls made from your telephone through our network or charged to you, and for any other amounts charged to you on behalf of 0900 service providers, we may at any time suspend or restrict your ability to make 0900 calls, or withhold, suspend or restrict any service we provide. Where we suspend a service for any of these reasons, we may require you to pay a reconnection charge before you can use it again.
We may also suspend or restrict any service in other circumstances if we think it reasonable or necessary. We will always do our best to contact you before doing this. In most cases, normal charges continue to apply during the suspension or restriction of any service. Please call us on 128 to request removal of a suspension or restriction.
15. Your rights to compensation from us
Providing new connections
We have given you a commitment to provide new connections within 24 hours, Monday to Friday (except on public holidays), as long as there is a telephone in your home and a live Telecom telephone line connecting your home to our network, and any credit arrangements required under these terms are in place. If we do not meet this commitment, or if we miss an arranged visit, then call us on 123. You can choose either a credit to your Telecom account of one month's worth of your Telecom residential line rental or $50 worth of PhoneCards.
Fixing faults
We have given you a commitment to fix at no charge all faults on our network or in equipment you rent from us which are not caused by you. If you are taking our optional standard Wiring Maintenance Service, we have also agreed to fix faults in the telephone sockets and wiring covered by the service. If you are still without a Telecom service because of a fault in any of these things more than 24 hours after you tell us about the fault, or if we miss an arranged visit, call us on 120. You can choose either a credit to your Telecom account of one month's worth of your Telecom residential line rental or $50 worth of PhoneCards. The credit or PhoneCard benefit is available just once for each fault you report.
Incorrect Telephone Book listings
If your Telephone Book listing is incorrect, call us on 123. You can choose either a credit to your Telecom account of one month's worth of your Telecom residential line rental or $50 worth of PhoneCards. A credit or PhoneCard benefit is not available where any of the above events occurs because we are not given correct information or through other causes beyond our reasonable control.
Property damage
Where we do work on your property and damage it through not taking reasonable care, we will pay the reasonable cost of repairing the damage up to a maximum of:
- $50,000 for any event or for any series of related events
- a total of $100,000 in any 12-month period.
For us to consider your claim you must tell us within one month after your property is damaged.
The Consumer Guarantees Act 1993
Any rights you may have under the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 apply in addition to the rights set out above.
Force Majeure
If we are prevented from carrying out any obligation in these terms by reason of any act of God, act of State, riot, insurrection, civil commotion, strike, sanctions, boycott, embargo or any other circumstance beyond our reasonable control, we must endeavour to advise you of the existence of the circumstances and the expected duration of and the obligations affected by the circumstances. Our performance of these terms will, to the extent that it is made impossible by such circumstances, be suspended until such circumstances cease to exist. We will not be liable to you for a failure to perform, or a delay in performing, any obligation set out in these terms.
16. Exclusion of all other liability
We have set out your rights to claim compensation from us. We now exclude all other liability we may have to you. This exclusion applies for the benefit of these people:
- us and every other Telecom company
- network operators other than us whose networks are connected to each other or to our network
- all companies directly or indirectly owned, partly owned or controlled by any of the people listed above
- all officers, employees, contractors and agents of all the people listed above
- anyone else any of the people listed above is responsible for.
None of these people are liable to you or has to pay you for anything else caused by or resulting from anything any of them does or does not do, or delays in doing, whether or not it is contemplated or authorised by any agreement you have with us. This exclusion applies whatever you are claiming for and however liability arises or might arise if it were not for this clause. This exclusion does not prevent you getting a court order requiring us to do anything we have agreed to do for you and does not limit any rights you may have under the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993.
17. Limitation of our liability
We have set out your rights to claim compensation from us and excluded all other liability we or any of the other people listed in clause 16 may have to you. If we or any of the other people listed in clause 16 are ever liable to you and, for any reason, cannot rely on the exclusion of liability set out in clause 16, then this clause applies. Where this clause applies, the maximum combined amount we and all the other people listed in clause 16 (together) will have to pay you and anyone else who uses the services we provide for you (together) is:
- $5,000 for any event or for any series of related events
- a total of $10,000 in any 12 month period.
This limitation does not limit any rights you may have under the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993
18. Information about you
Collecting information
While you have an agreement with any Telecom company, you agree that we and other Telecom companies may collect information about you. The information may be obtained from you and others or generated within our network when you or anyone else uses our services or those of any service provider approved by us. You may decide whether to provide any information any of us seeks from you. However, if you do not provide it, we and other Telecom companies may not be able to provide services for you. You may ask to see information any of us holds about you and ask for any details that are wrong to be corrected.
Holding and using information
We, other Telecom companies and, to the extent appropriate, any service providers approved by us for the provision of directory listing and directory assistance services may hold the information and share it to the extent appropriate with each other, with Telecom employees, contractors and agents and any provider of directory listing and directory assistance services and with credit reference and debt collection agencies. This enables us and other Telecom companies and agencies and any service provider approved by us to provide services for you and others, send you bills, recover and report on money you owe and keep you informed of services available to you. Credit reporters may include credit checks and any defaults in payment to Telecom in their databases and share this information with others who wish to conduct credit checks on you. You can let us know at any time that you do not want to receive sales and marketing information from us by calling us on 123.
We and other Telecom companies may:
- share with other network operators the telephone numbers allocated to you and any other information needed to enable you to make and receive calls through their networks; this does not include your name and address
- share to the extent appropriate your name, address and the telephone numbers allocated to you with any person (except other network operators) using services provided by any of us or any service provider approved by us for providing directory assistance and directory listing services; this information may also be used or accessed by us or any such service provider in or from any directories and other publicly available accessible publications and databases
- share with any 0900 service provider or its agent to whom an 0900 call is made, your name, address and any information about that call; this applies only where the call is charged to you, or made from your telephone through our network, and you do not pay for the call by the due date for payment.
We may occasionally monitor and record telephone calls between customers and our personnel for training and quality purposes. Any information we collect by doing this will be used in strict compliance with privacy laws.
Restricting access to information
You may prefer to restrict access to your name, address and the telephone numbers allocated to you. Please call us on 123 if you want to know about the ways you can do this. You are responsible for keeping confidential your Telecom account number and any personal identification number or password used by or allocated to you. We may assume that any request or instruction we receive is authorised by you if it is accompanied by suitable verification (for example, your Telecom account number, personal identification number or password).
19. These terms apply at all times
These terms continue to apply for as long as the agreement you have with us remains in place, no matter where you live and whatever telephone numbers we allocate for you to use from time to time. These terms do not apply to anything other network operators agree to do for you under any agreements between you and them.
20. Changing these terms
We may change these terms by changing or removing existing terms or by adding new ones. Changes may take the form of completely new terms. We must always tell you about any changes to these terms at least one month before they come into effect. We will never change this requirement. We will tell you about any changes by writing to you or by putting a notice in major daily newspapers. The notice will set out the actual changes or explain their general nature. Please ask us at any time for a free copy of our current terms.
21. Sending bills and notices
We will send bills and other notices to the last physical or electronic address or facsimile number you have given us. We can assume any bill or notice we send by physical post has been delivered three days after we post it and, if sent electronically or by facsimile, has been received on the date it was sent. Please tell us if you change your address or other contact details by calling us on 123.
22. Meeting our responsibilities through agents
We may have any Telecom company or Telecom-approved agent or service provider approved by us perform and have the benefit of any part of our side of the agreement you have with us.
23. Transferring our responsibilities
We may transfer to someone else all or any part of our side of the agreement you have with us. We will tell you if we do this.
24. Each term separately binding binding
If for any reason any term of the agreement you have with us cannot be enforced or relied on by you, us or any of the other people listed in clause 16, all other terms of the agreement remain binding.
25. Giving up or ending services
Subject to any applicable minimum term or notice period, you may temporarily or permanently give up any service (for example, Call Minder or Call Diversion) by calling us on 123. If you wish, you may give up services either temporarily (for example, during an overseas holiday) or indefinitely (for example, if you are not sure whether you might want the services from us in the future). Either way, the agreement you have with us will remain in place. If you give up a service and later want it reconnected, you may have to pay a reconnection charge. We may decide to stop providing a particular service to you and any other Telecom customers. If we do this, we will tell you at least one month before we stop providing it. We will also tell you about any substitute service we are able to offer you. The agreement you have with us will remain in place.
26. Ending the agreement you have with us
If you want to end the entire agreement you have with us, please contact us by calling 123. Subject to any minimum term or notice period applicable to any service, the agreement will end and charges will stop one month after we receive your notice unless we agree that charges will stop earlier. You may not transfer your responsibilities under the agreement to anyone else.
We may end the agreement at any time if you do not pay our charges or meet your responsibilities to us or any other Telecom company. We may end the agreement for any other reason by giving you at least one month's notice.
If the agreement is ended, we will stop providing any services for you as a residential customer. The ending of the agreement does not affect any rights and responsibilities which are intended to continue or come into force afterwards. These include the rights and responsibilities under clauses 4, 6 to 9, 11, 13, 15 to 19, 21, 24 and 26 of these terms.