Payment Assistance Policy

Our commitment

Our goal is to keep customers who are experiencing financial hardship connected. We'll only suspend or disconnect a service as a last resort. You have the right to apply for help under this policy, and it's free to apply, to be assessed and to have an arrangement.

This policy applies to our home customers, and to small business and not-for-profit customers who spend $40,000 a year or less with us. It covers all our services, including NBN, hosting, email and Microsoft 365 email (Exchange Online). It follows the Telecommunications (Financial Hardship) Industry Standard 2024.

What financial hardship means

You're in financial hardship if you can't pay what you owe us because of something like:

• illness, for you or someone in your household;
• losing your job, or low or reduced income;
• domestic or family violence;
• a death in the family, or another change in your personal or family situation;
• a natural disaster; or
• another unexpected event or reasonable cause,

and you think you could pay with some help. If you tell us you're struggling, or we see that you may be, we'll tell you about this policy and talk through your options.

How to ask for help

• Phone: (03) 9738 0005, Monday to Friday, 9am to 4pm. You can speak directly with staff who can deal with your application.
• Email: support@net2000.com.au at any time. sales@net2000.com.au also works.
• Mail: PO Box 2210, Bayswater VIC 3153.

There's no application form. Just tell us what's happening and what you think you can afford. To check on your application, call or email us at any time and quote your account name.

Help to communicate: if you need an interpreter, call the Translating and Interpreting Service on 131 450 and ask them to call us. If you are deaf, or have a hearing or speech impairment, contact us through the National Relay Service (accesshub.gov.au). A family member, friend, advocate or financial counsellor can also contact us for you, with your permission.

How we assess your application

You're eligible for help if your situation fits the meaning of financial hardship above and you'd like to use one of our options.

• Short-term help (3 billing cycles or less): we won't ask you for any evidence.
• Domestic or family violence: we won't ask you for any evidence.
• Longer-term help: we usually won't need evidence. We may ask for some information, such as a Centrelink statement, a letter from a doctor or employer, or a statement from a financial counsellor, but only if it's strictly necessary and the amount to repay is over $1,000, you've been with us for less than 2 months, or we reasonably suspect fraud.

If we do ask for information, we'll tell you in writing what we need and why, and who to talk to about it. We'll give you time to find it. You can email it to support@net2000.com.au, upload it to our encrypted, secure file share at net2000.com.au/fileshare, or post it to PO Box 2210, Bayswater VIC 3153. These are the only ways to send documents. Only staff authorised to assess applications will see them. Please don't send documents by SMS. We don't have a shopfront or office for in-person visits. We'll only keep it for as long as we need to finish the assessment, and we'll use it only to assess your application. If information we ask for isn't provided, we may not be able to finish the assessment. If information is false or misleading, we may cancel the assessment.

How long it takes

• We'll tell you how long we expect the assessment to take.
• We'll finish it within 5 business days of receiving everything we need, and tell you the result within 2 business days after that. If you're not eligible, we'll tell you straight away.
• Your arrangement starts as soon as you agree to it.
• Within 2 business days after you agree, we'll send you the details in writing. These cover what's been agreed, how long it lasts, your rights and responsibilities, and when we could take credit management action.

Options for help

We'll work out an option that is realistic for you and suits your situation and what you can afford. Options include:

1. More time to pay, by postponing, extending or deferring when a bill is due.
2. A payment plan that matches what you can afford.
3. A discount on a bill.
4. A credit to your account.
5. Waiving some or all of a debt.
6. Moving to a lower-cost plan that suits you better, with no fee or early termination fee, even during your minimum term. This applies once we've assessed your situation, including any information we've asked for.
7. A free payment method that isn't automatic, such as EFT or PayID, so you control when you pay.

If you're affected by domestic or family violence, we'll take that into account. For example, we can consider whether someone else ran up the debt, and set up payments that are safe for you to manage.

Keeping you connected

• We won't restrict, suspend or disconnect your service, or take other credit management action, while you're talking to us about help, while your application is being assessed, or while you have an arrangement and are keeping to it.
• If your situation changes, please tell us within 14 days. We'll review your arrangement within 5 business days.
• If an arrangement isn't working, we'll contact you to talk about it and offer to review it before we take any other step.
• Before any credit management action, we'll try to contact you at least 3 times on different business days over no more than 10 days, using at least 2 methods, one of them in writing.
• If we still need to act, we'll give you at least 10 business days' written notice. It will explain what we'll do and when, why, any charges, and how it affects your other services. It will also give contact details for us, the TIO and financial counselling. Suspension or disconnection is always a last resort.
• We won't sell your debt while you're talking to us about help, have an arrangement, or while we're reviewing one.
• If you've asked for support because of domestic, family or sexual violence, we won't restrict, suspend or disconnect your service unless you ask us to.

If you have more than 2 overdue bills in a row, 3 overdue bills in 6 months, or more than $200 owing, we'll write to you about this policy and the help available.

Complaints and reviews

If you're unhappy with a decision about your application, ask us to review it. Call (03) 9738 0005 or email support@net2000.com.au, and a director will review it. We're a small business, so the director reviewing it may be the person who made the first decision. If so, they'll look at it again from the start, consider any new information you give us, and tell you the result in writing, including that you can take it to the TIO for free. You can also make a complaint under our Complaint Handling Process.

If you're not satisfied, you can contact the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) for free on 1800 062 058 or at tio.com.au. Making a complaint to us or the TIO won't stop you from agreeing to an arrangement with us.

Free support services

• Financial counselling: the National Debt Helpline on 1800 007 007 (ndh.org.au). It's free, independent and confidential.
• Domestic, family or sexual violence: 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732, 24 hours a day. In an emergency, call 000.
• Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman: 1800 062 058, tio.com.au.

About this policy

We can give you a copy of this policy in a form that suits you, such as by email or post. This policy is approved by Ritchie Ly, Director, as NET2000's senior officer, who is responsible for how it is put into practice. We review it at least every 12 months. Our staff who deal with customers are trained in it.

NET2000 Pty Ltd · ABN 51 073 565 447 · Payment Assistance Policy v1.0 · Approved by: Ritchie Ly, Director · Effective: 3 November 2026