Payment assistance and financial hardship.

What you need to know.

This policy applies to eligible residential, small-business and not-for-profit customers receiving Q10 Business Internet or Q10 Voice. Payment assistance is free. We offer both short-term and longer-term assistance, depending on your circumstances.

• You can ask for help before an invoice is overdue.
• Short-term assistance may include a payment extension, changed payment date or temporary payment plan.
• Longer-term assistance may include a tailored payment arrangement, service changes or other reasonable options.
• We do not require evidence for short-term assistance, or where domestic, family or sexual violence is relevant.
• If evidence is considered for longer-term assistance, we will only request it where the rules allow and it is strictly necessary.
• We will not charge you to apply for assistance or make a complaint.
• You can have an authorised representative, financial counsellor, support person or advocate assist you.

Free financial counselling is available through the National Debt Helpline on 1800 007 007 or ndh.org.au.

How to ask for payment assistance.

• Phone: 1300 110 210
• Email: accounts@q10systems.com.au
• Online: use the Q10 website contact form and write “Payment Assistance”.
• Existing service request: you may also tell a Q10 team member through a communication channel you ordinarily use with us.

Our normal Service Desk hours are Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5:00pm AEST, excluding Queensland public holidays.

You may nominate an authorised representative, financial counsellor, support person or advocate to deal with Q10 on your behalf. We may need to verify their authority before discussing your account.

We only ask for what is reasonably necessary.

We may ask about the services you need to keep operating or stay connected, whether the difficulty is short-term or ongoing, what you can reasonably afford and when, whether another person contributed to the debt, and whether circumstances such as illness, loss of income, natural disaster or another vulnerability are relevant.

We may also discuss whether a lower-cost service, spending restriction or another service change would help.

Where domestic, family or sexual violence is involved, our Customer Safety process also applies.

Assessment and timeframes.

We will assess a completed request for payment assistance within 5 business days. After making a decision, we will inform you of the outcome within 2 business days and explain:

• the assistance we can offer
• any information or action still required
• the terms of any arrangement
• how to accept the arrangement
• how to ask for a review or make a complaint.

Where an issue is urgent, including where service restriction or disconnection may worsen financial hardship or create a safety risk, we will prioritise it under our Complaints Handling Process.

Assistance should be realistic and tailored to your circumstances.

Depending on your needs and the service, options may include:

• postponing, extending or deferring a payment due date
• a payment plan tailored to what you can reasonably afford
• moving a payment date or changing payment frequency
• temporarily restricting chargeable or high-risk usage
• moving to a lower-cost or more suitable service where available
• applying a credit, discount or waiver in appropriate circumstances
• offering a reasonable non-automatic payment method without an additional payment-method fee
• reviewing disputed or unusual usage charges
• temporarily reducing or restructuring services while preserving essential connectivity where technically and commercially available.

Not every option will suit every customer. We will discuss the available choices with you and consider the effect on your ability to remain connected.

Credit action is not the first step.

Suspension or disconnection for non-payment will only be used where permitted and after the required processes have been followed.

While you are actively seeking assistance in good faith, while we are assessing your request, or while you are complying with an agreed arrangement, Q10 will not take service-limiting or credit-management action for non-payment where the applicable telecommunications rules prohibit it.

Immediate action may still be required for reasons unrelated to payment, such as unlawful use, a serious security threat, emergency carrier action or another legal requirement.

If we agree on an arrangement, we will confirm it in writing, including the amount and timing of payments, any service or usage changes, the period of the arrangement, how it may be reviewed and what to do if your circumstances change. If you cannot meet an agreed payment, contact us as soon as possible so we can discuss whether the arrangement can be varied.

Tell us if normal contact methods are unsafe.

We will handle information about financial hardship confidentially and use it to assess and administer assistance, meet legal obligations and protect our rights.

Tell us if any communication method, contact time, telephone number, email address or message content is unsafe. We will use the agreed safe contact method where reasonably practicable.

You can ask for a review or make a complaint.

If you are unhappy with our decision or how we handled your request, you may make a complaint free of charge under the Q10 Complaints Handling Process.

If the complaint relates to Q10 Business Internet or Q10 Voice and you remain dissatisfied, you may contact the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.

• Phone: 1800 062 058
• Website: tio.com.au

Last updated: August 2026.