Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Support

This policy applies to anyone affected by domestic, family or sexual violence who deals with us — current customers, former customers, and people who want to become customers. It applies whether the service is in your name or someone else’s, and to small businesses and not-for-profits as well as households. It covers violence from a partner, ex-partner, family member, carer or anyone else, and includes financial, emotional and technology-facilitated abuse as well as physical and sexual violence.

• We’ll believe you. You don’t need to give us any evidence to get help — no police report, no court order, no letter.
• You won’t have to repeat your story. With your agreement we’ll make a short, restricted note on your account so anyone who helps you next already knows what you need. You only tell us as much as you want to.
• We’ll never ask you to contact the person using violence — or their lawyer or anyone acting for them — for any reason, including to get their consent to changes to the service.
• Your safety comes before our process. We’ll ask what’s safe before we act, and we won’t do anything on your account that could alert someone else without talking to you first.
• It’s free. We don’t charge for any of the help in this policy.

• Safe contact: tell us how and when it’s safe to contact you — for example email only, SMS only, a different email address or number, or only at certain times — and we’ll stick to it. If a method stops being safe, tell us and we’ll change it straight away.
• A safe word: we can add a word you choose to your account. On top of our usual identity check, anyone contacting us about the account must then give it before we discuss or change anything.
• Changing your details: we can change the email address, mobile number and portal password on your account immediately, after checking it’s you in a way that’s safe for you. You can also change your password yourself in your portal account.
• Your router: if someone else set up your router, they may still be able to sign in to it. We can help you reset it and set new admin and Wi-Fi passwords. The eSafety Commissioner has guides to checking devices and accounts for tracking.

• We will never knowingly give your address, contact details, account details or connection records to a person using violence against you — including someone else on, or paying for, the account.
• Notes about your situation are kept to the minimum, restricted to the people who need them to help you, and never included in invoices, emails or anything else another person might see.
• If you’ve moved, we won’t reveal your new address to anyone, and it won’t appear on anything sent to another account holder.
• If you’re worried your IP address could be used to identify or locate you, we’ll change your IPv4 address (public or shared) and your IPv6 range at no cost.

Beyond what we must share to supply your service, such as with nbn, we only disclose your information where the law requires or authorises it, such as under a warrant. Our Privacy Policy sets out exactly who we share with.

We can set up a service in your name alone, with contact details that aren’t shared with anyone, and without notifying the other person. How it works depends on where you’ll be:

• At a new address: it’s a new order in your name. We’ll help you through it and keep your new address private.
• At the same address: an nbn connection can usually carry only one of our services, so we can’t simply move the existing one across. It means cancelling the existing service and placing a new order in your name. On FTTP it’s sometimes possible to connect a second service to a spare port on the nbn connection box instead, and we’ll check that for you. If the existing service is in the other person’s name, we’ll talk through with you the safest order of steps before we do anything, and nothing we send them will include your details, your new contact details or the reason.

What it normally costs, and what we do about it. Every new order normally has its first month paid when you order. And when a service is cancelled, we refund the unused days of its paid month, but only once it’s cancelled. If the old service can’t be cancelled straight away, that could mean paying for the same weeks twice. Where violence is a factor, we don’t let that happen. Tell us before you order and we’ll waive the first month of your new service, or credit the unused part of the old one, whichever is simplest and safest for you. We’ll also waive or absorb any nbn charge for the change where we can, and tell you in advance about any that might apply.

We’ll tell you how long nbn is likely to take, and plan the timing with you so you’re without a connection for as short a time as possible.

• No disconnection for non-payment. Where violence is a factor, we won’t suspend or cancel your service for non-payment while we work through your situation with you.
• Priority financial help. Everything in our Financial Hardship Policy is available to you as a priority, and we will never ask you for evidence of hardship.
• Waiving debt. Financial abuse is common. If charges or a debt on the account were caused by the violence — or it isn’t fair for you to carry them — we can waive them. We never sell debts, use debt collectors or list defaults with credit reporting bodies.
• A cheaper plan or a pause: if it helps keep you connected, we can move you to a cheaper plan or pause your service and its charges, at no cost.
• Urgent complaints. Any complaint where violence is a factor is treated as urgent under our Complaints Handling Policy and resolved within 2 working days.

Everyone who deals with customers at WARP Internet is trained to recognise domestic, family and sexual violence, respond safely and without judgement, protect your information, and connect you with specialist support. Information about your situation is treated as confidential and restricted to the people who need it to help you.

• Email: hello@warp.net.au
• Phone: 02 4398 7081, every day, during waking hours (Sydney time)
• Online: the support page in your portal, or our contact page

You don’t need to use particular words — “I need help with my account for safety reasons” is enough. A support worker, financial counsellor, family member or friend can contact us for you once you’ve told us that’s okay. If you need an interpreter, call TIS National on 131 450 and ask them to call us.

We can help with your service. These services are experts in your safety and wellbeing:

• Emergency: 000
• 1800RESPECT — domestic, family and sexual violence counselling and support, 24/7: 1800 737 732 or 1800respect.org.au
• Lifeline — crisis support, 24/7: 13 11 14
• National Debt Helpline — free financial counselling: 1800 007 007 or ndh.org.au
• eSafety Commissioner — help with technology-facilitated abuse, including securing devices and accounts: esafety.gov.au
• Kids Helpline — for children and young people aged 5 to 25, 24/7: 1800 55 1800
• MensLine Australia — support for men, including those concerned about their own behaviour, 24/7: 1300 78 99 78
• 13YARN — crisis support by and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, 24/7: 13 92 76

If you’re unhappy with how we’ve helped you, tell us. It will be treated as an urgent complaint and resolved within 2 working days. If we still can’t put it right, you can contact the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman for free on 1800 062 058 or at tio.com.au. See our Customer Terms for the rest of the terms that apply to your service.