2019 Rugby World Cup: Commerce Commission receiving complaints about Spark Sport

The Commerce Commission have received 13 complaints about Spark Sport as the telco-turned-sports-streamer continues to have issues in their streaming of the Rugby World Cup.

The most recent issues came last night during Wales' victory over Australia, being slammed by thousands of customers online after problems including multiple commentaries running simultaneously, delayed audio, and a spell where pictures were seemingly lost all impacted their broadcast.

Now, the Commerce Commission has confirmed to the Herald that 13 complaints have been made towards Spark, with a spokesperson saying that the complaints were being assessed, but no investigation had begun.

The biggest issues had struck during the All Blacks' first game against the Springboks, where streaming problems saw the game put onto free-to-air channel Duke. However, the multiple complaints in the Welsh win on Sunday night caused just as many complaints from customers on social media.

We lost audio for part of the Welsh national anthem and now the audio is out of time with the pictures. Will @SparkNZ be offering another refund?
Now we have @sumostevenson talking over the British commentators.

— Hamish Rutherford (@oneforthedr) September 29, 2019

After the game, Spark explained the blunders, pushing the blame for the early audio problems onto TVNZ, though not explaining the issues later in the game.

"As previously commented on by TVNZ, at the beginning of the Australia vs Wales game there were some production issues with the audio feed from TVNZ during the first few minutes of the match," the company said in a statement.

"However these issues were quickly resolved."

Asked if those unhappy with Australia-Wales or Uruguay-Georgia could get refunds, a Spark Sport spokeswoman told the Herald: "In line with our standard refund policy, customers who feel they have had a poor experience with Spark Sport can contact us. We will work through their issue with them and in some cases provide them with a partial refund."

Spark has been offering 15 per cent refunds on Tournament Pass for those who had a poor experience with an individual game.

That is, people who are willing to jump through the hoops will receive between $9.00 and $13.50, depending on when you bought your pass.

There is also a full refund option, but only if people surrender access to the remaining games.