Telstra - Wish I hadn't and never again.

[dhess]

Yesterday I foolishly switched my business phones over to telstra thinking it was the best option because of their superior coverage. I have previously had my phones with three and have had great coverage (three roams on telstra) and impeccable customer service. Unfortunately three has been bought out by vodafone so wasn't keen on vodafone's reputation of patchy to non existant coverage when the three network finaslly gets shutdown.

Last night I tried to register on telstra's website for online access to manage my account. Soon after I recieved an email saying they couldn't verify the info I provided advising me to call a 1800 number.

Called the 1800 number today and was immediately informed by a nice indian chap that I had reached the wrong department after about half an hour and being informed time after time that I had been forwarded to the wrong place while I was on hold their call system hung up on me. I called back explained the situation and how unimpressed I was and asked to be put through to a supervisor. They initially refused but after demanding employee numbers they eventually put me through to an aussie lady. She was very polite and very apolegetic and promised to put me to put me through to someone who could resolve my issue. I was transfered back to the subcontinent to someone who straight away informed me that I had the wrong department. Clearly as incompetent as the others. After two and a half hours of being on hold and being passed around India like a hot potato to seven different operators no one has been able to resolve my simple issue.

Did a quick search online and found I am hardly alone. Apparently its common for telstra customers to spend up to three hours on the phone to resolve billing issues.

Small wonder that telstra's share price is barely half of what it was ten years ago.

Even more of a joke, a phantom person by the name of "Nicole" showed up as being the holder of my account. Probably a result of recycled sim cards. You would think that the leader of comms in oz could get their crap together and close down accounts properly.

[Rocket75]

so are you stuck with it now Dom or can you take your $ elsewhere?

[Surfingant]

We've had the same experience. A little while ago we switched from Vodafone after getting sick of their terrible reception and issues with calls dropping out and not even connecting. Decided to go with Telstra due to their superior coverage and while that part of it has been excellent the customer service side leaves a hell of a lot to be desired. My sister who runs the admin has to now set aside a time when she has nothing else to do just to call Telstra if she needs to, and that's if they'll even talk to her. The account has been set up so that she is an authorised representative of our company and yet on most occasions they will still say they cannot discuss the account with her, when they do talk to her she gets passed around to 7 or 8 different departments and can be on the line for an hour or two. Asking to speak to someone higher up just gets the same result. It is very poor form on Telstras side and it is disgusting that the customers have to jump through hoops to clear up what really should be quite simple.

[dhess]

so are you stuck with it now Dom or can you take your $ elsewhere?

If I bend over and let them have it their way I am stuck but I have plenty of avenues like kicking up a big enough stink with telecoms ombudsman, dept of fair trading and make a nuisance of myself on consumer rights websites. Plenty of legal avenues for getting out of my contract as well.

Could also go to my local telstra shop and make a big scene. Or even a shooting spree USA style. (jokes LOL)

The sad thing there is no carrier in Australia that does it all.

[Bi_polar]

Just lodge a complaint with the telecommunications ombudsman....that gets their ass moving

[ellicat]

Telstra is the best for me and has been since leaving Optus as soon as number porting came in (quite a while back). Service has been really good apart from a couple of similar occasions where they try to transfer the call.

When you calm down :pinch: and get it all sorted I'm sure you'll appreciate the superior product.

Heading into a Telstra shop is by far the most efficient method of resolving initial issues and then you will most likely be able to deal electronically without stress into the future. Also you will be able to get the name of the person that helped you and have a business hours number (of the shop) to contact also.

My kids are on Vodafone. I would never go there for my stuff. My wife banned me from the store as it doesn't matter to me how many big breasted highly make-upped teenagers they have when they are too dumb to resolve small issues; I am still inclined to let them hear my thoughts. ....

[Angus]

Yeah I dont make phone calls.

I am happy with Telstra as its the only company that seems to get reception at the Straddy house. However I always just make the effort to go into the store and not leave until the problem is resolved.

For me being on hold is like being in stand still traffic for apparantly no reason. It takes me from calm to homicidal in minutes.

Angus

[dhess]

.....For me being on hold is like being in stand still traffic for apparantly no reason. It takes me from calm to homicidal in minutes.

Angus

LOL Thats exactly how I feel. I still find it unbelievable that Telstra can't resolve such a simple issue over the phone.

[daveylad]

Goodness Gracious me, try the telstra shops Dom they are much quicker and easier

[Yoodles82]

Mate, Once i switched out of telstra I vowed to NEVER go back. They have by far, the worst customer service i have ever heard of and experienced. I have a refund check from an overpayment which i had to fight very hard for, for $30...Its framed on the wall! First time anyone I know has ever got money out of Telstra :-)

Nat

[Old Scaley]

I switched back to Telstra a few years ago. After being with iinet for about 5 years, Telstra rang one night with afinal offer that I couldn't refuse for a bundled package. The changover wa absolute hell and I was without internet for about 3 weeks. Ended up $50 credits 2 months in a row after complaining loudly about the crappy service. Brian is right - once it is all sorted the product is good and you shouldn't need to talk to them again. Best thing about being with Telstra is that they upgraded me to fibre optic for free when they laid the cables in our street. And because they couldn't match the existing bundle exactly, they gave me a discounted rate on one of their advertised bundles so I ended up with more download, cheaper mobile calls and moved from 25gb to 200gb data per month.

Mate, Once i switched out of telstra I vowed to NEVER go back. They have by far, the worst customer service i have ever heard of and experienced. I have a refund check from an overpayment which i had to fight very hard for, for $30...Its framed on the wall! First time anyone I know has ever got money out of Telstra :-)

Nat

[tomca]

I had similar stuff and ended up sending them a bill, itemised with all my time on calls and emails, came to over $300 and gave them 14 days to pay. I sent a letter of demand at day 21 and they rang me!!!! I started a small claim action, naming telstra and the manager of the Telstra store that took my money and contract on the claim. They got their stuff together real quick, and sorted out all the issues and offered account credits and the like, but I held fast and they came to the party the day before the action was scheduled.

[Manni79]

I had a similar experience with Telstra just last week when I had a problem getting my ADSL connected !!

First they got my new service assigned to a different person and then took a few weeks to get the ADSL working due to a calamity of errors

Constantly being transferred to people off shore which really pisses me of !!!

I ended up with a guy on the gold coast as was bloody aswesome and actually went above and beyond to resolve the issue, finally back on line and which a very fast service which i know will hardly go down

In short their customer service is pretty crap but they do have the best network !!

[Jords]

Mates had some mad tpg internet deal, but then it started dropping out, terrible speed etc. etc.

called and complained, nothing

called again, nothing

this went on for just over 3 months, so they called the ombudsman bloke - got a call from some honcho of tpg that day, asking what they could do etc. etc.

ended up with a refund of their bills from the date of their first complaint

[Ricko69]

No offer in the world would get me back with telstra !!!! I tried to transfer my internet account from one adress to another, It ended up in some random persons name after 4 weeks of waiting and being billed in the wrong name I put the almighty telecommunications ohmbudsman on the job with no result.Long story short I closed all telstra phone and internet accounts and was billed for the internet account 4 more times over 2 yrs. Seems I couldn't close it because it wasn't in my name but I was liable because it was opend during my occupation of the residence so I moved and joined up with optus.

Funny thing is after almost 1yr telstra rang the other night to get me to go back. I told them I would when I could undestand what they were saying. Shame to see an Australian icon going so bad.

[dhess]

Yay! Finally I got a response from telstra resolving the issue after nearly three weeks.

In the meantime the sh!theads tried to overcharge me $30 over the contact amount.

I lodged a complaint and told them that if they don't resolve the problem, and forget about the bill I will go to the ombudsman, bag the crap out of them on every consumer internet forum and walk into my local telstra shop and a make a hell of a scene and tear up my contract and smash both phones into a million pieces. I also mentioned that I would relish the opportunity to challenge in court any attempt by them to charge me the payout figure for ditching them before the contract is up.

Nice to get a $200 freebie. Hopefully they can get their crap together.

[daveylad]

Yay! Finally I got a response from telstra resolving the issue after nearly three weeks.

In the meantime the sh!theads tried to overcharge me $30 over the contact amount.

I lodged a complaint and told them that if they don't resolve the problem, and forget about the bill I will go to the ombudsman, bag the crap out of them on every consumer internet forum and walk into my local telstra shop and a make a hell of a scene and tear up my contract and smash both phones into a million pieces. I also mentioned that I would relish the opportunity to challenge in court any attempt by them to charge me the payout figure for ditching them before the contract is up.

Nice to get a $200 freebie. Hopefully they can get their crap together.

Sounds like your'e ready for some sea air Dom

[dhess]

After that ordeal I need at least a solid week of offshore fishing non stop!

[haines490slc]

Yay! Finally I got a response from telstra resolving the issue after nearly three weeks.

In the meantime the sh!theads tried to overcharge me $30 over the contact amount.

I lodged a complaint and told them that if they don't resolve the problem, and forget about the bill I will go to the ombudsman, bag the crap out of them on every consumer internet forum and walk into my local telstra shop and a make a hell of a scene and tear up my contract and smash both phones into a million pieces. I also mentioned that I would relish the opportunity to challenge in court any attempt by them to charge me the payout figure for ditching them before the contract is up.

Nice to get a $200 freebie. Hopefully they can get their crap together.

dude I love your style. That ombusman kicks ass, I had a problem with Optus once, and once I called them, all the trouble went away very very quickly.

[shortie]

i wont have any other provider other than TELSTRA.

after initial setup problems. you never really have to contact them again.

run fine best coverage most reliability.

[fishingnut]

Cant beat there coverage thats for sure, guess you have to pay for it somewhere

[rayke1938]

They are the only one that works at Glenlyon.

You have to pay for the infrastructure somehow. All the other parasite carriers just want to piggyback off their network for nothing.

Cheers

Ray

[dhess]

Paying more for decent coverage is completely fine by me, that why I went with telstra.

Why should the quality of the customer service be far worse than any other carrier? I could understand a trade off in customer service/reception if telstra was the same price as their competition but on many plans they are close to double the $$$.