Telstra Tales

[Peter R]

Why me? I ask.

I started to look around for a phone and internet provider, getting prices and looking at different plans. I was recommended to IPrimus but when I rang the number the operator said welcome to Kooee. I voiced my suprise and was told that both IPrimus and Kooee were managed from the same place, and in a confidential voice, 'Kooee is the better option'.
I had been with Telstra for 40 years (or its various names) so to change was no easy decision.
The kooee operator suggested that if I would do the voice recording set up that if I make up my mind to go with Kooee all I had to do was ring and give them the go ahead.
Here is a very important aspect of this story: I was told that my connection could and would not be done until they had an authority to direct debit my bank account, which was to occur, if I went Kooee, in 11 days time.
That suited me as I was going to look further anyway, and I told the operator this fact.
On the following Saturday ( 2 days) Kooee contacted me and said that they were going to set up my internet account. I said that I hadn't decided yet and anyway the conditions were as above. "No worries, we can do this if you wish". OK, I was having trouble with the other ISP and had told them to discontinue my account with them.
A couple of days later I noticed that all of my Telstra services had gone, and on inquirey discovered that Kooee had taken my phone service as well, still more than a week before the authority would have been sent. I still hasn't been sent, a month after it all started.
I decided that the Kooee deal was worse than Telstra phone and bigpond net, by about $20 month. and I asked Telstra to take my service back. I also told Kooee that I was amazed at their takeover and that I was going back to Telstra.
As you know if you ring Telstra you have no way of knowing where your call will be directed.
Now, I spoke to a Telstra girl (WA) and she did a voice recording so that I could get back. When nothing happened I again rang Telstra (Melb) and did another voice recording because the WA one was not sent through. Nothing happened and I rang Telstra (Bathurst NSW,) and did a voice recording because Telstra had only taken back my STD service. Nothing more happened and I rang again (Melb.) and was told all the other voice recording information taken by the other Telstra staff was written onto the wrong form and that, you guessed it, I had to do another voice recording, and was assured that this operator would get back to me in an hour to tell me that the service would be back with Telstra today. 4 hours, no phone call so I rang him - "I am having trouble getting through to the department to organise your reconnection. This was Telstra to Telstra mind you. He will call me back tomorrow "Promise" I have his ID.
I spoke to the Communications Ombudsman's office and they said I have to speak to Kooee and then get back to them and they would take it from there.
I didn't have to do a voice recording with the Comm. Omb, at least.
I think that it is all terrible funny, although the laugh is more of a maniacle cackle by now. It is not possible for a multi-million dollar organisation to stuff up like this, is it?
Peter R.

[Shane Watson]

This was Telstra to Telstra mind you. Peter R.

just as a side note (before the pancake recipes appear )

I deal with telstra tecs onsite regularly connecting our services on new store fitouts. When they need to liase with a telstra service person they ring the same numbers we do and get put in the same waiting line as you or I do. I have had tecs waiting for over an hour just to confirm and ISDN linkup....Blew me away when I first saw this happen, and believe me some of the tecs get rather heated when they finally get through, remembering they have to make them sort of calls regurlarly EVERY day of work whereas you or I only have to make them when neccessary.

Right, now we all know that piklets are better anyway!

[bitingmidge]

Well firstly I have found using plain flour with a pinch of salt.....

Actually I pay Telstra bucketloads of dough each month in the vain hope that I won't ever have to phone a service type person.

This is OK, because they will never ever contact me except to send a bill.

This month, I discovered they have produced a whole number of new broadband options including one which gives me the same speed of connection and unlimited downloads for TEN DOLLARS LESS than my 2 gig account.

Of course they have a policy of not telling anyone, so if you have a contract with the big T, check out their new rates, log on, and save a bit!

Cheers,

P (who DOESN'T have shares in Telstra, but spends enough each month to pay their CEO)

[Cliff Rogers]

I go along with Midge 'cept I don't use salt....

Nah, I got over being sucked in to 'Alternate Carrier' deal a long time ago.
It's just not worth the hassel.

I do sub-contract comms jobs for both Telstra & their oppositions.
I can tell you that the Telstra work gets done sooner & better.... believe it, or not. (not my part, their part)

Mind you.... Telstra know who I am.... when I ring them & they go to my account, you can hear them reading all the notes & warnings & their tone of voice lets me know what sort of an understanding they get from the notes... if I get the 'wrong' tone change, I ask for their name & where in Oz they are, this usually changes their attitude in a hurry.

I the glossary of terms on the Telstra internal help page under the 4 letter c word, the 4 letter p word, & the 8 letter a'ole word, there's a picture of my smiling face.... I think I'm also on the squeaky wheel blackboard (whiteboard)

I've been inside a Telstra call centre several times, they have a white board with the names of 'difficult' customers on it.... I do my best to be near the top of the board.... HOWEVER.... I'm still with Telstra because if I wasn't with them & I had a problem, they'd ignore me to death.

[RETIRED]

a liittle sugar in the mix for me.

You hit a nerve here.

6months and 18 hours of phone calls and sitting in Telstra shops to get massive stuff ups, disconnected phones, over charges, disconnections and a refund cheque.

The reason: I wanted a single bill for 6 accounts. Inept operators give me the horrors.

[Cliff Rogers]

Yeah , I know what you mean, I have had a fault open on one phone number since March this year, that's why they know me. Every time they try to close it, I open it again. :mad:

Given all that, I stay with them 'cos I have to go to them to have the hardware fixed.... if I was with another carrier, I'd get nothing from them.

This 'may' change now that Telstra Retail & Telstra Wholesale are to be split apart into 2 different entities but, in the end, the entities will still be owned by the same company & I bet that Telstra work will get better attention than opposition work.

[ozwinner]

Search here for Broadband ISP


Al

[ozwinner]

Looks like Mr Google likes cooking too.

This apeared at the top of the BB screen.
http://www.boofheads.com/

Al

[Zed]

dummy spit - commence.

Ok i'm going to go in to bat for the Carriers, ISP's & Service providers here, lets call them "telco" for the sake of clarity...

1) I realise that service can be difficult to organise at times - especially when you want to port away to another telco - they can seem aggressive - guess what ? they want you money too - just like woolies or bunnings or holden or that bastard real estate agent down the road.
2) I realise that sometimes you stay on line for hours trying to get through to an operator which can be frustrating - so does everyone else - planet wide..
3) I realise that sometimes it takes forever for your service to be delivered as promised
4) I realise that sometimes that what you order is not alwasy what you think you ordered (ditto for pricing plans)

Please realise this :

1) telecommunications is one of the most heavily regulated industries on the planet not just Austraila...
2) the telco's are generally bohemoths with many many people over distributed geographic locations all trying to get thier **** together for you
3) You may scoff at this but "The employee's of the telco's and the telco's themselves are trying to provide you with a service as best they can - 99.9999999999998% of thier employees do not sabotage your service deliberately"
4) the telcos spend millions and in some cases BILLIONS of dollars on IT systems trying to get it right. Anyone with an ounce of computer savy should know that getting a customer care system that spans australia and now some other countries is a very difficult thing. I wont bother to list all the variables - you know them as well as I do, besides it would take hours to list them all.
5) all telcos are in a market that is steadily diminishing in value - what I mean is you now get more for your money than you did last year and so on. this makes it more expensive to conduct business and in the times of cost cutting sometimes services suffer. how about the recall from toyota the other day ? I dont remember a single whinging post about that....
6) the vast majority of users get what they want with bugger all dikcing around. think about it.... you call the carrier on the phone and want them to connect you instantly with no hold time and installation straight away or tomorrow - as does every one else - this is in an industry that churns services faster than a preist hands out wafers. what do you think this is going to do sometimes eh ? a few bodies are going to get ******... guess what ? corporate objectives of saving bucks and getting the most out of gear is not just a topic in your industry, in fact its more prevalent in the telco industry than just about anywhere else.
7) if you buy a new car or you order something from carbatec sometimes you have to wait weeks or months, but you gladly wait dont ya ? you dont moan to the sales wanker behind the counter because you realise that **** takes time... well I ask you ???? wheres the difference with telcos? I've been waiting for a $90 vice from carbatec for almost a month - do I whinge ? No I just wait until they call me and say "its here, come get it" I certainly dont get there and demand a discount because I had to wait for it - however under the ACCC regs and the cust service guarantee's you are entitled to get one with your phone line.
8) bombasting, haranging and abusing staff (cliff rogers!!!) in call centres makes S.F.A difference - it just makes some poor call centre chickie get stressed out and makes the next customer have a less happy experience because you've upset her.

to all of you who bombast telcos - I give a big finger and a raspberry - get over yourselves, I hope your kids grow up to work as customer care staff and are insulted to the point of tears and come home to you - lets see what you think then....

you all know someone who works for a telco either as a techie or a cust care person - guess what its not their fault - they are just normal people trying to pay the mortgage - just like you.

If you have a genuine complaint or a real problem by all means report it but spare a thought for the poor bastard on the other end of the line - it aint their fault - they really do want to help you!

dummy spit - end.

[silentC]

Telstra cut my phone off the other day. No warning. One minute it was connected, the next minute "the service you are using has been disconnected. Please call 13 blah blah to have it reconnected". How am I supposed to call them if my phone is disconnected? Oh yeah, my mobile. Like I'm going to sit on hold for an hour on my mobile.

I found a contact email for service difficulties, so I email them. Should be good for a laugh. Meanwhile people are trying to ring.

I email my boss and tell him the phone is disconnected. He rings Telstra for me. The problem is that my boss paid the last bill online and he stuffed up when he typed in the amount. Paid $14.86 instead of $148.60. So they cut the service off. No phone call to say "is there a problem". Mind you, they are quite happy to ring me at all hours of the day to ask if they can sell me something.

My boss pays the bill and within half an hour the phone is back on (even though they said it would be 4 hours). Three days later I receive an answer to my email: "if you are having service difficulties you must contact our service department on blah blah so that they can obtain from you important information required to diagnose your fault". A simple check would have shown the problem, they didn't even look.

I replied that given they are the largest ISP in the country, I'd have thought email would be a suitable alternative for communication when your phone has been disconnected.

I don't see any point in tearing strips off people on the helpdesk. In fact when I have actually been able to get through to someone I have usually found them helpful. They are streets ahead of Optus in that department. However they do have some serious problems and I can't see its going to get any better so long as the government is hell bent on flogging it.

While we're on the subject, can anyone comment on the veracity or otherwise of this, received in my email yesterday?

>
> For anyone contemplating using the Sensis directory service number,
> 1234, DON'T!
>
> Sensis, as you may or may not know, is a subsidiary of Telstra.
> The 1234 number is replacing the Telstra 12456 directory assistance
> number, but this time with outrageous costs attached: 40c to call
> the number, then 4c A SECOND!
>
> With this sort of pricing structure in place, it's no wonder so
> many Australians hold Telstra in the same regard as the major banks.
>
> By law, Telstra have to provide a FREE directory assistance number,
> because they are still majority owned by the government.
> They choose however not to pass this number on to the public.
>
> What's the number? 1223.
>
> Thumbs up to Telstra for finding a way to charge for a service
> that is supposed to be provided for free.
>
> Of course, feel free to forward this on.

[bitingmidge]

you all know someone who works for a telco - guess what its not their fault - they are just normal people trying to pay the mortgage - just like you.

Well spoken Zeddie, except for one curious thing. No point in blaming the person on the other end of the phone, (and goodness me don't they hurry along when you ask for their staff number "for future reference"), but someone a long, long way below board or CEO level comes up with these completely dishonest plans. Someone with a husband and kids and a dog all those other things, (maybe even a chimp!)

The ones where all plans are discounted, but we won't tell our existing customers they could save a packet...lets' just keep taking $10 per week from a million people and see how much "we" can make! Sadistic little turds that they are...they may have a mortgage, and they may look normal, but I have to tell you: They are definitely NOT just like me!

P (In business for 35 years believing the only quality control I need is that my customers won't come back if I dud them!)

[echnidna]

Hey Zed are you after Ziggy's job?

[Cliff Rogers]

...8) bombasting, haranging and abusing staff (cliff rogers!!!) in call centres makes S.F.A difference - ....

Woah zed, don't get me wrong there... I don't get abusive at all, not even when I have taken a half a day off work to be at home for the man to come & fix my phone on a Friday arvo & when he doesn't show up I spend another 55 minutes on hold on a mobile & then when I did get a person on the phone they look at the job & say that the tech was out there at 3pm today & he says there was no one home so he tested the phone from the pit & couldn't find anything wrong with it so he closed the call. I spent another half an hour getting his name & making an official complain about him because I reckon he was lying & didn't show up at all 'cos it was a rainy Friday arvo & he wanted to go home early.
I don't get abusive, I just won't stand for bluff & bluster & I won't be fobbed off by people who give lame ass excuses for poor porformance for a crap system that we have to pay the same amount of dollars for as the poor bugas in the big city.
Zed, I hope you are not trying to make excuses for poor performance, 'cos I won't stand for it.
Zed, do you really thing that it is OK for some one who lives 100kms from a city but only 12 Kms from an exchange to have a problem with their telephone lines for 9 months?
Zed, if it was your telephone, what would you do?
Mate, the reason that they know who I am is because I have a problem with my telephone & they can't (won't) fix it.
The problem is that the lines in the ground up our road are all old & buga'd.
The local techs all know this & they can't have them replaced 'cos there's no money left in Telstra for replacing existing infrastructure.
There's money for advertising & junkmail.
There's money for call centres to bug you into switching to them & to ring 9 times if you a week late paying your bill 'cos you were away for 3 weeks.
There's money to send a tech out to look at it & say, "yeah sorry, the lines are buga'd & need to be replaced but we can't do that for you, someone else does that" :mad:
They did replace some of it, about 1 km in the middle of a stuffed 5Km piece.
There joined the nice new stuff onto the old rotten stuff.
They also cut out a couple of redundant pits in doing so but then they had all the pairs crossed up & it took about 10 days to get everyone back on the right pair on the right number.
The local techs that had the job of sorting out the mess couldn't believe that the dopey bloke that they sent to do the splicing job could be that dopey.
We had our neighbour's number for more than a week & when they fixed ours, they just cut him off 'cos he was away for 3 months & couldn't log the fault. He had a bloke minding his place but because the phone wasn't working & he didn't have a mobile, he moved out.
When the neighbour came home & logged the fault to have it fixed, it took 2 weeks for them to get there & when they did get there it was a Friday morning... guess who's phone wasn't working when we got home from work Friday arvo. No telephone & no internet all weekend 'cos they don't work on the weekend, not even to fix their own stuff ups. We didn't get our phone back til Tuesday arvo & it was so noisey that we couldn't get onto the intenet for almost a week.
The lines are still noisey & crackle (like a frying pan full of pancakes.)

Hey zed, do you work for Telstra?
Maybe you could come & fix it for me.

I'll ask you again, Zed, if it was your telephone, what would you do?
There's no excuse you or your telco mates can make for poor performance.

[Zed]

HI,

I dont work for telstra, I have in the past.... let me tell you you should be grateful telstra is not the org it used to be when I was employed there.... they have come ahead in leaps and bounds... the whole industry has a way to go, as does the transport industry, the health industry, the IT industry, etc etc etc.....

this board regularly has members slag off the carriers so I thought I'd wanted to show the other side of the argument for a change.

If it was my phone I'd contact the carrier, progress the fault, escalate the fault to conclusion or the ombudsman as required. maybe you're just unlucky to have ****** service techs and ****** old cable! why not address this with your local pollie instead of flaming this board ?

I realise regional areas are sub standard. this is a know issue and is being addressed - for gods sake just look at the media and the election coverage this topic generates.

you're right slackness should not be excused, rather addressed.

[Peter R]

Yeah , I know what you mean, I have had a fault open on one phone number since March this year, that's why they know me. Every time they try to close it, I open it again. :mad:

Given all that, I stay with them 'cos I have to go to them to have the hardware fixed.... if I was with another carrier, I'd get nothing from them.

This 'may' change now that Telstra Retail & Telstra Wholesale are to be split apart into 2 different entities but, in the end, the entities will still be owned by the same company & I bet that Telstra work will get better attention than opposition work.

May change: It is a difficult situation, Telstra owns the lines and equipment and before contestability came in the government allowed them (and electricity suppliers) to raise their service charges until it made it almost impossible for other suppiers to compete on a level platform of charges. If Telstra services and equipment is allowed to go along with the general sale of Telstra they will dictate the market against what the ACCC is supposed to stand for.
Whatever happens the federal government will still get 10% of every dollar spent with Telstra, so Costello is laughing.

Now the result of my story is as follows: Kooee is acepting no liability however they are saying that I will not be billed for very much. This will be notified in January and I am told that that bill will be credited by some amount. I have to wait and see. As of now I am back with Telstra and Bigpond.
Be assured,Zed, Having worked at a front desk I am usually polite unless I feel that the operator is being condescending. I still think that Kooee acted in an improper manner in taking over my service under the conditions that I previously stated, as did the Communications Ombudsman's office.
Peter R.