Lest
there be the slightest degree of confusion, this is an open complaint to
Telstra which is circulated throughout cyberspace in the hope that they get the
message. I've been a loyal customer for
many years but it seems that loyalty is only a one-way street.
For
2 years, I used a post-paid plan on an iPhone 3. About 2 months after the contract expired
(i.e. I then owned the old-technology phone), I chose to buy a new, unbanded
phone and insert and activate a Telstra SIM card. At the same time, I opted to change from
post-paid to a prepaid plan, all of which had to be arranged via your call
centre in The Philippines.
After
activating the SIM through the call centre, I was told to buy a recharge so
that I can use the phone as soon as possible, though I should wait about half
an hour for the change of payment plan to be recorded. I duly bought a recharge voucher and, after a
wait of about half an hour, tried to use Telstra's 1258888 number to record the
payment. This is where all my problems
began because I was unable to effect the recharge - I heard a recorded message
that accused me of not using a Telstra mobile to make the call! WTF?
Rang
your Filipino call centre and was told that my plan changeover might be delayed
by all the extra phone connections that have happened since Christmas Day.
Accordingly, I should wait 4 hours, from the time of my first call to them,
before making a further attempt to record the recharge payment.
When
I called them, some 4.5 hours later, the story had changed to 24 hours and, as
this is inconveniencing me, they would record the recharge voucher for me. They duly noted the voucher number and said
that the payment was now recorded but, as the plan changeover hadn't occurred
yet, I was still on the post-paid plan so would have all the facilities that
I'd enjoyed with the previous phone.
After
a further 25 hours had elapsed and I was still not on the new plan, I rang the
Filipino call centre yet again. On this
occasion I was told that it can take up to FOUR WORKING DAYS to change the
payment plan! This time I exploded
because it was then clear to me that nobody in that call centre has the
slightest clue about what they're supposed to be telling your customer! It'd be really nice if Telstra actually
provided them with some training and standardisation but, of course, you might
only contemplate that if you had any regard at all for your loyal customers!
So
then, on the basis that I'd been further inconvenienced, they offered to credit
my account with an extra $30. I didn't
really need it but it was offered so I took it though I doubted that it would
make any difference to my plan change.
The
cynic within me is forced to conclude that, because I didn't buy a phone from
Telstra, you now have the right to stuff me around for as long as you
like. This would not be a good move for
an organisation that seems to need good public relations. Indeed, this blog might tell you that you're
already on the receiving end of some very bad publicity but, then, I'm sure you
have a great deal of experience with that sort of publicity.
I
continue to await your pleasure in changing over my plan though it needs to be
said that my phone enjoys NONE of the data privileges of my post-paid plan, so
it would seem that you have already been stuffing me around for too long. Will it require me to lodge a complaint with
the ACCC, or perhaps "A Current Affair", before you give me some
service? For now, Telstra, you suck.
