My Mate Telstra.

[Tandum]

I'll start this one off by saying that having to spend 9 hours on the phone to Telstra Support (Phillipines) after my Internet stopped when they changed it from ADSL1 to ADSL2 in no way influences my opinion of Telstra nor does the fact that the switch resulted in a zero speed increase as the exchange is overloaded and everyone is speed limited and I wasn't told that beforehand :rolleyes: The Hell it Doesn't :)

I attended a 75 year old couple today that got hit in the same November storm that hit me here. It blew the cable modem and the network socket on the PC. Someone plugged in a new network card to the PC and Telstra sent them a new modem.

Cable modems require the mac of the modem to be entered into the cable network records at the Telstra end. Telstra came to the house and told them activation was off line and to ring back later then buggered off. The elderly couple rang later and got told their computer was faulty.

I arrived, Telstra (Phillipines) tell me that the modem they have only works on the elite plan and they must change plans to make it work properly. WTF.

I told them to send the right modem for their plan ( if you don't know, one cable modem fits all, there is no difference) and refund them for the modem that they paid for plus the 2 months it's been off line.

I can't believe someone like Telstra is ripping off the elderly. I'm reporting this one to the Ombudsman. I mean they had a local Telstra tech to the house. Wankers.

They really wind me up when they are obviously reading from a script and are ignoring what you're telling them. I guess we are lucky automatic weapons are not available here .... But they are in the Phillipines ;)

[Screwdriverone]

I know what you mean about the call centre numbnuts Robin.

I should preface this with the fact that I have been in Telecommunications Engineer for 24 years now with an ACA licence.

A while back I lost dial tone on my "Optus" phone line which is simply a Telstra one resold by Optus. It has DSL2 on it as well.

I rang the call centre to report it faulty after I tested it with my Buttinski (phone line test set) and told them that I had battery and DSL codes, as the internet was still working. I had even disconnected everything else off the line while I tested at the first socket to be sure (standard procedure for faults).

When I spoke to "Hello Sir, how may I help youuuuuuuuu" Numbnut, I proceeded to tell them of my experience and of my testing and how the dial tone was gone and they needed to send a tech to the exchange to check the equipment there as I had connectivity, battery, side tone and DSL codes to my house.

What happened then was simply ridiculous. I had to sit on the phone for 15 mins while he "tested" the line from the exchange (step 1 on the scripted list), then when he came back on the phone he proceeded to tell me that I HAD connectivity to my house and the line has tested fine, so I should have dialtone and there is no fault?????

I then explained AGAIN of what I tested (above) and what he should do, to which he asked me to hold, ran another trace and came back on the line to tell me AGAIN that the line checks out fine from the exchange with no breaks in it and that it could see my phone impedence and then he asked me to wait while he rang it????

By this stage I was tapping my foot and muttering expletives under my breath while waiting for this magical phone call to happen out of the ether....needless to say, my test phone did NOT ring! :P

He came back to me on the mobile and asked me to then: "Remove all other cables, phones or modems from the line so he could test it again"......

I ALMOST verbally ripped his head off as I explained AGAIN to him that I had ALREADY DONE THIS AND TOLD HIM TWICE ALREADY that I had done this and of my experience etc etc....to which he replied....."Sir, please remove any additional lines or devices from the line, so I can test it again please....." GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

I said: "OK, done, do your test" ANOTHER 10 min wait......while he scratched his head because the test PASSED as my cable was fine, the connection was FINE and yet there was NO DIALTONE on the line!!!!

He then came back on the line and told me AGAIN that the line was checking out OK and that there was "no fault to report, so sorry Sirrrrrr, I cannot help you any further."

THAT WAS IT!

I proceeded to tear him a new one, fifteen minutes I gave it to him, cutting him off each time he TRIED to interrupt me with "SIR, please dont yell at me" etc.......

When my rage was spent (after being on the phone for almost an HOUR on the mobile) I told him AGAIN that he needed to book a technician to attend the local exchange and check my circuit as the exchange was where the fault lay.

So, FINALLY he got the point and proceeded to tell me there may be a FIVE day response to this fault.??? And that he needed to know if there would be anyone at home for the NEXT FIVE DAYS to allow a technician to come in and check the socket???? AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!

By this stage I had had enough and told him he needs to MARK this call in his call centre system as HIGHLY URGENT and save the recording so it could be used to show others in the company how NOT to handle a customer fault.....PLUS a few other choice words about his competence in the job.

I hung up and did not expect anything further that day as it was about 3pm.

Well, Whaddya know? at 7:30am the next morning, I had dial tone back....

SHOCK HORROR, someone had actually done what I had asked them to do.....

I drove to work and felt quite smug that I had fixed the issue. Later that day, I decided to pop home to have some lunch rather than buy it. When I walked in the front door, the phone was ringing.....

"Hello?"

"Yesssss Hello Sirrrrrrrrr, this is Optus calling about your telephone line fault, I would like to let you know that we will be sending a technician out to the exchange TOMORROW, to look at your fault for you......"

To which I replied: " WHAT????? Are you people on DRUGS or something????"

That stumped her: "I am sorry Sirrrrrrrr, what do you mean?"

I continued " Let me get this straight......You RANG me on my HOME PHONE LINE, which I reported FAULTY yesterday and did not RING yesterday as it was FAULTY yesterday, but still you RANG ME ON IT, after I gave you my MOBILE number to contact me if you need to. THEN, I ANSWERED the HOME PHONE, which previously DIDNT WORK, to which you SPOKE TO ME ON IT to tell me that you were are going to get someone to fix it TOMORROW??????????? What part of the word INCOMPETENT, don't you UNDERSTAND????

"ummm, errr, ummm errrr, so, Sirrrrrrrr.....are you saying that the phone line is now WORKING???"

To which I replied " O.....M.....F......G, (then in a little voice)....Yes. Yes it is....."

She said: "OK then, well I hope you have a nice day and the technician will be at the exchange tomorrow to fix it for you...."

I just stood there, in my kitchen, with my mouth open. No words would form on my lips. They had succeeded in locking up my brain, apart from....."Thank you, you too."

I had to sit down after that.

To put the final nail in my coffin of insanity that I found myself in, they proceeded to ring me AGAIN the next day on my home phone (I went home for lunch again) and ask if it was fixed yet................................ ..

:eyepop:

I occasionally go out now, when there is no one around, but most of the time, I simply huddle in the corner with my arms around my legs and my chin on my knees......rocking..........rocking ..........rocking.................. ....................



Cheers

Chris

[Tandum]

Chris, I know the scripted responses piss people off. In fact they would not deal with my issue at home unless I had one of their modems connected. grrr..

But in this instance today they tried to move an elderly couple to a plan they did not ask for or need on the premise it would get their Internet to go. That was a lie. And needs to be actioned.

robin.

[Tandum]

I mean that will be me one day with some arsehole trying to rip me off

[Tandum]

I just did a live chat with a Telstra rep and let them know that if they don't look after Beverly and fix it for her they will hit the news. I still intend to report them to the ombudsman and I'm sure that after they have contacted her, I'll have a lot more to report.

I also asked him why my connection was speed limited. He could not tell me the exchange name I am on so it's all smoke and mirrors in there. Left hand has no Idea what the Right hand is doing ....

[Barrykgerdes]

Change over from ADSL1 to ADSL2, ha! ha!

About 18 months ago I noticed my download speed went from 100KB/s to 650KB/s (Telstra took off the limiting I imagine) when they upgraded to ADSL2

About 6 months later I got a call from Telstra to say that I now had ADSL2 available but I would need a new modem if the old one was not one of the dual speed type (It wasn't). I located an approved ADSL2 modem (Dick Smith. Telstra were out of stock) and installed it. There was no down time.

The download speed immediately increased from 650KB/s to 650KB/s. I am too far from the exchange to get any better. Of course I only get this speed on big downloads from major web sites and when there are no other bottle necks.

My contact at this time was a direct phone line to a Telstra tech.(?) who spoke perfect Oz and gave me his direct number so I don't think it was from a call center. By the way when I contact any supplier with a 13 number I never press the number. I always wait for a rep (most speak English at least). I still have pulse dialing on my old deaf phone because it has a better amplifier than the new phones.

Barry

PS by the way at 78 I would probably be classed as elderly however you won't get me to admit it.

[FlashDrive]

My Turn ....:D

6 months prior to my contract expiring with my ISP I received a phone call from their overseas call centre saying ....if you stay with us we will give you ADSL2 with unlimited download / upload ... no speed shaping ....if you sign on for another 24months.

I was on a 60GB plan at the time ...with speed shaping if I went over my D/L limit...on ADSL1 ....so was pretty happy with what I had.

I could have said no .... so when my contract finished , I would be free to leave with no penalties......but I decided to take up their offer for 2 reasons.( 1)...unlimited D/L and ( 2)...ADSL2 Speed. ( my modem is ADSL 2 compliant ) ...so ...OK ...let's do this.

I got everything ..except ADSL2 ....the exchange wasn't upgraded to supply the added speed .... and guess what ....THEY KNEW THIS ALL ALONG. I had been LIED to ...they know I was on ADSL1 .... and threw this bit in about offering ADSL2 to sweeten the deal ....BLOODY LAIRS.

The scum that are on the other end of the line ...telling lies ...deliberately deceiving customers/ people to obtain business ....the ISP Provider who hires these low life's should be held accountable.

I've had roughly 6 ADSL drop out's since then ...phoned the call centre ...same crap as you people had to go through ..what sort of modem you got and what model is it....please disconnect everything ....how many phone sockets in the house....is a ADSL filter being used ....blah ..blah ...blah.

In every case dealt with ..it has been a problem at the ' exchange ' end.

I recently checked how long I had to go on the contract ....7 months to go....this time I'll be waiting for them ;)

Flash ..!!

[OICURMT]

This was one of the best stories I've ever read... I'm ROTFLMAO&PMSL... :rofl:

As for me... no issues EVER with my ISP. Everytime something fails, they are on it ASAP. I've used the same provider since September 2004 (when I moved to Australia) and had service proved to me in both Perth and Adelaide (simultaneously). Even in cases where Telstra are at fault, they handle the situation...

My provider? http://www.Internode.on.net :thumbsup:

OIC!

[Screwdriverone]

Thanks OIC,

Therapy helps, so does the electro-shock....:P :screwy:

Cheers

Chris

[Kunama]

At least I am not the only who gets frustrated with these morons.

My phone line was down for 4 days over Xmas, finally repaired on 27th of December.
Then again last week on the 5th of January the line was dead so called Telstra to report the fault to be told that there was an outage in my area
and for me to expect the fault to be repaired no later than 8pm on 27th of December 2012.

I tried to explain to 3 separate morons that the original fault had been corrected and the phone had worked from 27th December to 5th of January and this was a new fault.

Finally they agreed to send a technician out to test everything ...... the technician would need access to the property on the 27th of December 2012 ..... that is 2 weeks ago.
There was no way I could convince this person that no matter how good the technician was he could not time travel back to 2012 to fix a fault occurring in 2013.

Total morons ............. the next moron called my mobile to tell me that the service fault would be repaired by 8pm on the 8th of January ...... so we were in the right year finally.
I explained to her that due to my wife's heart condition we were on a high priority list for repairs, she acknowledged the fact and said in that case it would be fixed by 9pm on the 8th of January,
an hour later than a non urgent repair.

Unfortunately due to our location Telstra and the morons it employs are our only option for internet access.

[grantch]

Telstra being allowed to talk to the Elderly just invites trouble. My mum and dad dropped into the Telstra store where the ever so helpful person convinced them that moving of ADSL to wireless, even though the only computer they own is a desktop, would be much better for them. $70 for a wireless moden, new plan with more costs etc etc.

Of course I get the phone call when they can't get it to work (not before they did it even though been in IT 20 years). They have crap mobile signal at their place, so surprise surprise no go.

Then when I call Telstra to tell them what a stupid thing it was, they say it can't be returned because you plugged it in. How the hell can you tell if it works without plugging it in. Luckily the outside of the box says you can return it if you find it is not working :)

Bloody Telstra!

ps. I love my Cable 100MB and would never move off it, but bloody Telstra! :)

[steve000]

I spent endless amounts of time with them sorting things out. All I wanted was a name change on my account. It ended up being a new account of which I lost speed, they fixed that then I lost phone, they fixed that then I lost somthign else.. I forget now as its all just a big jumble but basically they would "fix" somthing but break somthing else in the process.

So far so good for now... but im still waiting..

[FlashDrive]

I was with Telstra many, many, many years ago ..more than 10 years ago...left them because of ' false ' entries on my phone bill ( numbers I never rang and didn't know who the numbers belonged to also )
Very arrogant staff ..they are NEVER wrong ...sorry ..pay the bill or we will disconnect you....the Customer ( me / you ) is a nuisance ..just go away.

Then when I had opportunity to leave ..they ' played ' difficult ....why do you want to leave...will take several weeks to process your requests etc.

Recently on the nightly NEWS ...Telstra ordered to pay back to customers over 3 millions $$$$$$$ for wrongly charging excessive ' roaming ' fees to Mobile users.....:2thumbs:......Awesome :thumbsup:

When will they ever learn..!!

Flash ..!!

[leon]

We use Telstra, it it dose give the best coverage as we travel around OZ, and most of the time we can get pretty good reception, except when we are in the middle of the Outback a couple of hundred K's either side of nothing.

We do have the occasional problem with our 4G Wireless set up, but have to admit, each time it was sorted ASAP, and we were satisfied with the service, maybe we are just lucky. :shrug:

Leon :thumbsup:

[Larryp]

I've been with Telstra for many years, and in that time I've had the odd problem, but they have always sorted it out quickly and efficiently. Maybe I've been lucky and struck tech help who actually knew what they were doing! Only trouble I have is understanding the accents!:)

[RickS]

When we built our new house Telstra failed to show up twice to connect ADSL. I told them to forget it and went to Internode. I have lived happily ever after.

My best Telco customer story is from when I called Optus to tell them that the cable modem at our previous house had been fried by a lightning strike. I explained that there were burn marks on the modem and that chips inside it had exploded. Their response was to insist that I reinstall Windows and see if that fixed my Internet connection :lol:

We probably shouldn't be too harsh on the poor beggars who work in the call centres. They don't get hired for their technical knowledge and troubleshooting experience and they probably get punished for diverging from the script.

That's not to excuse the behaviour that Robin reported. That sounds like the act of someone who did know what they were doing and was getting a commission for the churn :mad2:

Cheers,
Rick.

[Kunama]

I find the best thing to do with them now is to ask for everything they offer to put in writing with the salespersons name and contact details included.

I do this as previously they have offered certain extras and then once the contract is valid I have found that the extras are not included. I also record all conversations with Telstra and Optus.

The following is a true story:
My brother-in-law rang Optus to cancel a phone service after his father-in-law passed away, Optus refused to cancel the service until they could speak to the account holder (who was now dead)......... after an hour on the phone trying to find someone at Optus with a brain between their ears ....... Ross said to the lady in Indonesia or Pakistan ....... " Hold the line I will go and get him to the phone ..... Ross then said " Yes this is ............ please cancel my account" and the problem was solved.

[2stroke]

I use internode these days, its cost more but there support and response is worth every peny. I had optus cable but switched to internode after endless drop outs and endless lies. Optus was great when i first got it i could download at 3mbs by the time i left it was down to about 700kbs due to overloading the network. At the end of the day you pay for what you get and as a big online gamer internode is perfect for me with 60gb. BTW get on whirlpool and you can read about some real horror story's people have had with some isp's. One big thing telstra has going for them though is there 3g network and i will says there the best for internet when it comes to that case. I have being tempted to switch to telstra for the plan size, though after hearing a number of people having issues and 3rd world tech support, i think i'll be hanging onto my current provider lol.

[grantch]

:rofl: Gold!

[Forgey]

+1 for Internode, been with them for 7 years, last problem we had with dropouts they were onto it straight away.

[kustard]

So much hate ;)

I've been with TPG for years, but being at the limit of the exchange for ADSL2+ I was sick of only having 400kb/s so I had a look at Bigpond and their cable broadband options. They finally have some respectable plans for decent prices. Considering we aren't massive downloaders but we do watch the occasional rented iTunes movie, the speed increase with cable is desirable.

So today I received the new cable modem (we have had cable/foxtel previously) so in it went and I am now enjoying fast internet.

I'm happy it's all working but I've had dramas from other large corporations, insurance ones really seem to have it in for me.

Cheers,
Simon

[DaveR]

We have had a few problems at home, which seem to arise Friday and therefore wont fix till monday which is really frustrating.


On the plus, my elderly Mum in another state had a phone where the static was getting really bad. The Telstra tech did a quick thorough job - after fixing line (coastal corrosion) checked pc and modem worked, replaced old phone in workshop and checked medi-alert. Rang the med-alert people ss the had bodgied the wiring and then rang me to give me his mobile in case the medi-alert people wanted argue who was responsible.

Would have given him a slab of crownies if i could.

[Karls48]

If you think that Telstra and their Philippines call centre is bad try Vodafone with their Indian call centre. It took me over two moths to convince them that I want to be disconnected. I'm sure that my old 300 baud modem was faster then their wireless Internet.

[LewisM]

Been with Westnet for 6 years now. NOT A SINGLE ISSUE, and always get an Australian on the phone.

Was on Optus when we initially moved to Perth. After ludicrous delays (7 days to activate the ADSL!), problems etc, I decided enough was enough, and decided to cancel them. First time, TRYING to cancel, I actually fell asleep on the phone waiting (and they hung up!), second time they took about 1 hr 45 minutes to cancel it, offer me all sorts of incentives etc. Rang Westnet. All set up, and working 3 hours later.

I have little positive at all to say about the Philippines, full stop. Only call centre I have the misfortune to ring that uses Filipinos is Virgin Mobile. Took me an HOUR to get them to understand that I already had a sim card, but they had sent me another, and wanted me to activate it. Told them no, I am using my old sim. They told me they would charge me 1 month for the new sim, then cancel it. I told them I want to speak to their management NOW, and slipped in the words OMBUDSMAN. Well, I proceeded to tell management in my best Tagalog (another useless language I know a fair bit of), and whaddya know, they cancelled the new sim card gratis...

Virgin also charged me $625 once for excess SMS's - in ONE MONTH. Their first response was to halve the amount. I told them to send me a complete list of every number I messaged. They did (something like 18 pages long!), showing that the same message had been sent every 3 minutes for 2 weeks to the same number! The phone was not at fault, so they finally waived the ENTIRE month's bill.

[Shark Bait]

Just had Telstra fix our phone connection ..... again. I have to admit to putting off making contact with Telstra. I find dealing with the staff at the Phillipines call centre very tedious.

The Tech who has fixed the problem multiple times in the past calls the junction a Bat Box. Apparently Bats rest at this junction and their corrosive droppings eventually cause faults. :shrug: So we know where the problem lies, but the call centre staff have to follow the bouncing ball and will not accept that we may have some information that will be useful. :bashcomp:

The tech fixed it this morning and did not bother visiting our house first. He went straight to the box and sorted it before dropping in to make sure that the connection was fixed. :thumbsup:

The phone line is now clear and the internet connection is stable again. Telstra's Techs go about their work and do it well but Telstra lets itself down badly with their overseas call centre.

[Astro_Bot]

Wonderful news (sarcasm): Telstra plans to unilaterally limit or block peer-to-peer networking.

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/telstra-to-clamp-down-on-peertopeer-20130205-2dvus.html

I particularly like this comment (which, to me, speaks volumes about Telstra's attitude toward its customers):





If users are paying for the bandwidth they're using (are there any plans where that isn't the case?), and the content isn't illegal (which is a matter for law enforcement), then what right do they have to throttle or block traffic? We're not talking about going over a data cap here - the throttling/blocking is aimed at a traffic type. If I want to use my, say, 100GB data allowance for all video, that's my prerogative. If I want to use BitTorrent to share (legal) data, then that's my prerogative, too. (Actually, I rarely use BitTorrent, but it's my right if I want to). If congestion is an issue, charge for peak and off-peak, as many ISPs already do.

Then we get onto some services only being available, or being much better supported, on protocols other than HTTP. I encounter this frequently in the Linux world where BitTorrent is used for open source software distribution (perfectly legal).

And who's to say what future uses will develop over any particular traffic type, or a new type of traffic altogether? We've seen this before with "net neutrality (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_neutrality)" arguments in the USA (also see this (http://www.savetheinternet.com/net-neutrality-101)). For me, the argument for net neutrality is as clear as day: continuous freedom of access and evolution of the internet on a level playing field. The arguments against are largely from the perspective of being able to charge the same money for less data, blocking competitors (or blocking their partners' competitors) and limiting or blocking traffic from smaller, more independent operators who can't afford the infrastructure of large, fast server farms, and who may be more likely to carry information critical of big business.

To me, throttling peer-to-peer networking is an obvious "thin end of the wedge".

[COSMOPARADISE]

OH EM GEE. WHAT AM I GETING MYSELF INTO!!!! I've just been offered the job that I've been applying for for months.....CUSTOMER SOLUTIONS SPECIALIST....TELSTRA!!!!
Hope the 4 weeks training here on the Gold Coast is enough to prepare me for my impending APOCOLYPSE.
So if some one in an english accent named Nick answers your next call to telstra, the password is NBN
:drink:

[Barrykgerdes]

That 4 weeks training is to teach you how to talk with a garbled foreign accent:lol:

Barry

[doppler]

I am with TPG, have been for years. My internet gets cut off every 5-6 months (crappy telstra exchange and copper lines). TPG always answers my calls straight away and calls me right back if my phone hangs up. My modem diagnostics lets me know when the DSL is down so I have a well practiced spiel in reply to theirs..... yes I have unplugged everything, no I dont have a fax machine, yes I have tried another modem....There is no DSL signal on my modem, please get Telsta onto it. ps They all sound like they are in an Indian call center, but I cant fault the service.

Rick