Amazing Telstra {insert livid smilie here}

[LewisM]

Our tried and true internet provider, Westnet, who we had been with for 9 years, could not get a spare connection at the interchange in Canberra, so we reluctantly had to switch to Telstra.

I was placing the order online, but my wife decided to call them, and I ended up placing the order over the phone, which I always HATE due to cross-language errors etc.

We've waited 5 days now for internet, so I went onto the 24/7 web chat.

They have absolutely NO record of me ever creating an account, under my name or my wife's. NONE. The reference number I was given is bogus. The account name/email I was given does not exist. The transaction number given to me bogus. No email was ever sent validating anything - so, I either spoke to a bogus Telstra employee, or he accidentally/purposefully deleted the account, or????

So, I spent another 3 hours online trying to work this out. How could I simply disappear??? No nothing - not even a phone line. Nada. Gave up on that Philippine employee, and went out side and kicked the rabbits (figuratively, not literally).

Calmed down, and went online chat again. Got a much more professional employee, who again confirmed I did not exist in the system. He said the only option was to do an online application all over again, and then give him the receipt/ref number and he would escalate it to priority (guarantee of <7 days). Done, and they waived the connection fee and modem delivery fee at least.

I just hope I was not originally speaking to some spammer who stole my information/data...or simply deleted it in hate? :shrug:

Telstra....gotta love 'em.

[Wavytone]

You've got the bad, seems I've got the good ... my iPhone 6 is showing 96 megabits/sec download speed on Telstra at the office.

[simon_rl]

Exactly the same thing happened to me with Telstra. They even promised me 100mbps nbn. What a joke. When I called them 8 days later they had no record of the order and advised they only provide 23mbps nbn. Told them to stick it and went with Optus. This was a very big mistake, turns out Optus have not provisioned enough infrastructure in my area (St Clair/Erskine Park) to support the 100mbps, we are lucky if we hit 18mbps in off peak, most of the time it is between 2 and 5mbps. Ended up having to complain to TIO and Optus have waived all fees and are releasing us from our contract.

Did some research and apparently iiNet have the infrastructure in place so I am giving them a go.Was told by the sales person at iiNet that that we should be up and running today, when it wasn't I gave them a call, they in turned called nbn, who advised we would not be switched until Tuesday next week. Being a very recently ex-nbn employee I know that the switch can be done in 24 hour.....................

[Boozlefoot]

Aaaahh...... Had internet problems the other night. Rang the 24hr help line, the recorded message said to send them an email, But no internet, go figure.
Was also on the interim satellite, which has been switched over. Provider sent a LARGE letter, outlining any problems were not going to be caused by them, but rather by NBN. Same letter said dont bother complaining about the service or NBN, as they are a wholesaler and as such not controlled by the industry ombudsman. Also explained only place to go would be the Minister of Communication, and hinted not to do so or would be "blacklisted". Progress at its finest.

[jenchris]

Telstra, when I complained about overcharging told me, "you have no option in your area to change to another supplier."
Then basically told me to wear it.
I went to a dongle with 3 and have never had a problem since.
When Telstra tried to get me back I told them the story and told them to sod off.

[Larryp]

My 12 month old Telstra ADSL modem failed on a Sunday 2 weeks ago-called technical help and they organised a new(upgraded) modem to be sent out-arrived first thing Tuesday morning. That was good service.

Had a phone call a few months ago from Telstra. I was paying $100.00 per month for bundled home phone and 200gb internet. They offered me 400gb internet/home phone with a free Telstra TV box, and an 8" Samsung tablet with sim card and 1gb data per month all for $99.00 per month-great deal!
Should give them credit when they deserve it.

[The_bluester]

I have been helping a few people with NBN related issues and have had some interesting ones pop up.

One bloke is lucky (Unlucky?) enough to be in an NBN HFC area in Melbourne. Put in his order with Optus as he has an 18 year old Optus email address that is firmly enmeshed with his business.

Roll on installation day an a tech with almost no English arrives, proceeds to spend seven hours on the phone and wandering around disconnecting and reconnecting things and finally disappears, having first tried to provision the NBN HFC service on the existing Optus HFC lead in cable and finally leaving the customers prior, Optus HFC net and local telephony service dead in the water by not just unscrewing but cutting the cable at the isolator. Leaving the place with the old HFC termination boxes for Optus hanging open and the lead in coax dangling out of one. It took him another month to finally get an Optus tech around to "Make safe" and coincidentally (Though he was not meant to) to resurrect the original Optus service.

Then someone else piped in with a virtual carbon copy of the same. Trying again to provision an NBN service on an Optus HFC drop cable. He was three months without fixed line internet or telephony.

In both of the above the retail provider (One Optus and one Telstra) consistently referred them to NBN, and NBN consistently referred them to the retailer. Nice little infinite loop.

A word of caution about "Free" tablets from Telstra. Several people I know have had them offered and then have them turn out to be "Free up front" and billed monthly on the service. And have also had huge trouble getting Telstra to stop billing them even if they have been returned unopened as they were not agreed to in the first place.

[LewisM]

Oh Telstra doesn't disclose the costs alright! For this new service, they TRIED charging me $12 postage on the 'free' modem and $240 for a technician to install my modem. I politely told them I can install the modem just fine thank you, and after losing my first order, they waive the modem postage or I walk. They did and also gave me $100 credit. All their fees are well enough hidden in their PDS's... NOT updront

Modem here but it seems they still won't get a tech to flip the switch on the ADSL until Wednesday. Sigh. Have been told we are on an automated junction too, which is even stupider since all they need to do is send s computer command down the pipe... Any excuse, they'll find it.

[DarkArts]

I had a similar problem. (There was about a week in between each event ...). I called to arrange ADSL connection because I'm in a Telstra-only service area - they took details and gave me a planned connection date. I called for progress because there were no updates as they'd promised. They had my customer details, but claimed I was unverified, so excusable delay. Then they claimed there was another installation pending (b/s). Then the finally arranged a tech. Then he arrived and connected me saying I was the last socket in the street box (RIM) - turn on at the exchange then failed. Then the tech came back for fault finding (said it was an 'upstream cable fault'). Then, after more delay, they finally fixed whatever it was.

Bloody Telstra.

BTW, I had to give them everything including my inside leg measurement to 'verify' me.