Telstra Conclusion

Hi All,

I came across a few old comments that said I hadn't concluded the Telstra saga. Lo and Behold, they were right. It's quite old now so it's not gonna have the detail that my other posts did, but here's the gist.

They did in fact write off the amount. Though to say it was as simple as that would not do this finale any justice whatsoever.

So what the geniuses (genii?) at Telstra did was take Account A) that was in debit to the tune of $1800 odd (due to the wrong charges) and do absofuckinglutely nothing with it. They then created Account B) and credited it for $1800!

I'm a simple fella and I'd a thought you'd just frikkin' credit the original account back to zero, but clearly I'm a dumb fuck and have no clue what I'm talking about. So, I rang Telstra to see how I go about resolving this conundrum. The moron on the line tells me I need to pay the account in debit. I just roll my eyes and tell her to check the other account. She informs me its in credit. I told her that I no longer have any Telstra services, so I'd like them to transfer the credit from one account to the other.

They can't do that.

I tell her I want her to send me a cheque for the $1800. (I then won't pay the account in credit, will be rich beyond my wildest dreams and will leave the country!)

They can't do that either!

I asked her why not and no word of a lie she tells me that even though they are two completely separate accounts (and she can tell this new account in credit has never had services attached to it) they can't issue a cheque while another account in the same name is in debit...

I asked her how I would solve this particular problem seeing as they won't transfer and they won't issue a cheque so I can pay the debit account. She couldn't tell me. Never come across the problem... She offered to put me through to a supervisor. I declined.

I made one further phone call to get this resolved.

I called The Ombudsman.

Telstra magically fixed the problem.

The End.

P.S. One little kicker is that years ago I set up a Telstra faxstream. So my faxes go through Telstra (no clue which account) and get sent to my email address. I cancelled my services what? 2 and a half years ago now?

Those faxes still come through!!! Every time I get an email that says it's from faxstream.telstra.com I chuckle and remember what a bunch if incompetent cunts they are.

Good day!

The Telstra Story: Part 10 - The Finale?

Hi All,

I present to you what is possibly the last (and you'll see why I use the term "possibly" at the end) post on Telstra. Also, I quote from the conversation. I was making notes at the time and fleshed them all out immediately after my conversation finished so it'd be pretty close to word for word.

So, without further adieu.

On the 20th of June I received a call from Senior Complaints handler at Telstra. She informed me that she had personally reviewed all the material and the letters from the myself and the TIO and that "While we stand by all the charges, we are making a commercial decision that it's not in our best interests to pursue the matter."

ME: "OK, that's great, but just out of curiosity, if you've read all my documentation, do you think what I've had to put up with from your company is acceptable?"

TELSTRA: "Well no sir, it's clear that you've unfortunately had to deal with people who really didn't know what they were talking about and as such it has made things more difficult. But I think there's been some miscommunication from both sides."

Ruh Roh! That's gonna get me started!

ME: "Really? Well I can understand that after months of being stuffed around I documented everything in a unique manner, but how can wanting to get an accurate bill be confusing?"

TELSTRA: "Well as I say we stand by all the charges. We're making a commercial decision that it's not in our best interests to pursue the matter."

Yes, it was exactly the same sentence.

ME: "Well if you stand by the charges, I realize it may be academic, but can you please tell me what they are?

TELSTRA: "Certainly. Aah, when you were originally put on to a different plan, your call usage did go up and you also had some roamin..."

ME: "Hang on. that issue is resolved."

TELSTRA: "Ah, no. In the letter from the TIO it states that the plan change resulted in higher charges."

ME: "No it doesn't. After you ignored the first letter from the TIO, they asked me for some more specific information on the history of the relationship and that's where that becomes relevant. The current issue is that for about 3-4 weeks of usage, you've charged me $1800 odd dollars."

Incidentally, I never brought it up, but I was not travelling (roaming charges) at that time either.

TELSTRA: "Well there are some early contract termination fees as well sir."

ME: "If you're completely familiar with this as you say, can you please tell me when I signed a new contract that's now been terminated? I was off contract."

TELSTRA: "Well as I say sir we stand by all the charges and we are making a commercial decision that it's not in our best interests to pursue the matter, as long as both parties agree to release the other from further action. I'm happy to confirm that in writing."

Now, this last one threw me a little. You'll agree to write off the amount you reckon I owe you, if I agree not to take action against you? What, for the invoice I sent you? For being a bunch of dicks?

ME: "I notice you're using very specific words like commercial decision and not in our best interests, but I find it amusing that you would just write off this amount when if you could actually prove these charges are legit as you say, Telstra would just sell the debt to a 3rd party company. So frankly to me it seems as if you actually can't prove these charges and that as a result it really is in your best interests not to pursue it. Fine, you put it in writing and I'll have a look and make a decision from there."

We made our goodbyes and hung up.

That was 2 weeks ago.

I'm still waiting!

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So what does this mean for Telstra Woes? Well whether this is the final installment or not, it's become apparent that other people have their own hellish customer service stories and as such, I'll eventually be migrating this blog to a new "generic" blog which will deal with a number of different companies and also draw upon stories from you, our gentle readers.


Regards,
FTC