Tuesday 24 April 2012

Unwinnable War: Ciara vs Telecommunications Giant

When I planned this post, the war was still raging. Since then, I must declare my victory! I am triumphant. But if you’re in Australia, here’s an incredibly long list of reasons not to use Telstra. I will, as soon as possible, be switching back to iinet. Disclaimer: iinet isn’t paying me to write this blog but they probably should be...
  1. December 2011 - Online application for phone and internet is rejected without explanation – to start, when rejecting applications, it’s always handy to advise the applicant why;
  2. On enquiry, Telstra staff could not advise definitively why it had been rejected. We were offered half a dozen reasons, finally settling on broadband not being available in our area. Since I live in Sydney, this seemed preposterous. Supposedly this was because our developer hadn’t completed some paperwork;
  3. Furious, I called the developer for our estate who said they had completed all the necessary paperwork as it was a council requirement. They promised to chase up Telstra;
  4. Mid-December - The developer’s Telstra contact said she would fix the problem. Hallelujah! All was right in the world. Or at least my small corner of it;
  5. The problem was fixed as promised. Apparently they couldn’t find our address (it being a new house) and therefore concluded no internet was available there. Hello, if we can’t find someone in the system shouldn’t the next question be ‘Is this a new residence?’;
  6. 3 days before Christmas - The ‘Bundles’ department called me. Apparently no department at Telstra communicates with any other and Bundles told me I couldn’t have internet - again. My anger levels spiked, as did my need for alcoholic sedation;
  7. Sales advised Bundles had attempted to schedule the internet connection before the phone. Way to go, genius, I’m a lawyer and even I know enough about telecommunications to know the phone line must go in before the internet. Sales scheduled the phone connection;
  8. Between Christmas and New Year - The technician arrives to connect the phone and tells me there are no cables in the street. He says he needs to call someone else. OK, not happy, but a minor hiccough. We’ll get the cables down and it’ll all be good;
  9. Early January – Telstra advises it will be 3-4 business days before they can advise me of a timeframe for the cabling. OK, I can live with that;
  10. Telstra advises they won’t be running any cables at all as we fall in the National Broadband Network (NBN) area and they are responsible for laying the cables.
  11. Annoyed at getting the run-around, I call NBN to find out when the cable will go in. NBN advise me our developer does not have an application pending and therefore it will take TWO to TEN YEARS to lay cable at our address. Blood pressure goes through the roof. I should have self-medicated with vodka but I didn’t. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
  12. I call the developer but the person I need to speak to is not in. I leave a message. In lieu of shouting at the developer, I send an angry email to my local Member of Parliament (like a Senator, or something...) on the basis this is all his fault and that of his government for introducing NBN in the first place.
  13. A lovely guy from the MP’s office calls me almost immediately to tell me they will look into it and that can’t be right. They are taking it up with the office of the Senator for Telecommunications. All right! Feel a little bad for my email but the guy seemed to understand.
  14. Mid January 2012 - The MP’s office calls to confirm it appears to be Telstra’s area and not NBN. The MP will take it up with the Telstra Regional Manager;
  15. MP’s office calls to check it’s OK they give my personal information to Telstra. Yes, they know I’m a lawyer… So does Telstra, now, apparently, courtesy of the MP’s office.
  16. Telstra’s Bundle department calls me to find out why the internet hasn’t been arranged. He speaks incredibly poor English to the extent that when I tell him there are no cables in the street he offers me ADSL (apparently thinking I meant cable internet) on our phone line. There is no phone line, dumb-ass! Don’t you people talk to each other or keep notes on a centralised file?? Apparently not;
  17. Late January I am advised the cables will be in by mid-March;
  18. January to February – 2 incorrect bills, and a jousting match over a parcel Telstra sent that I didn’t receive or request and which Telstra refused to refund me for until I returned it – you can read about it here;
  19. Mid March – cables go in and phone is connected. No internet. Why not? Telstra advise my request for internet has been cancelled. Annoyed, I reinstate the order;
  20. Late March – still no internet. The order has been cancelled again! Told the internet will be up and running in a week.
  21. Early April – Internet connected but no modem. Telstra advise me I ‘rejected’ delivery of the modem. I most certainly did not – see herefor an explanation of this. Reorganised delivery of the modem.
  22. Mid-April. Still no modem. Modem delivery cancelled again. Give up and buy modem, for which Telstra refunds us. 

Finally, more than 4 months after the fact, our phone, internet and pay TV is connected and running as intended. Of course, Telstra still managed to have the last word. For reasons unexplained, my email bills were cancelled (and I note Telstra charges you a fee if you receive paper bills) and still didn’t manage to bundle all our services correctly. 

But I’ve fixed those problems. So I won the war. Take that, Telstra!

Now all I need to do is hope the next 2 years are reasonably hassle free so I can switch back to iinet when my contract expires without suffering too badly in the interim. 

Telstra, really, how can you stuff up everything so badly? You need help!


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14 comments:

The Masquerade Crew said...

No one would blame you if you decided to shoot up the place ... except maybe the employees at Telstra. Should have used their name in your title. That might have hit home even more.

The Masquerade Crew said...

Nevermind. I saw the hashtag when I retweeted it. Good job!

Ciara Ballintyne said...

Alas, the heavy gun regulation here in Australia means I don't have a weapon LOL. Plus, Dad works there - NOT in any of the departments that bungled my account, I should note, and I never have any problems with my mobile phone because he makes sure I don't.

Ciara Ballintyne said...

I've decided to go with a mix of the hashtag and a modified title after just reading a blog abut flooding hastags. Although.... Telstra may deserve to have their hashtag flooded.

☠CPirateTV☠ said...

Ha ha ha wow, but I've heard this story before back in 2007 or so I tried to collaborate with a photographer Maggie Beresford in Bealiba AU and the same thing we were fraught with difficulties from Telestra.

JaneofAustralia said...

Well done for hanging in and on. Excellent post. Hopefully they will call you.

Ciara Ballintyne said...

Everyone has trouble with Telstra but unfortunately they are the only company that lays cables in Australia. I'll be back with iinet who never gave me any trouble as soon as I can.

Ciara Ballintyne said...

I'm not holding my breath.... What I'd like to do is send them a bill at my hourly legal rate! I'd have free phone and internet for the rest of the year.

Toby Neal said...

I hate that kind of shit. I prefer it mixed into chili.Or better yet, not at all!

Tom Stronach said...

I'm feeling your pain Missy Ballintyne I am. I sounded off at British Gas, again on my post earlier. It's the only time (when dealing with utilities) that I actually get the urge to kill.....

Erica Lucke Dean said...

I love a rousing tale of good versus evil where good prevails in the end. Down with the evil cable companies! We had a similar thing happen at our "new" house (which is really an 80 year old farm house) We can't have super high speed internet due to our location and have to settle for the ordinary DSL variety. I'll just have to suffer through I guess...unless you want to contact MY senator? :) Glad you finally have internet!

Ciara Ballintyne said...

Definitely not at all! Could you imagine trying to manage all the online marketing of being a writer with No internet? thankfully it was up and running before this Challenge or I think I would have died. It took me 2 hours one night to upload a blog post I had already written!

Ciara Ballintyne said...

You should have seen the look on my face when one idiot woman at Telstra HUNG UP on me. And I couldn't call back immediately because I had to go to a meeting.

Ciara Ballintyne said...

That super-fast internet you can't have? We don't have it in Australia at all. That's what NBN is for, so we can get super-fast internet. While super-fast might be nice, just the plain old garden variety kind would be super itself in the 2 to 10 years it's going to take me to get super-fast internet.

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