Your thoughts on Telstra

Zamunda

Zamunda

Well-Known Member
I have had the worst experience ever with Telstra and it is not over yet.

No internet for the past two weeks (and counting).
I run a home business so it is hitting me hard.
After several attempts at resolving my issue, they then sent me a "smart modem" which is supposed to switch to 4G when the cable connection goes down. Amazingly no one at Telstra knew that the new modem needed to be activated for it to work. Took them four days to figure this out. Eventually, when they did, the speeds are at Dial-up days.
Their tech support does not seem to know what they are doing.
Customer service has no decency to follow up on my many complaints to find out if my problem has been resolved.
In the meantime, whilst they try to solve this, their suggestion is I use my phone as a hot spot. This means every time I go out of the office (which is often) either I leave the phone behind or leave the office with no internet connection.

Is it just me or is this Telstra as usual?
 
Perth Pioneer

Perth Pioneer

Member
Zamunda said:
I have had the worst experience ever with Telstra and it is not over yet.

No internet for the past two weeks (and counting).
I run a home business so it is hitting me hard.
After several attempts at resolving my issue, they then sent me a "smart modem" which is supposed to switch to 4G when the cable connection goes down. Amazingly no one at Telstra knew that the new modem needed to be activated for it to work. Took them four days to figure this out. Eventually, when they did, the speeds are at Dial-up days.
Their tech support does not seem to know what they are doing.
Customer service has no decency to follow up on my many complaints to find out if my problem has been resolved.
In the meantime, whilst they try to solve this, their suggestion is I use my phone as a hot spot. This means every time I go out of the office (which is often) either I leave the phone behind or leave the office with no internet connection.

Is it just me or is this Telstra as usual?
Click to expand...
In my experience its usual for them. Have never had a good experience , even with basic things like a new tablet there are always issues. I don't use them for my home internet or my mobile phone but don't have a choice for the tablet as its used in rural areas. I had a Boost phone once but Telstra disconnected it to use the number for the new tablet I purchased, instead of issuing a new sim with the new tablet. I lost the pre-paid credit I had and they weren't interested in reimbursing me. Absolutely hopeless in my experience.
 
dno67

dno67

Well-Known Member
They treat you with contempt, if you can do without them l would. Yes we sell or hand out hardware, but there's no backup or service once you have said item. I had hours of wasted time on the phone with them that resulted in them insisting that the falt was my equipment not there modem. Even took the crap to a helstra shop and they refused the test it claiming it could be dangerous to there equipment. Walked straight out the door and into the post office next door and changed to Optus. When back to the helstra shop and told them to GF themselves. Now with aussie BB, great service and a pleasure to deal with.
Telstra = contempt.
They actually had to pay me $1800.00 dollars in another incident, ordered by the ombudsmen. They still owe my the ballance and won't pay it unless l disconnect the phone and reconnect me as the primary.
Pack of grubs.
 
M

mikehzz

Well-Known Member
Your experience is very common. My experience confirms it. My experience also confirms that Optus and Vodafone are just as bad if not worse.
 
2002GU3

2002GU3

Well-Known Member
I used to have Telsta phone and internet, but after being stuffed around constantly I told them where they can put their service (or lack there of ) next to the government, they would be the most useless mob in Australia............and India and the Phillipines and where ever else they have those damn call centres...............................
 
Albynsw

Albynsw

Well-Known Member
I have been with Telstra business for most of the last 20 years with short stints with other carriers in the mix. I have had my share of issues with them but have not found the others to be any better. For about 8 of those years I had a personal Telstra contact and she would sort out any issues I had but even she used to pull her hair out trying to deal with her own company
I have stuck with them for the better coverage, it is a bit like an unhappy marriage
 
rogerazz

rogerazz

4x4 Earth Contributer
Only a private user. However I find not only the telcos but everything else.
Customer service today everywhere , compared to the old days, is kaput.
Reason is that people today are not trained over many years through on the job experience ( costly wages for employers), so the staff follow a set of instructions on their computers,manuals, etc.
You can't beat experience and that applies to every job.
Example, I had a problem with my Troopy stopping and starting this week and mechanic said bring it in it sounds like a fuel problem. I explained to him that I thought it was electrical and after checking he fitted a new electronic ignition module, which I sourced and delivered to him personally to speed things up. Then it did not start because his apprentice fitted it and did not set the gap????
And I am not a mechanic nor have I ever been, but I sure as hell have learnt a lot about things over sixty years.
Oh and Telstra did set me up with a $99.00 landline, internet and a foxtel bundle over the net, however I got three seperate contracts for landline, internet and foxtel with an over $600.00 bill for first month. Now I have two foxtell cables under my house??????? Then I personally visited and spoke with a person at a Telstra office nearby and they sorted it out after two months.:mad:
 
Zamunda

Zamunda

Well-Known Member
@rogerazz @mikehzz @Albynsw @2002GU3 @Bomber2012 @mac_man_luke @Synchro @dno67 @Perth Pioneer

Thanks everyone for your replies.

I have written to the CEO. Hopefully, in between his golf games and lunch meetings, he will find time to reply (give a shit that is).

Meanwhile, I still have no internet.This is now the 13th days with no service. After close to 20 mins on the phone with their "customer complaints officer" I am told a new modem activation can take up to 5 working days. I refuse to believe this. I am now told the activation will happen today before midday. I am not holding my breath. So continuing to use my phone as a hot spot to keep the business going.

It is true service levels, in general, has gone down the tubes over the years. Corporations don't invest enough in their people. Only interested in profits. Where ever I can I will always support small businesses.

Every time I call their tech support they sound like robots trained to keep asking the same damn questions over and over. In one conversation the guy asked me how I was three times.
 
D

Deleted member 69390

Guest
Zamunda said:
@rogerazz @mikehzz @Albynsw @2002GU3 @Bomber2012 @mac_man_luke @Synchro @dno67 @Perth Pioneer

Thanks everyone for your replies.

I have written to the CEO. Hopefully, in between his golf games and lunch meetings, he will find time to reply (give a shit that is).
Click to expand...
I have done that in the past - hence the reason for the link I put up.

If your case follows mine, you should be contacted by a hand maiden from the CEOs office who will allocate you a case manager. The important thing is that this will be a person from Australia not the Philipine call centre and they actually aim to help not hinder. Now that is no guarantee but then you have a contact in the CEOs office to deal with to resolve any further issues.

In my view the problems reside with the overseas call centre - I called them just before Xmas and they were having a Xmas party in the background and I could not hear the consultant and they could not hear me but the party continued. In the past consultants have given me incorrect names, incorrect employee numbers, refused to put me through to supervisors, hung up, never call back - and Optus and Vodafone are worse.
 
Bomber2012

Bomber2012

Well-Known Member
Zamunda said:
@rogerazz @mikehzz @Albynsw @2002GU3 @Bomber2012 @mac_man_luke @Synchro @dno67 @Perth Pioneer

Thanks everyone for your replies.

I have written to the CEO. Hopefully, in between his golf games and lunch meetings, he will find time to reply (give a shit that is).

Meanwhile, I still have no internet.This is now the 13th days with no service. After close to 20 mins on the phone with their "customer complaints officer" I am told a new modem activation can take up to 5 working days. I refuse to believe this. I am now told the activation will happen today before midday. I am not holding my breath. So continuing to use my phone as a hot spot to keep the business going.

It is true service levels, in general, has gone down the tubes over the years. Corporations don't invest enough in their people. Only interested in profits. Where ever I can I will always support small businesses.

Every time I call their tech support they sound like robots trained to keep asking the same damn questions over and over. In one conversation the guy asked me how I was three times.
Click to expand...
Best of luck with that Duncan , hope its resolved quickly .
 
Triton14

Triton14

Well-Known Member
Synchro said:
In my view the problems reside with the overseas call centre
Click to expand...
Yep, pretty much any company that moved their call centres off shore are going to be like that.

You would probably get more satisfaction going into a store but in saying that I tried to close an account by phone, was told I had to go in store, went instore & was told I had to do it by phone, went to & fro like a tennis match until I got the shits.
Why does it need to get to that point, no idea?

The problem is it is hard to find a company now that you actually talk to someone from your own continent!
 
Zamunda

Zamunda

Well-Known Member
Synchro said:
I have done that in the past - hence the reason for the link I put up.

If your case follows mine, you should be contacted by a hand maiden from the CEOs office who will allocate you a case manager. The important thing is that this will be a person from Australia not the Philipine call centre and they actually aim to help not hinder.
Click to expand...
I could not agree with you more. It is the damn call centres. This applies to all businesses that have outsourced their services. This why I have no issues with my Telstra mobile phones. I only deal with my local Telstra store staffed by capable Aussie staff.
 
Albynsw

Albynsw

Well-Known Member
When I was dealing with them they always made a point of say where they were ringing from in Australia and were mostly Anglo Saxon sounding people and in general were pretty good but that was 5 plus years ago. Telstra retail were not so good
I am just a hermit now living in them hills and avoid contact with corporate business stuff as best I can :). Two jam tins and a length of string works fine
 
Vesko

Vesko

Active Member
In general the number of incompetents in this world is steadily increasing. Hairdressers who don't know how to cut hair, auto mechanics who don't know how to fix cars, electronic engineers who don't know how to activate modems, etc. It might be just me, but I see examples of this trend every day.
 
Zamunda

Zamunda

Well-Known Member
Albynsw said:
When I was dealing with them they always made a point of say where they were ringing from in Australia and were mostly Anglo Saxon sounding people and in general were pretty good but that was 5 plus years ago. Telstra retail were not so good
I am just a hermit now living in them hills and avoid contact with corporate business stuff as best I can :). Two jam tins and a length of string works fine
Click to expand...
best way to live these days mate :)

The problem is corporations are run by accountants (I used to be one so I know first hand). The focus is cost reduction and maximising profits. So outsourcing to countries with cheaper costs is the way to go. As far as the outsourced companies go, they are only interested in how much money they can make at the lowest cost. Leaving the customer smack in the middle of all this.
 
Zamunda

Zamunda

Well-Known Member
update -

I have not heard from the Telstra CEO yet.

In the meantime received a call from their customer complaints officer a few minutes back. So here is how the conversation went....

Telstra - "It seems the problem is national. One of our cables are down."
Me - "so how come the "smart modem" is not automatically switching to the 4G network as you said it would?"
Telstra - "so you have a smart modem?"
Me - "yes! that's what I have been telling you all this time!"
Telstra - "in that case your modem might be old and faulty, so we will send you a new modem."
Me - "this modem is brand new!" "You sent it to me last week when you could not figure out what the problem was!"
Telstra - "Oh is that so?" "never the less we will send you another new smart modem."

So here I am, I now have to wait till after the long weekend for the second new modem.

This is where Telstra's cost build up is!!
 
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